Response to Shakespeare's Presentation of the Responsibilities and Obligations Placed on Sons by Fathers in Hamlet

Response to Shakespeare's Presentation of the Responsibilities and Obligations Placed on Sons by Fathers in Hamlet

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is a play based on the theme of

revenge (otherwise known as a revenge tragedy). However there are

other themes to this play that may not be as obvious as the main.

Love, hate, madness are all other themes to this play, along with the

theme of responsibility to sons and fathers. This theme is sustained

throughout the whole play when, at the climax, the responsibility of

avenging his dead father is finally undertaken by Hamlet.

The first example of the responsibility of fathers and sons is right

at the beginning of the play with Hamlet and his father the old King

Hamlet. When Hamlet is informed about the appearance of his father’s

ghost Hamlet is not surprised, he just says “My fathers spirit-in

arms! All is not well. I doubt some foul play”. This shows that maybe

deep down Hamlet had some inkling that his father was killed instead

of just dying, which is what Gertrude believes.

Later on in the play Hamlet gets his chance to speak with the ghost,

and so begins the theme of revenge. Just as he expected the ghost is

of his father, dressed in his wartime armour (this may signify that he

is in some sort of defensive mode as if he has just been attacked,

later this can be linked to his murder by Claudius). King Hamlet

explains that his brother Claudius murdered him and Hamlet, as his

son, must avenge this death by killing Claudius, he says, “ Revenge

his foul and most unnatural murder”. King Hamlet then goes on to say

that it was his brother that killed him. He does not actually use

Claudius’ ...

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main role. In my opinion Laertes seemed to deal with this

responsibility in the best way as he just faced his problem head on

without fail. Hamlet, on the other hand, just procrastinated, and

eventually paid the price for this, as he may not have died had he

just killed Claudius when he had the chance. However, the fact that

Hamlet procrastinated may largely be due to the fact that he did have

to cope with so much more pressure than Laertes, therefore it would be

unfair to assume that he was putting it off whereas Laertes just got

on with it. Hamlet also had much more to lose, his mother, Ophelia,

his old friends and to an extent his mind.

Bibliography

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http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/hamlet/

http://www.pathguy.com/hamlet.htm

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/