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Prince Hamlet tragedy
The problems of hamlet
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There's a sort of rage a man feels when he's been deceived where he most trusted. It compares to no other anger. - Orson Scott Card. Betrayal is an act of disloyalty, treachery, violating trust, or breaching confidence. Betrayal is a reoccurring theme in the tragic Shakespeare play, Hamlet. Many of the characters deceive one another as well as deny their own feelings, betraying themselves. The secrecy and dishonesty of the characters show that the actions of humans do not always relate to their appearances in society. Hamlet by William Shakespeare was said to have been inspired by the death of Shakespeare’s only son Hamnet. Shakespeare often wondered if God had betrayed him. Hamlet struggles with betrayal and betraying others in this play. The idea of betrayal is universal, seen throughout classic literature, cinema, and even everyday issues such as divorce and adultery.
The most obvious act of betrayal is the murder of King Hamlet. Claudius is clearly seen as the villain, he has killed his brother to marry his sister in law and extort the throne. But as we go more in depth there may be another who played a part in King Hamlet’s death, Queen Gertrude. After only two months after the death of her husband she marries his (King Hamlet’s) brother Claudius. Claudius and Gertrude quickly move on from the death of King Hamlet and do not mourn for the appropriate amount of time. To the public they seem very rapturous and in control but in reality, they are both dealing with the guilt of their immoral actions as well as how their actions have affected Hamlet, who appears to have gone mad following the death of his father. Why would Gertrude go to severe lengths to make Hamlet get over the loss of his father? And to make matters worse G...
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...this does count as Ophelia betraying Hamlet, Hamlet takes this to a new extreme by not only insulting her, denying he loves her, and humiliating her on several occasions he even goes as far as to kill her father. And although he doesn’t mean to kill Polonius he actually could care less, and literally insults to corpse. By denying his love for Ophelia, he leaves her confused and broken hearted. She didn’t understand why the man she loved was now acting as though he was disgusted by her and as if he never cared for her at all. Hamlet’s hasty actions continue when he abruptly murders Polonius, Ophelia’s father. This drives Ophelia into madness. Hamlet truly loves Ophelia, but she will never know because of his deceptive actions. When Hamlet denies his feelings for Ophelia he also betrays himself. He denies himself happiness and causes himself more pain than necessary.
Hamlet's behavior throughout the play, especially towards Ophelia is inconsistent. He jumps into Ophelia's grave, and fights with Laertes in her grave. He professes I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/Could not, with all their quantity of love,/ Make up my sum [Act V, scene I, lines 250-253], during the fight with Laertes in Ophelia's grave, but he tells her that he never loved her, when she returns his letters and gifts, while she was still alive. Hamlet subtly hints his awareness of his dissolving sanity as he tells Laertes that he killed Polonius in a fit of madness [Act V, scene II, lines 236-250]
Deceit is a major cause of the downfall of Hamlet. This is demonstrated in three instances in the play. First, Polonius spies on Hamlet while he is talking privately with his mother Gertrude. Second, Claudius sends Hamlet away to England. Finally, Laertes and Claudius scheme to kill Hamlet.
It is here that one begins to see the theme of revenge and the idea that power can cause corruption. A family is supposed to be loyal and trusting of each other without any doubts; or so it was thought. Shakespeare uses Claudius’ betrayal of late King Hamlet to disprove the notion that family is always loyal. Claudius’ jealousy of his own brother and his desire to be the most powerful in Denmark corrupted him. It led him to betray his own family, a bond that is supposed to be unbreakable, and all the while feeling no guilt while acting as if he had not committed the crime. In addition to this, Claudius also takes late King Hamlet’s wife. Hamlet is enraged by the crime and adultery committed by his supposed family and feels he must seek justice for his father by taking out revenge on Claudius and therefore betraying him. Subsequently, the play becomes a slippery slope of events stemming from betrayal and revenge. The betrayal of one character became the revenge and betrayal of many others as seen when Horatio says, “… violent and unnatural acts, terrible accidents, casual murders, deaths caused by trickery and by threat, and finally murderous plans that backfired on their perpetrators,” showing that each act committed by the characters were returned back to them. This can be supported through the deaths of Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet as these were just a
King Hamlet's "foul and most unnatural murder" (Shakespeare I.v.31) tops Claudius' list of egregious sins. Using his mastery of manipulation, Claudius, the “incestuous” and “adulterate beast” managed to win the honorable queen Gertrude by using the “shameful lust [of her] will” (I.v.49…52-53). Claudius had to use verbal trickery to influence Gertrude into switching husbands that quickly after her husband’s death, which shows his true skill: lying convincingly. Claudius manages to validate his ascent to the throne by diverting attention away from him and to the attack by the young Fortinbras of Norway (I.ii.1-38). The most horrible of Claudius’ crimes is his lack of emotion over his traitorous fratricide. Claudius does not even give his late brother a word of respect; instead the focus is upon the future of Denmark. Claudius goes so far as to chastise Hamlet for his “unmanly grief” (I.ii.98), emphasizing that for the benefit of Denmark; all those affected by the death of King Hamlet should keep a strong façade. Later in Hamlet, Claudius begins to openly express his remorse and recognizes the immorality of his actions when he says himself: “O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven;/ It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t, / A brother’s murder. Pray cannot I” (III.iii.40-42). He expresses his grief and sin in private but keeps a façade in front of the rest of the kingdom. Claudius is
She believes Hamlet loves her “Young men will do ‘t, if they come to ‘t; By Cock, they are to blame… Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed.”(4.5.?) Polonius thinks she is naïve in thinking Hamlet loves her “… Unsifted in such perilous circumstance” Hamlet does love her though, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum…” (5.1.284-286) but does not show this until after her death. She has no choice but to betray Hamlet and his love, and she is also naïve in thinking what her father wants her to do is in her best interest when really he is using her relationship to find out Hamlet’s
First there is the killing of Polonius. When he kills Polonius, the father of his girlfriend, he shows no sign of regret. No guilt. He is so caught up in his own little world of revenge, he doesn't even think of the fact that he just killed an innocent old man and the father of Ophelia. In fact, there is no point in the entire text in which he even mentions Ophelia. This just goes to show that he doesn’t truly care about Ophelia, which as state is the necessary component of love. The second deciding scene is that of Ophelia’s funeral. Hamlet has gone the whole text since the play in act three scene two without a word about Ophelia. Then *bang* Ophelia is dead and he's seeing her funeral. He observes as a distraught Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, throws himself into her grave in grief. Hamlet’s response to this is not a of shared sorrow but of competition. He starts by saying to Laertes “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum” (5.1.284-287). Rather than just grieve for her, he fights with her grieving brother about who loved her more. While this may seem like a loving gesture, there has been no other proof of his love for her throughout the play which make this seem a bit strange. It is as if he wants to have loved her so that he can have emotions that are more important than everyone else’s. Hamlet even accuses Laertes of just trying “to outface” him “with leaping in her grave” (5.1.295). Hamlet would actually be grieve the lose of Ophelia and not fighting over whose emotions matter more if he had truly loved
The first evident occurrence of ambiguity in the play is whether or not Gertrude knows that Claudius murdered Hamlet Sr. During her discussion with Hamlet, there is no clear evidence to prove that she did or did not know. Gertrude appears to be very heartbroken by the information being relayed to her by Hamlet as she explains that “[the] words like daggers enter in [her] ears” (3.4.98), and “turn’st [her] eyes into [her] very soul” (3.4.91). Gertrude 's reaction to the news leaves undeniable room for questions as she could be feeling this guilt because she does know what Claudius did, or because she has been blinded by Claudius’ charm and married him after all he had done to his own family. The answer is left completely to the reader 's interpretation. In continuance, when Gertrude confides in Claudius about what she had spoken to Hamlet about, it is unclear if she truly believes he is as “mad as the sea and wind when both contend” (4.1.7), or if she is simply obeying her sons wishes. She does not have any soliloquies or side comments that could help the readers to interpret her inner thoughts. Therefore, it is absolutely an ambiguous situation as there is no evidence to thoroughly support either of the possible thoughts she could have. Finally, readers are left with questions and curiosities in regards to Gertrude 's true reason
The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is strained at first. From the beginning of the play to act III, Hamlet is bitter with his mother. He feels this way because it has been less than four months since the death of his biological father, yet she is already remarried to Claudius. He feels his father is being betrayed from her lack of mourning. She tells her son to "cast thy nighted color off" (I.ii.68) and "all that lives must die" (I.ii.72). Clearly, she isn't grieving over her late husband's death and instead puts forth an optimistic attitude to her new husband and life. Gertrude's concern with Hamlet's odd behaviour after his encounter with Ophelia in act II scene i also shows the strain in their relationship. For example, she agrees with Claudius' words that "of Hamlet's transformation" (II.ii.5) and suggests Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy and find out the underlying cause of her son's problems. In addition to that, she consents Polonius to hide behind the tapestry in act III scene iv without Hamlet knowing. These two decisions suggest their inability to communicate. Instead, spying is required for Gertrude to find out about her son's inner mentality. The mother and ...
Claudius is seen in Hamlets eyes as a horrible person because he convicted murder and incest. Claudius had killed the king of Denmark, Old Hamlet, to obtain the position of the throne. He had been jealous of Old Hamlet’s wife Gertrude and wanted to marry her for her power. Although, such an act would be called incest and considered unnatural he did not care, all he had cared about was the power that he would be stealing from Hamlet and Old Hamlet, Gertrude’s son and husband (R). When Hamlet had talked to his f...
middle of paper ... ... Gertrude betrays Hamlet as a mother, she does not believe in him or trust him, she goes behind his back and blocks out Hamlet and his feelings and marries Claudius which really hurts Hamlet. Gertrude as a wife and mother, hurts the people she most loved, her family. The Shakespearean play of Hamlet captures the audience with many suspenseful and devastating themes, including betrayal. Some of the most loved characters get betrayed by those who they thought loved them most.
Genuine people are few and far in between. Honesty is always hidden under the mystery of corruption. Wherever you go, people seem to put on mask and hide who they truly are become hidden from the outside world. Their motives are unknown but they have a deep, dark necessity to act and play a different role when they are in the presence of others. However, this doesn’t pertain to just people in the real world, it also occurs in the world of Shakespeare. The audience quickly finds that just like in their everyday life, fictional characters can also play a different role to achieve what they truly desire. Consequently, these characters develop a sense of dishonesty throughout the story and this dishonesty eventually leads to the destruction of their plans. Just like a weak foundation of a building, a weak personality will eventually crumple in ruin. In order to capture the recurring theme of dishonesty, William Shakespeare uses the death of King Hamlet to force a façade of security and responsibility on the major characters in his play, Hamlet.
Hamlet is seen as one of the most complex literary character of all time. The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude can be interpreted in many ways. Hamlet’s motivation for killing Claudius is not to avenge his father’s death, but because of his love for his mother Gertrude. This is where the Oedipus complex comes into play in Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
Throughout this process, his relationship with his uncle Claudius and mother Gertrude worsen. Hamlet and Claudius’ tainted relationship successively intensifies through their planned plots to kill one another. The relationship between Hamlet and his mother Gertrude worsen due to her shameful acts, and her disregard towards her son in his times of need. If it had not been for this corruption between the family, Denmark would’ve continued to be ruled by an honourable and truthful family. Instead, the kingdom of Denmark became rife with dishonesty, eventually leading to the death of Hamlet and Claudius, the ultimate
Hamlet’s sense of betrayal by Gertrude, although briefly taking him off course, ultimately infuriates and intensifies his urge for revenge. Because of Gertrude’s refusal to acknowledge her sins, Hamlet becomes even more personally motivated to kill Claudius for revenge. Queen Gertrude, though ignorant, has a huge impact on the play because her betrayal and abandonment motivates Hamlet to get revenge. When writing Hamlet, Shakespeare created a complex play that relies on the roles of two important women to aid the progression of the plot. Although Queen Gertrude and Ophelia rarely speak, they function as a way for the men to become informed about Hamlet’s mental state and motives for madness.
How Gertrude can marry the brother, and murderer of her deceased husband beats me! How she got re-married so quickly after the death, and without even consulting with her son Hamlet just proves how much of an ugly person she really is. "Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables."( I;ii; 180-181). What beats me is how even after Hamlet told his mother that Claudius was responsible for his fathers death, she still decided to stay with him. Which is absolute proof of how self centred she is, and how much her son means to her. "A bloody deed almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king, and marry his brother."( III;iv;29-30). Hamlet, now having no blood family left to lean on, finds himself feeling very alone. But cannot see his downfall coming.