Essay On Poison In Hamlet

1009 Words3 Pages

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet tells a grim story of loss and tragedy. Unfortunately for those suffering from loss in Shakespeare’s tale, the tragedy is not natural as thought to be. In truth, all of the tragedy fabricated in Hamlet is caused by a single act of betrayal; the poisoning of Hamlet’s father, the King of Denmark. Claudius, the brother of King Hamlet, acts as the administrator of the poison that physically kills King Hamlet, as well as the poison that seeps into the lives of the people of Denmark. Derivative from this situation, poison, or sickness in general, becomes a very important theme. Not only is poison used physically as a weapon, it is also strongly metaphorical. Shakespeare drives the themes of poison and disease using extremely
Denmark is thought to have been “healthy” when King Hamlet led the state. The act of poisoning King Hamlet is the introduction of a metaphorical disease to the health of the state of Denmark itself. Francisco’s line “’tis bitter cold/ and I am sick at heart” (1.1.9-10) works in concert with Marcellus’s “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” (1.4.90) to show the effect of the newly diseased state on its people. Claudius’s traitorous act has a seemingly supernatural effect on the people of Denmark as they have an instinctual sense of something being amiss. In addition to this supernatural effect, the appearance of the ghost of King Hamlet is also very supernatural and presents an omen of disease and bad health. The idea that Claudius so easily murdered King Hamlet and plagued the entirety of the state of Denmark is disturbing and allows him to be seen by the audience as an evil villain. His greed and selfishness takes the lives of all those he loves including, his own. Ironically, Claudius is slain by his own method of murder; poison. Laertes, who agreed to join Claudius in the murder of Hamlet, admits to his own ironic death stating “I am justly kill’d with my own treachery” (5.2.318). It was through poison that King Hamlet was murdered and Denmark was plagued with an evil leader, and it was through poison that the evil leader was defeated and Denmark was cured with a noble leader. Poison strangely becomes the antidote to its own sickly

Show More
Related

  • The Concealment of Ones True Inner Nature in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    Claudius is responsible for the death of King Hamlet, regardless of this, he wants to portray himself as someone that is worthy of running the nation of Denmark. Claudius connects to the people of Denmark by demonstrating that they are all participating in the grieving of King Hamlet, “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief” (I.ii.1-3). King Hamlet’s death is very recent, but Claudius places himself as someone that is part of the kingdom that will be mourning the death of King Hamlet. This is demonstrated through irony since instead of mourning he is actually enjoying what King Hamlet has left behind; the nation of Denmark and his wife, Gertrude. Through this, Claudius also demonstrates that he wants others to believe that he has not done anything wrong. In order to convey the image of being healthy, Claudius and his court drink merrily within the castle; making the excesses that the court enjoys apparent. Hamlet is not fond of the drinking but then comes to the conclusion that “His virtues else, be they as pure as grace, As infinite as man may undergo, Shall in the general censure take corruption” (I.iv.33-35). Hamlet then foreshadows his own destiny. No matter how good a person may be, that person can become corrupt due to something that has ...

    Read More

  • Insanity and Procrastination: An Analysis of Hamlet’s Inaction and Mental Degeneration

    1144 Words  | 3 Pages

    Vengeance, redemption, and desire plague Denmark’s royal family in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet after a haunting family secret forces Prince Hamlet to choose between morality and honor. After Hamlet’s father dies, the kingdom hastily adjusts to his uncle Claudius’ reign; however, Hamlet remains devastated and loyal to his father. When his father’s ghost unveils that Claudius poisoned King Hamlet, the prince’s devastation mixes with a fervent desire for revenge that eventually dictates his every thought. Despite being ostensibly committed to avenging his father’s death, Hamlet habitually discovers reasons to delay action. As Hamlet’s procrastination persists, his familial relations deteriorate and ultimately cause him to reevaluate his position in society. Furthermore, Hamlet becomes chronically paranoid and calculates each aspect of his plan; therefore, the audience doubts his ability to successfully exact revenge. This paranoia escalates exponentially and fuels an uncontrollable obsession with perfection that usurps his sanity. Although Hamlet remains devoted to his murdered father, his perpetual procrastination eventually leads to mental degeneration through decaying relationships, prompting incessant paranoia, and fostering uncontrollable obsessions.

    Read More

  • Exploring Mortality in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    The lesser known character of Marcellus coins an important quote that alludes to the play’s overall theme of corruption and death without explicitly stating it. While talking to Horatio, Marcellus says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” (1.4.90) This line symbolizes the overall idea of a decaying Denmark, as it correlates to the rottenness of Claudius and Gertrude’s marriage, and the corrupt assassination of King Hamlet. Marcellus is commenting to Horatio about the impending trouble in the near future of Denmark, as he has a premonition that a rotten force is leading the nation to its demise. Discreetly Claudius has already begun the sequence of mayhem in Denmark by murdering King Hamlet, however his malicious actions also lead to the decay of Hamlet’s psychological stability and able

    Read More

  • Self Doubt in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Shakespeare is widely known for his ability to take a sad story, illustrate it with words, and make it a tragedy. Usually human beings include certain discrepancies in their personalities that can at times find them in undesirable or difficult situations. However, those that are exemplified in Shakespeare’s tragedies include “character flaws” which are so destructive that they eventually cause their downfall. For example, Prince Hamlet, of Shakespeare’s tragedy play “Hamlet,” is seemingly horrified by what the ghost of his father clarifies concerning his death. Yet the actions executed by Hamlet following this revelation do not appear to coincide with the disgust he expresses immediately after the ghost alerts him of the true cause of his death. Thus, it is apparent that the instilled self doubt of Prince Hamlet is as the wand that Shakespeare uses to transform an otherwise sad story to an unfortunate tragedy.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Essay

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of William Shakespeare’s greatest works is a play entitled Hamlet. This play is about Prince Hamlet whose father, the king, was killed by his Uncle, Claudius, who then took the throne. Shortly after the death of his father, Gertrude, his mother, married Claudius. His father comes back as a ghost and tells him about the murder and asks him to seek revenge on Claudius. This is when a great controversy arises that is debatable to this day. Hamlet begins to act mad to set up his revenge on Claudius. The question is, does Hamlet still truly possess his sanity, or is he really mad?

    Read More

  • How Does Hamlet Fit In Modern American Society

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    Always in Shakespeare reading we learn many different themes. The play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare is a classic published in 1603. The story goes through Hamlet’s everyday thoughts of life, love, people and other ideologies. Hamlet story teaches us throughout the story that he hates King Claudius with a ceaseless passion because he poisoned his brother in order to marry the queen and take the crown. Hamlet is the prince and his mother’s marriage to Claudius causes him to have a deep rooted hatred towards women which pushes him to hate sex. As a result, we see how deeply Hamlet values inner truth and his hatred for deceit. After learning Hamlet’s philosophy of life we see that he would not fit in modern American society. Therefore, Hamlet

    Read More

  • Free Hamlet Essays: Weak and Pitiful Hamlet

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet’s sanity began to deteriorate when learned that his father’s death was not an accident, but rather a foul deed committed by the newly crowned King of Denmark. “If thou didst ever thy dear father love – Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” [Act I, v l .23-25]. As a mysterious ghost appeared in the terrace, Hamlet learned of a murderer that would prove his fealty towards his father. As he contemplated the appalling news recently brought to his attention, the control Hamlet had over his actions was questioned. “O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables meet it is I set it down, That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain. At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark,” [Act I, v l. 106-109]. Hamlet’s hatred toward his father’s killer caused him to relate the tribulations between murder and the aspects of Denmark as a country together. As with most of the conflicts Hamlet faced, his lack of ability to avenge his father’s death, furthered the deterioration of his life and surroundings.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Betrayal

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 who they thought loved them most. The things these characters do to the people they love are wrong, hurtful and disappointing. These examples lead to the destruction of many characters physically and emotionally. The characters in the play who committed the act of betrayal end up paying for what they have done in the form of death, either from nature, their selfishness, disloyalty and madness. The act of betrayal truly captures and displays the play of Hamlet as a sad tragedy.

    Read More

  • Hamlet: The Bewildering Human Condition

    1242 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a complex and ambiguous public exploration of key human experiences surrounding the aspects of revenge, betrayal and corruption. The Elizabethan play is focused centrally on the ghost’s reoccurring appearance as a symbol of death and disruption to the chain of being in the state of Denmark. The imagery of death and uncertainty has a direct impact on Hamlet’s state of mind as he struggles to search for the truth on his quest for revenge as he switches between his two incompatible values of his Christian codes of honour and humanist beliefs which come into direct conflict. The deterioration of the diseased state is aligned with his detached relationship with all women as a result of Gertrude’s betrayal to King Hamlet which makes Hamlet question his very existence and the need to restore the natural order of kings. Hamlet has endured the test of time as it still identifies with a modern audience through the dramatized issues concerning every human’s critical self and is a representation of their own experience of the bewildering human condition, as Hamlet struggles to pursuit justice as a result of an unwise desire for revenge.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Revenge Essay

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Conflict in William Shakespeare's Hamlet

    2442 Words  | 5 Pages

    From this play we learn of the difficulty associated with taking a life as Hamlet agonises as to how and when he should kill Claudius and furthermore whether he should take his own life. Hamlet being a logical thinker undergoes major moral dilemma as he struggles to make accurate choices. From the internal conflict that the playwright expresses to us it is evident that it can kill someone, firstly mentally then physically. The idea of tragedy is explored in great detail through conflict where the playwright’s main message is brought across to the audience; Shakespeare stresses to his audience the point that conflict be it internal or external it can bring upon the downfall of great people and in turn have them suffer a tragic fate. It is Shakespeare’s aim to show us the complexity of man and that moral decisions are not easily made.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Character Analysis Essay

    933 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet is a paradox; he is a perplexing character that throughout the play has more to show. Hamlet is a person of contradictions he is inquisitive and profound yet indecisive. The experiences Hamlet goes through led to dramatic changes in his character. In the beginning we are introduced to a young man who is mourning for the death of his father and struggling with the sudden marriage of his mother to his uncle. Hamlet faces the dilemma of wanting to avenge his father’s death and suppressing his intense emotions in order to calculate a plan.

    Read More

  • Condemned: Hamlet’s Moral Dilemma

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hamlet is one of the most often-performed and studied plays in the English language. The story might have been merely a melodramatic play about murder and revenge, butWilliam Shakespeare imbued his drama with a sensitivity and reflectivity that still fascinates audiences four hundred years after it was first performed. Hamlet is no ordinary young man, raging at the death of his father and the hasty marriage of his mother and his uncle. Hamlet is cursed with an introspective nature; he cannot decide whether to turn his anger outward or in on himself. The audience sees a young man who would be happiest back at his university, contemplating remote philosophical matters of life and death. Instead, Hamlet is forced to engage death on a visceral level, as an unwelcome and unfathomable figure in his life. He cannot ignore thoughts of death, nor can he grieve and get on with his life, as most people do. He is a melancholy man, and he can see only darkness in his future—if, indeed, he is to have a future at all. Throughout the play, and particularly in his two most famous soliloquies, Hamlet struggles with the competing compulsions to avenge his father’s death or to embrace his own. Hamlet is a man caught in a moral dilemma, and his inability to reach a resolution condemns himself and nearly everyone close to him.

    Read More

  • Hamlet- A Revenge Tragedy

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedies. At first glance, it holds all of the common occurrences in a revenge tragedy which include plotting, ghosts, and madness, but its complexity as a story far transcends its functionality as a revenge tragedy. Revenge tragedies are often closely tied to the real or feigned madness in the play. Hamlet is such a complex revenge tragedy because there truly is a question about the sanity of the main character Prince Hamlet. Interestingly enough, this deepens the psychology of his character and affects the way that the revenge tragedy takes place. An evaluation of Hamlet’s actions and words over the course of the play can be determined to see that his ‘outsider’ outlook on society, coupled with his innate tendency to over-think his actions, leads to an unfocused mission of vengeance that brings about not only his own death, but also the unnecessary deaths of nearly all of the other main characters in the revenge tragedy.

    Read More

  • Hamlet as the Tragic Hero

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet is the best known tragedy in literature today. Here, Shakespeare exposes Hamlet’s flaws as a heroic character. The tragedy in this play is the result of the main character’s unrealistic ideals and his inability to overcome his weakness of indecisiveness. This fatal attribute led to the death of several people which included his mother and the King of Denmark. Although he is described as being a brave and intelligent person, his tendency to procrastinate prevented him from acting on his father’s murder, his mother’s marriage, and his uncle’s ascension to the throne.

    Read More

More about Essay On Poison In Hamlet

Open Document