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Choices made by the characters in Hamlet
The problem of moral decisions in hamlet
Analysis of Hamlet’s soliloquy
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Recommended: Choices made by the characters in Hamlet
Life is short and anything can happen within a matter of seconds. We can’t predict the future and therefore we don’t even know if we will be here to see another day. Life shouldn’t be lived with hesitations or regret, if you have something to say or do, you should get it said or done. The longer you delay the less time you have left, similarly in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the main protagonist Hamlet delays killing Claudius as he must make sure that the ghost is being truthful and as he excessively reflects and thinks too much and he is in constant conflict between his morality.
Hamlet delays taking revenge on Claudius because he wants to be fully aware of the fact that the ghost of Old Hamlet is telling the truth about Claudius murdering him. After hearing this shocking revelation of his father’s death by his own uncle, Hamlet struggles with his inability to take action right away. He knows what needs to be done, but Hamlet is debating
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Instead of doing that Hamlet is sitting down and complaining about how incapable of he is to perform this task at hand. He thinks about how Fortinbras’ army is coming to take over and what should be done later on, but he is procrastinating the present task at hand. Hamlet thinks about how with power, force and intentions are nothing when you do not have the drive for determination. He is not determined to take revenge, but to be self- critical at a moment when determination is the most needed. He delays his revenge plan here when he is fully aware that he is about to lose his last chance to take revenge on Claudius, and again over thinks and complicates, ending in Hamlet leaving for England without fulfilling his late father’s command to avenge him. Thinking too precisely on the event is one aspect of Hamlet's delay he broods unnecessarily over each and every action and is lost among his
The vengeance of his father 's death is the prime cause of Hamlet 's obsession with perfection, his tendencies of over thinking philosophically, and idealistically, are what cause Hamlet 's delay. Hamlet is exposed to multiple opportunities to take the murderer of his father, Claudius ' life, the most notable being when Hamlet stumbles upon Claudius alone, praying; when about to act Hamlet says "When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed, at gaming, swearing or about some act that has no relish of salvation in 't: then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven and that his soul may be as damn 'd and black as hell, whereto it goes"(3.3.90-96) This inability to act when the chance is given exclaims how Hamlet is not willing to send Claudius to heaven and he will only act if he is to arrive in hell, which will in turn fulfill his need for the perfect
Hamlet is almost positive Claudius killed his father and for that reason he wants revenge. Yes, revenge might not be a very noble concept, but the way Hamlet deals with it certainly is. Hamlet wants to make sure Claudius is guilty before he makes the move to kill and does not want to just be “prompted to [his] revenge by heaven and hell” (2.2. 571), so he sets up an elaborate plan to prove to himself that Claudius is in fact the guilty one. If Hamlet succeeds with his plan and is able to “catch the conscience of the king” (2. 2. 592) then, and only then will Hamlet make his move to get his revenge. The way Hamlet deals with this circumstance does indeed show how he truly is a noble prince because he is able to put his animosity and anger to the side in order to ensure he does not commit an act on somebody who does not deserve it. Some people would take the ghost 's word for it and do the deed, but alas good old Hamlet needs more than a ghosts word. He needs concrete proof, discovered first hand in order to feel comfortable enough to commit such a heinous act against his own father 's
Shakespeare’s Hamlet depicts an internal struggle in which Hamlet must battle his cowardice to do what is right for his father, his mother, and Denmark. The play shows Hamlet attempting to avenge his father’s, King Hamlet, death. The ghost of King Hamlet returns to speak with Hamlet regarding the matter. Unlike what the country has been told, his father informs Hamlet that he had in fact been murdered by Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle who had taken the throne. King Hamlet assigns his son with the task of killing Claudius and retaking the throne of Denmark. It is at this point in the play that Hamlet truly begins to display his cowardice. He does not act in many situations in which he is given the opportunity to kill Claudius. Rather than embarking upon a murderous rampage, Hamlet decides to act as though he has gone insane to fool the rest of the court, eventually with the result being the
Hamlet in the play named after him was presented with the opportunity to kill Claudius in Act 3 Scene three in the play of his own name. If Hamlet had committed the act, not only would his father had been avenged, but the deaths of Ophelia, Gertrude, Laertes, and Hamlet himself would not have taken place. But why didn’t he? Based on two essays written by Scott Locklear, the reasons for Hamlet’s delay was because the play would have been much shorter, ending in what is now the beginning, along with Hamlet’s own personal reasoning for not killing Claudius. This is true, for the play at the time would have been considered very dull and boring, with little action taking place.
With his thinking mind Hamlet does not become a typical vengeful character. Unlike most erratic behavior of individuals seeking revenge out of rage, Hamlet considers the consequences of his actions. What would the people think of their prince if he were to murder the king? What kind of effect would it have on his beloved mother? Hamlet considers questions of this type which in effect hasten his descision. After all, once his mother is dead and her feelings out of the picture , Hamlet is quick and aggressive in forcing poison into Claudius' mouth. Once Hamlet is certain that Claudius is the killer it is only after he himself is and and his empire falling that he can finally act.
Revenge consumes Hamlet 's every move throughout the entire play. This all starts from the moment his father 's ghost tells him that his horrific death was not accidental. He was murdererd; poisoned by the new King, Claudius, also known as Hamlet 's uncle. Hamlet pretends to be insane to hide his true feelings of hate for the new King. He seeks the truth by reading the King 's body language when presented with a reenactment of Hamlet 's father 's death. Then the King acts in a
While reading the play it is evident Hamlet wants to kill Claudius for murdering his father and he comes across a number of different times to do so however he never actually does so until the very end. Hamlet struggles within himself on why he
Hamlet was told by the ghost of king hamlet to get back at Claudius for his death, or his soul will travel on earth forever. Even before hamlet knew about Claudius killing his father he had problems. It made hamlet mad that his mother would marry so fast and with his uncle. What Claudius did was an outrageous, back stabbing, and unbelievable thing. It was clearly an act of jealousy for his brother's throne and the wife. Claudius did pay back for his actions. Claudius lost his wife, his messenger, and died and even after his death kept loosing because he lost his castle to Fortinbras.
Both men plot, and kill, but before acting they take a great deal of time to think about their actions. Hamlet likes to set up and get everything right before acting on his suspicions or ideas. He thinks about how his actions will affect everyone and this is because of the substantial amount of common sense he has. Before killing Claudius, he came up with a plan to take him down and exploit him for killing his father. He knows that he cannot just kill him right away because people will be confused and blame Hamlet, so he plans to crack him first. He puts on a play portraying a young man poisoning his uncle, which riles Claudius because he poisoned Hamlet’s father. By putting on the play Hamlet alerted Claudius about how much he knew which scared Claudius. Hamlet goes on to a more elaborate plan to act “mad” which instills much fear into Claudius because he thinks Hamlet now poses as a threat to him which is what Hamlet wants. Claudius’ reaction to Hamlet’s madness is shown when he...
Throughout the whole play, Hamlet wrestles with an inner conflict that ultimately costs not only Claudius’ life, but also many others, including his own. He even feels that playing one role can transform his inner feelings as well. While one moment Hamlet is committed to revenge, the next moment he is not sure if Claudius was the killer. In one scene Hamlet praises acting and realizes his role, but in the next he decides to put off his deeds. If Hamlet had followed through with his actions, and had not debated so often, there would have been fewer deaths. Hamlet’s inability to act lead to everyone’s demise.
If Hamlet were to stop overthinking things and simply take action, he would have more time to enact revenge. Even so, he still does not act. Instead, Hamlet continues to brew over the possibilities, and even realizes that he is “thinking too precisely on th’event” (4, 4, 41). However, even when he is presented with the perfect opportunity for revenge, Hamlet’s pensiveness and hesitation causes him to lose this opportunity. At first, he is confident in his plan, but he then thinks, and realizes that “this is hire and salary, not revenge” (3, 3, 79). Because of his hesitation, he lets Claudius go, not knowing that “[Claudius’s] words fly up, [his]...
Hamlet could have easily killed Claudius at any moment if he did not care how it was done. However, Hamlet was looking for the perfect revenge and therefore he passed up many opportunities to kill Claudius. He could have easily followed Claudius out after the play and killed him, he could have easily attacked him while he was praying, or even at any point when he could get Claudius alone, but this would not have been the dramatic revenge that Hamlet was looking for. Hamlet delays his revenge of his fathers death not because he is a coward but because his psychological feelings and need for a perfect revenge cause him to delay in order to wait for the perfect moment to murder Claudius.
In Act 3, Scene 4, Hamlet finds Claudius alone and kneeling, making him vulnerable to attack. After drawing his sword, prepared to do the deed, Hamlet stops and states that killing Claudius then would be “hire and salary, not revenge” (line 79) . He instead decides to wait to wait until he catches Claudius performing “some act that has no relish of salvation in’t” ( lines 91-92). Essentially, Hamlet is procrastinating on killing Claudius, although he is given the opportunity to easily kill Claudius with no witnesses. To commit a murder and get away with it, these are ideal circumstances to work with. Procrastination in any task usually means that a person does not want to do the task, so, given what we currently know about Hamlet’s tendencies to avoid the subject of murdering Claudius, Hamlet’s excuse is simply his way of avoiding the unpleasant
First, Shakespeare makes it clear that Hamlet is acutely aware of the delay. Second, Shakespeare also makes it clear that Hamlet himself is not sure why he delays. At the end of the eighteenth century, Goethe in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship proposed that Shakespeare means, in Hamlet, to "represent the effects of a great action laid upon a soul unfit for the performance of it"(152). Hamlet is not sure about ghost?s says, he wants to reveal the fact, and prove his father's innocence, because his ghost said to him that Claudius killed him to gain king ship and his queen. From the religious point of view we can consider him as a religious man, we can disgust that he put off taking revenge, because in Christianity taking revenge is forbidden.
Hamlet's delay came from a conflict between action and awareness that made him see both sides of every issue. Hamlet realized that to avenge his father’s death, he must kill Claudius, but at the same time he knew that there would be consequences for this action. For example, in Act III, scene III, Hamlet had the opportunity to kill Claudius, but he believed that Claudius was praying. If Hamlet had killed Claudius when he was praying for forgiveness, Hamlet believed Claudius would have gone to heaven. Thinking this, Hamlet decided to wait until the king was doing something bad, so that Claudius would go to hell.