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Character of Shakespeare's Hamlet
What is Hamlet like after the death of his father
What is Hamlet like after the death of his father
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Recommended: Character of Shakespeare's Hamlet
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare the main character Hamlet experiences many troubles throughout the play. Hamlet is the prince of Denmark, his father Old Hamlet the current king of Denmark was killed in his sleep by poison in his ear. Hamlet is set out to seek revenge and avenge his father by finding justice in all those who are responsible. He soon finds out his uncle Claudius who is now king of Denmark is responsible for the death of his father, Claudius’s own brother. This one of the most popular plays by William Shakespeare because it provides all the elements of a perfect tragedy in one. After proving that King Claudius is the one responsible for the death of his father after seeing his reaction during the play directed by Hamlet, Hamlet must now take matters into his own hands and take care of Claudius himself. 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 …show more content…
In the final scene of the play Hamlets last attempt to kill Claudius is a successful one. In the midst of all the scuffle Hamlet gets ahold of Laertes sword and during the duel stabs him with his own poisoned sword. Laertes tells all that Claudius is to blame for the Poisoned drinks and Swords Hamlet then gains all his courage and without hesitation finally kills Claudius by stabbing Claudius with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink the poisoned wine. In his final attempt Hamlet showed no signs of any second thoughts and at that moment he knew what exactly he had to do, to not avenge only his father but now his mother too, in Scene 5 Act 2 Gertrude drank from one of the poisoned drinks accidentally and ends up tragically dying in front of
Ultimately, Hamlet does decide to kill Claudius. He does so for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, his mother; in drinking Claudius' drink and poisoning herself, she becomes conscious of Claudius' treachery and implies withdrawal of all support of Claudius. This eliminates the threat of motherly estrangement, virtually paving the way for Hamlet to kill Claudius. Also, however, Laertes informs Hamlet of his knowledge of Claudius' treachery in the very end, as well as his distaste for Claudius, thus removing the threat of friend estrangement. In addition, Claudius' treachery is itself immoral, justifying Hamlet to kill him on principle and since Hamlet was mortally wounded, he had nothing to lose.
Prince Hamlet, a university student, is an extremely philosophical and thoughtful character. When his father the King of Denmark dies, Hamlet returns home only to be presented with evidence that suggests his uncle Claudius may have been responsible for his father’s murder. In the initial acts of the tragedy, Hamlet seeks to prove his uncle’s guilt and contemplates all of his actions and options, prior to seeking revenge.
During the final scene and act of Hamlet, both foils are engaged in an alleged friendly battle, where the king has placed a bet on Hamlet that he will win over Laertes. After their battle Laertes manages to hit Hamlet with the poisoned tip of his foil and in turn Hamlet gets him back. After the queen falls and dies, Laertes states to Hamlet “Hamlet, thou art slain: ...here I lie, never to rise again: thy mother’s poison’d: I can no more: the king, the king’s to blame” (5.2.306-313). Laertes tells Hamlet that he is going to die due to the poisoned blade, also that he himself is also going to die for the same reason and that Gertrude is also going to die for drinking the poisoned cup that was intend for Hamlet. He also states that Claudius is the one who devised everything. This line symbolizes how Hamlets prolonged revenge caused the deaths of so many innocent lives that had nothing to do with his father’s death. If he killed Claudius in the church or before that, then Hamlet wouldn’t have had so many lives lost during the cross-fire. After Laertes got wounded by his own sword he stated that “Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric: I am justly kill’d with mine own treachery’ (5.7.299-300). Laertes admits that his plan backfired by killing him. He caused his own death, but unlike Hamlet, Laertes didn’t kill any innocents along the way with his plan except himself. Finally after all his time spent acting mad, choosing to live or not, hesitating to act upon chance Hamlet finally kills Claudius “Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?’’ (5.2.318-319). Hamlet killed Claudius with the same weapon he had killed his father being the poison. Even though after such a prolonged mission, Hamlet kept his word that he promised to himself during Claudius’s confession “or about some
Hamlet is first tormented by the death of his father, the king of Denmark. Then he is cast into utter agony when Gertrude, the mother he loves dearly is hastily married to his uncle, Claudius. Through a ghostly revelation, Hamlet learns that his suspicions that Claudius murdered his father are true. He becomes incensed and wants to enact revenge upon the guilty party. From this point on, Hamlet struggles with his plan for revenge that conflicts with his opposite contemplative nature.
Hamlet only kills Claudius when he has also murdered the queen, Laertes, and has also poisoned himself. It takes a threat of death to do what his own dead father orders him to do. A largely held opinion is that he is to emotional to do it, but it is when his emotions all come together that he murders Polonius. Another opinion is that he to full of morals to kill, but how then can he alter a note and literally sentence two old friends who were just following orders too death. It is also believed that he is too cowardly to go through with it, but if a man is bold enough to face a ghost, confront a queen and kill an eavesdropper, than what should stop him from avenging his father and ridding Denmark of the disease that infests it's royal line. The answer is simple, he is to smart to get around to doing it.
Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia. Hamlet ends up deceiving everyone around him, and also himself, by putting on a mask of insanity. In spite of the fact that Hamlet attempts to act morally in order to kill his uncle, he delays his revenge of his fathers’ death, harming others by his irritating actions. Despite Hamlets’ decisive character, he comes to a point where he realizes his tragic limits.
More tragic play The tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark is the most popular works of William Shakespeare. Probably the popularity of this play lies in the use of character of Hamlet in exemplifying the human mind through its complex workings. Hamlet’s internal dilemma of making the decision whether he should revenge the death of his father or not was a crucial turn in his life as the state of mind was the main reason which effected the decision power one makes in his life. His uncle Claudius was the one who murdered his father and the moment when the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears and asks Hamlet as to when the revenge of his foul and most unnatural murder is to take place. From this point onward Hamlet is under a constant dilemma. He does not find himself ready to take the revenge. If Hamlet had killed Claudius at the first opportunity than the revenge would have been taken but his internal dilemma would have never been solved. This play became very popular and the reason for the popularity was Shakespeare’s use of the character Hamlet and through this character he has tried to exemplify the complex workings of human’s mind. Shakespeare used emotion, reason and attitude of Hamlet to allow the readers to form an opinion or make a judgment about the basic aspects of the life of human beings. The reason the prince could not take the revenge of his father’s death was that he was a man of great moral integrity and to take revenge was an act which was against his deepest principals. Some of the other behaviors of the prince was that after the death of his father Hamlet became so disenchanted with his life that he lost all his desire and will to take any kind of revenge. Due to the delay in revenge Shakespeare was able to develop th...
William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a play that tells of a young man, Hamlet, who wanted revenge for the death of his father. After speaking with his father's spirit, Hamlet was led to believe that the person who murdered his father was his uncle, Claudius. Claudius kills his brother mainly because of jealousy, the crown, the queen and a hatred of his brother. Therefore Claudius is guilty of the murder of his brother.
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.
Claudius is one of the main characters responsible for his own death in the play because he portrays himself to be untouchable; not thinking clearly of the consequences to his actions. He starts off by killing his own brother and marrying his queen, Gertrude, only because he lust power and sex. His cold-hearted actions make him the antagonist of Hamlet and most deserving of death. Through all of his malicious actions, he plans a duel between Laertes and Hamlet assuring Hamlet’s death as well by poisoning a drink and the end of Laertes’ sword. He definitely got a taste of his own medicine because he died a rightful death by the sa...
Claudius killed Hamlet’s dad and then married his mom to become the leader of Denmark. Later in the play, Hamlet sees his dad’s ghost and is informed of the horrific act committed by his uncle. Hamlets’ dad’s ghost says, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I. V. 25). Hamlets’ dad says this to Hamlet so that his uncle could get retribution for his actions. Hamlet has many opportunities to kill Claudius, but is unable because of the wrong timing.
Hamlet's character lends itself to a possible motivation for his unwillingness to kill Claudius. He is a scholar, and a student of theology. It is a moral dilemma for Hamlet to kill without a just cause, or kill at all. He wants proof of the part his uncle and his mother played in his father's death. His royal birth leads him to consider his responsibilities to his country, which is Hamlet's internal conflict throughout the play.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare focuses on the title character plotting vengeance against Claudius for his father's murder to capture the Danish crown. The new king is also Hamlet's uncle and now stepdad due to the marriage with his mother, Gertrude. Through a sequence of events, the protagonist eventually avenges his father, although both his mother and himself fall to a tragic fate as well. Throughout the course of the play, the relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude changes from strained to a disrespectful and mistrustful to a bittersweet ending.
Hamlet is a tale of tragedy by Shakespeare which tells the story of the prince of Denmark who is on a quest to avenge the death of his father at the hands of his uncle whom subsequently becomes king of Denmark. This is what fuels the fire in the play as Hamlet feels the responsibility to avenge his father’s death by his uncle Claudius; however, Claudius assumed the throne following the death of hamlets father. It is in this context that we see the evolution of hamlets character from a student and young prince of Denmark to the protagonist and tragic hero in the play.
Old Hamlet is killed by his brother Claudius. Only two months after her husband’s death a vulnerable Gertrude marries her husband’s brother Claudius. Gertrude’s weakness opens the door for Claudius to take the throne as the king of Denmark. Hamlet is outraged by this, he loses respect for his mother as he feels that she has rejected him and has taken no time to mourn her own husband’s death. One night old Hamlets ghost appears to prince Hamlet and tells him how he was poisoned by his own brother. Up until this point the kingdom of Denmark believed that old Hamlet had died of natural causes. As it was custom, prince Hamlet sought to avenge his father’s death. This leads Hamlet, the main character into a state of internal conflict as he agonises over what action and when to take it as to avenge his father’s death. Shakespeare’s play presents the reader with various forms of conflict which plague his characters. He explores these conflicts through the use of soliloquies, recurring motifs, structure and mirror plotting.