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The imagery of hamlet
Themes in the play Hamlet
The imagery of hamlet
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Murder is insane; killing someone’s life for revenge is not any less different from murder and is far from being called “justice”. In today’s modern society, there is hardly anybody going around killing other people just to get back revenge, but in the novel, “Hamlet”, written by William Shakespeare, killing each other for revenge is a constant thing to do in their society. This book is all about tragedy, because there are so many deaths that happened at the end of the play. For example, King Claudius killed the late King Hamlet, so now Prince Hamlet is plotting to destroy King Claudius for murdering his dad. Prince Hamlet stabbed Polonius to death, so now Polonius’s son, Laertes, wants to kill Hamlet and has linked up with King Claudius …show more content…
The ghost of late King Hamlet came to Hamlet to inform him that Claudius had murdered him and demands Hamlet to execute him. Now, Hamlet is planning to avenge his deceased father by killing King Claudius, but does not know if he has committed the crime or not. Thus, having Prince Hamlet to change the scene in a play and have the actors play out late King Hamlet’s death called “The Mousetrap”. “Give me some light’ ‘Away!”(Shakespeare, pg 153, line 295). For example, this quote justifies that King Claudius had to do something with late King Hamlet’s death, because after the play Claudius cried for the lights to be turned on and then stormed out of the room. Hamlet knew Claudius was guilty by his sudden conscience outburst. By now, Hamlet is on a full rage to proceed with his actions of avenging his father’s passing. Later on throughout the novel, Hamlet achieves his promise to his deceased father by slashing Claudius’s across the neck and had him forced to drink the poison cup. Finally, the first motivation was Hamlet to King Claudius because Hamlet needed to find out if Claudius was guilty of murdering his father and to avenge late King Hamlet’s …show more content…
The first motivation, is Prince Hamlet to King Claudius to revenge his father and to find out if Claudius is guilty of killing late King Hamlet and to prove it Hamlet uses a theater play to testify his theory. The second motivation; King Claudius is against Prince Hamlet. Claudius found out that Hamlet knew he was the cause of his father’s death and is plotting against him to avenge the late King Hamlet, so now Claudius is coming up with plans to end his life without having the people of Denmark questioning Hamlet’s death. Claudius against late King Hamlet, because Claudius became jealous over his own brother and killed him making the late King Hamlet’s ghost appear to Prince Hamlet for revenge. These three motivations contain the same similarities, because they both have the same motivation to kill each other and the same outcome of death. Thoughts on the play, “Hamlet”, storyline was marvellous, because there were so many twists at the end that caught the reader 's attention. The ending left reader’s furious, because all the main characters died. It would have been wonderful if Prince Hamlet survived and became King of Denmark, but overall the play was amazing. Murdering someone does not always have to be the answer to find justice. Murder should never be the
Hamlet is obsessed with revenging his fathers murder; destroying Claudius and it is evident in the play. This obsession initiates Hamlet's behavior. The reasons for Hamlet's obsession with exacting revenge against Claudius are fairly straightforward. The ghost of Hamlet informed him that Claudius killed Hamlet Sr., seized his throne and robbed him of his father. After the ghost informs Hamlet of Claudius' crime, Hamlet realizes that if he does not kill Claudius, he may forever be locked in the painfully stressful mental state in which his obsession puts him. If he attempts or succeeds in killing Claudius, he risks experiencing psychological estrangement so intense that it could destroy his sense of identity. Whether he does or does not kill Claudius, he faces enormous psychological pain.
In the beginning of the play, Hamlet's father comes to him as a ghost from the grave. He tells Hamlet of his uncle's betrayal of him and tells Hamlet that he must kill Claudius to set things right. Through this event, Hamlet...
During the first act, Prince Hamlet meets the ghost of his father, King Hamlet. His father's ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius poured poison in his ear while he slept. The spirit also explains that he wishes for Hamlet to avenge his death, but not to punish Queen Gertrude for marrying Claudius. He tells Hamlet that she will have to answer to her conscience, and eventually God for her incestuous actions (absoluteshakespeare.com 1 of 4). It was believed during these times that when a person died, especially in such a tragic fashion, that their spirit lingered about while suffering in Purgatory. This could cause a normally virtuous person's spirit to become filled with malevolence and begin to meddle in living men's affairs (en.wikipedia.org 4 of 9). This belief caused Prince Hamlet to want to investigate his father's spirit's claims to ensure that they were indeed true. In order to do this, Prince Hamlet feigns madness in order to remain hidden from members of the court's suspicions while he plots his revenge on King Claudius (www.sparknotes.com 1 of 3). He also takes advantage of a group of actors who come to Elsinore Castle to perform by rewriting a play to recreate the scene of his father's murder. He does this with the hope of flushing a confession out of Claudius' guilty conscience. When Claudius sees the play, he stands up and leaves the room (en.wikipedia.org 5 of 9). After many more events, Claudius' guilt becomes more obvious. Claudius then begins to change his focus towards killing Hamlet, as he is beginning to become aware of the Prince's plans to kill him. Claudius then arranges a fencing match between Hamlet and Polonius' son Laertes and has Laertes poison the blade of one of his swords to be used in the match (Hamlet).
In Hamlet, William Shakespeare presents the main character Hamlet as a man who is fixated on death. Shakespeare uses this obsession to explore both Hamlet's desire for revenge and his need for assurance. In the process, Shakespeare directs Hamlet to reflect on basic principles such as justice and truth by offering many examples of Hamlet's compulsive behavior; as thoughts of death are never far from his mind. It is apparent that Hamlet is haunted by his father's death. When Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father, their conversation raises all kinds of unthinkable questions, for example murder by a brother, unfaithful mother, that triggers Hamlet's obsession. He feels compelled to determine the reliability of the ghost's statements so that he can determine how he must act. Ultimately, it is his obsession with death that leads to Hamlet avenging the death of his father by killing Claudius.
Furthermore, it is possible to propose that Shakespeare merely uses this scene to provoke irritation and consequently suspense from the audience. If Hamlet wasn’t given this opportunity to kill Claudius we would have not this insight into Hamlet’s indecisiveness, possible cowardice and inability to kill Claudius in cold blood. It is probable to suggest that through this soliloquy we are shown that Hamlet’s initial passion for revenge after the Ghost’s visitation has faded as the play progresses to merely thinking about killing Claudius.
“An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind,” Ghandi said, in an attempt to show how revenge will not end once it has begun. Throughout Hamlet this theme is addressed, extremely clearly, and the conclusion, the death of so many characters, many due to revenge, shows how a world filled with extensive revenge cannot exist as a world at all. Hamlet is a deep philosophical story, however, the theme of revenge lies just below the surface, if you look at all of the deaths, you may see that there was a high degree of hatred, bitterness, and anger throughout Denmark.
In Hamlet Prince of Denmark young Hamlet is left facing the outcomes of the conflict his father had with his brother. Old Hamlet is dead, killed by his own brother for the thrown of Denmark. Young Hamlet is in deep morning over the loss of his father and now he has to handle the remarriage of his mother to his own uncle, the man who in cold blood killed his father. Hamlet, with the death of his father, is acting strangely but his whole outlook changes for the worst when his father's ghost visits him. He finds out the true causes of his death and he is influenced by his father to seek revenge. Hamlet's father tells his son to kill his uncle, Claudius because he is the cause of his death. Hamlet loved his father deeply and would do anything for him. He becomes enraged with anger and hate for Claudius and begins to plot his revenge, Claudius' own death. Throughout the play his father's ghost visits Hamlet. Even after his death he has a great control over his son and his actions. These visits are a constant reminder to Hamlet of the truth. Knowing the truth of his father's death has driven Hamlet to the brink of insanity. The only thing he can think of is revenge. His father's death and prior conflict with his brother has left Hamlet in a position of honoring his father and doing right by him, and the only thing he sees fit to do is rid himself of the man that brought about the anger Hamlet is feeling. In the end Hamlet finally gets the revenge he sought with the death of Claudius.
Being the primary character, there is a greater focus on Hamlet’s pursuit of revenge, since throughout the play his mind and actions plagued by both uncertainty and angry notions towards his mother’s infidelity rather than the “murder most foul”. Unlike both Laertes and Fortinbras, Hamlet's desire for revenge is not implanted by his own will but rather by his father’s ghost; through his encounter the ghost pleads his son’s loyalty by promising the murder Claudius. Initially Hamlet's interaction with the Ghost was one of curiosity and glee which opposes his prior melanch...
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.
Hamlet is unlike the other two characters in the way that he uses reason and logic before he acts and decides to kill his uncle, Claudius, because he is aware of the consequences. For example, when Hamlet is trying to determine how he can prove Claudius the murderer, after conversing with the players about the play, following Hamlet’s reasoning that the ghost could be a devil trying to deceive him, in his soliloquy he states, “I’ll observe his looks… If he do blench, / I know my course… I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” (II, ii, 625-634). He reattaches himself to his revenge based on the logic of Claudius’ guilt. If Claudius does not feel guilty and has no reaction to the play, Hamlet will not act because logically Claudius was not to blame. Subsequently, Hamlet discovers that Claudius is guilty and commits himself to taking his life, but when Hamlet approaches Claudius and sees him praying he thinks to himself, he shouldn’t kill him there saying, “That would be scanned:/ A villain kills my father, and for that, / I, his sole son, do this same villain send/ to heaven… this is… not revenge.” (III, iii, 80-84). As Hamlet over thinks his actions he reasons himself out of killing Claudius because he compares how Claudius would die, to his father’s death. By over thinking this he stalls and has more time to think about w...
Throughout Shakespeare’s play, revenge intertwines to bring about the deaths of most of the main characters. Hamlet’s course of revenge initiates the first fatality when Polonius gets caught spying on him and Gertrude (III. iv. 24-25). By pursuing revenge, Hamlet killing Polonius paves the way for more lives to be lost. Claudius sees the murder as an opportunity to eliminate Hamlet, because Laertes’s obsession with revenge leaves him vulnerable. Laertes’s and Hamlet’s revenge lead to the deaths of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and finally Hamlet (V. ii. 287-357). The revenge of each character ironically ended their own life. By acting upon revenge and having inimical intentions, the individuals brought fatalities that were unnecessary.
Revenge is a recurring theme in Hamlet. Although Hamlet wants to avenge his father’s death, he is afraid of what would result from this. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet’s unwillingness to revenge appears throughout the text; Shakespeare exhibits this through Hamlet’s realization that revenge is not the right option, Hamlet‘s realization that revenge is the same as the crime which was already committed, and his understanding that to revenge is to become a “beast” and to not revenge is as well (Kastan 1).
When the ghost of King Hamlet first appears to young Hamlet, he injunctions three requirements he needs Hamlet to act upon. Revenge his father’s death, do not emotionally affect his mother, Gertrude, with the killing of her new husband, Claudius, and to not let himself go insane by trying to accomplish these vital tasks. Hamlet is bewildered, overwhelmed, and shocked with what the ghost of his father told him, and responds with “ haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift as mediation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge” (1.5.29-31). This response from young Hamlet makes the audience believe that the plot against Claudius will be very swift. Yet on the other hand you get this sensitive side from the response because Hamlet compares the quickness of taking revenge, to the pace two people falling in love with each other. Eventually the revenge of his father’s death takes place, but not until the very end of the play, and the way Hamlet took revenge against Claudius is not how he had planned on doing it. Hamlet wanted the revenge of Claudius to be a very quick and a secret like task, yet his own emotions and conscience caused the murder to be a complete massacre and tragedy. The inj...
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is full of revenge between multiple characters in the play. After seeing the ghost of his father, Hamlet was determined to get his revenge on his uncle, Claudius, for murdering his father and marrying his mother. Hamlet had multiple chances for revenge but was not willing to let his uncle go to Heaven after the crimes he committed. He used schemes and was able to avoid being killed by Claudius. Hamlet’s revenge did not go as planned, seeing that he killed more people than intended and was also killed himself. After the duel between Hamlet and Laertes, Hamlet was finally able to kill his uncle for the wrong actions that he committed.
In the play, there are several characters wanting vengeance like that of Hamlet. Throughout the play, Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras all had a tragic death of a family member which caused their decision for revenge. Consequentially, these revenges caused the demise of two characters and the rise of power of another. The retaliation shown by the Prince of Denmark, as well as Laertes led to the downfall of their government. In the play, Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle Claudius.