Backstabbing or betrayal? Is Hamlet a bad friend or is he actually crazy? Shakespeare gives Hamlet a vengeful tone as Hamlet goes about the play pursuing to seek revenge on Claudius for killing his father. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet reveals to the readers that his fatal flaw is inevitably his act to not take action and to overthink. Betrayal is basically an action of disloyalty towards something or someone. Hamlet is stabbed in the back by his close friends such as, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, as they help his uncle Claudius spy on Hamlet, Ophelia also betrays Hamlet as she aids Claudius by helping Polonius and Claudius spy on Hamlet when he starts acting mad, and others. Hamlet shows no disregard for the deaths of Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Ophelia, and delays killing Claudius all to display Hamlet’s imperfection of not taking action and his inability to reflect on the deaths he causes due to his overthinking. Once Hamlet starts to act insane, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come to assist in overseeing Hamlet’s activity. After the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern confront Hamlet to go to his mother, Gertrude’s room and Hamlet sees right through both of them as he scolds them saying: “Do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play …show more content…
Inevitably, Ophelia falls off of a branch and drowns in the water. Again, when Hamlet returns from England and finds out about Ophelia dying he shows no attention to his actions as if he did not have any part leading up to her death. Hamlet exhibits a morose tone as he is deeply saddened by her death: “I loved Ophelia,” shows the expression to which Hamlet has when it comes to Ophelia. It was as if he did not want this to happen, but he does not indicate any means of claiming responsibility for her
Ophelia is a character in Hamlet that is chronically faithful to everyone else but herself. Ophelia is deeply in love with Hamlet, and she is certain that he loves her as well. This is clear from the assertions she makes in Hamlet’s defense: “My lord, he hath importuned me with love in honest fashion. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, with almost all the holy vows of heaven” (1795). Ophelia’s downfall emerges when she doubts her own feelings and beliefs about Hamlet, upon instruction and advice from her brother and father. Ophelia, a confident and intelligent woman, begins to rely on others to tell her what to think and how to act. “I do not know, my lord, what I should think” (1795). Upon Polonius request, and going against her own hearts desires, she starts to avoid Hamlet. “No, my good lord, but, as you did command, I did repel his letters and denied his access to me” (1806). By doing what her father advises and wishes Ophelia is no longer capable of making decisions for herself. The loss of Hamlet’s love and the death of her father leave her with confusion and doubts about her future. “Well, Go...
...sulted her when he knew that her father and his uncle were watching and taking notes. In addition, I do not understand why Hamlet waited until now to reveal his true feelings about Ophelia. Her death was probably what caused him to realize that he was unable to save her by telling her to leave the castle, instead he unhinged her sanity.
Living in an environment of deception and hostility, the reader can easily identify with Hamlet's anger. Most all compassionate audiences will be sympathetic to his plight. However, the origins of Hamlet's vehement actions toward his once beloved Ophelia can be debated from several different points of view. Whatever his reasoning may be, it is probably correct to assume that he regrets deeply every harsh world spoken toward Ophelia. He only realizes again what a beautiful and kind person she was- after her death.
Initially being sent by the King and the Queen in hopes of helping Hamlet with his “depression”, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are already seen as puppets. As the play progresses, it is revealed that the boys are being used to spy on Hamlet for the King. Hamlet eventually catches on with this, and begins to play around with them by giving them false information: “Sir, I lack advancement,” (3.2.368). Referring to his line to the throne, Hamlet lies to Rosencrantz knowing that he will return this false information to the King. The reason Hamlet does this is to give power to the King by letting him know that his status is not at risk of being taken away and handed down. Hamlet realizing that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not loyal friends, he admits that he believes they should be killed: “Those bearers put to sudden death, not shriving time allowed,” (5.2.51-52). Regardless of whether or not Hamlet was the bad guy in this friendship conflict, he still creates this sense of authority to the audience as if he can sentence anyone to death if they cross him.
The first way that deceit leads to the eventual downfall of Hamlet is Polonius' spying. In Act III, scene iii, Polonius decides to help the king by spying on Hamlet and his mother when he says, "My lord, [the king] he's going to his mothers closet. Behind the arras I'll convey myself to hear the process." (III; iii; 28 - 29) In Act III, scene iv, Polonius gets his chance and listens to a conversation between Hamlet and his mother, hoping that Hamlet would confide something in his mother that could be used against him. Unfortunately for Polonius, Hamlet hears him behind the curtain, and (thinking that Polonius is actually a spying King Claudius) immediately stabs and kills him. This event contributes to Hamlet's downfall because Claudius is able to use it as an excuse to send Hamlet away to England. Officially, the king sends Hamlet away, "for thine especial safety," (IV; iii; 37) with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern because the murder might earn him some enemies. Privately though, Claudius plans to have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern go with Hamlet to convey a message to the King of England that Hamlet is to be executed. In addition, by sending Hamlet away, Claudius is protecting himself because Hamlet is, "loved of the distracted multitude [the public]." (IV; iii; 4) So, if Hamlet were to show the people that Claudius had killed Hamlet's father, then they might believe him, and as a result, overthrow and kill Claudius. Thus, the downfall is that Claudius wants Hamlet dead. In addition, if Claudius' plan works, then Hamlet dies and his father’s death would not be avenged. So, if Polonius had not spied on Hamlet and Gertrude, Hamlet would not have killed Polonius and thus, Claudius would not have a good enough excuse to send Hamlet away to England.
Deceit, misleading information, and spying on others can lead to their demise, intentionally or accidentally. The misleading and deceitful instances in the play are indirectly responsible for Hamlets’ death. Claudius misleads Hamlet when he shipped him off to England under the guise of a restful retreat and when he realizes that the new king has lied to not only him, but the people of Denmark about the death of the former king. Hamlets’ deceit comes from his mother, believing that she has betrayed his father’s love by not mourning for long enough after his death, and by marrying Claudius. Spying also causes problems for Hamlet down the line since it leads to the killing of Polonius, and the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
This can be proven by the change in Ophelia’s actions and behavior. Ophelia starts to sing strange songs in front of Gertrude about her father’s death and Hamlet’s madness. Ophelia sings to Gertrude and sings, “He is dead and gone, lady, he is dead and gone, at his head a grass-green turf, at his heels a stone” (4.5.26-29).This tells us that Ophelia is a very soft and is a very weak character and can easily get heart broken. She cares about her family and the death of her father has shattered her into pieces, it may cause problems for her to
He shows his brotherly love for Ophelia when he says “For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor,/Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood,/A violet in the youth of primy nature,/Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,/The perfume and suppliance of a minute,/No more” (Shakespeare 1.3.6-11). Meanwhile, Hamlet embarks on a mission of revenge in which he does not seek revenge on behalf of himself but rather, for someone else. Hamlet’s revenge mission begins when he is visited by his father’s ghost who commands “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (Shakespeare 1.5.31) after his father recounts the cause of his murder. From this point on, Hamlet begins to act mad in order to put his revenge mission into action.
It is widely believed that “Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself” and this holds true for Hamlet’s Ophelia. Ophelia’s death symbolizes a life spent passively tolerating Hamlet’s manipulations and the restrictions imposed by those around her, while struggling to maintain the last shred of her dignity. Ophelia’s apathetic reaction to her drowning suggests that she never had control of her own life, as she was expected to comply with the expectations of others. Allowing the water to consume her without a fight alludes to Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia as merely a device in his personal agenda. Her apparent suicide denotes a desire to take control of her life for once. Ophelia’s death is, arguably, an honorable one, characterized by her willingness to let go of her submissive, earth-bound self and leave the world no longer a victim.
Hamlet however, continues his rude remarks by say what lies between maids laps is “nothing” (III.ii.128). In this case the word nothing does not mean what is usually does and instead has a double meaning for a vagina. With his vulgar language and his profane comments Hamlet takes out his anger on someone with less power than he has, praying in the weak in order to make himself feel better. Another character who weathers Hamlet’s coarse commentary is his mother, Gertrude, whom he disrespects the most using her as a punching bag in order to vent out his own anger. After the play has taken place and the king leaves in the middle of it, clearly troubled by Hamlet’s scene resembling his father’s death, Gertrude calls her son to come to her bedchamber. There, Hamlet says to his mother in response to her questioning him, “Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue” (III.iiii.15). Gertrude is the only character in the play to call Hamlet out on his nasty remarks because she is one of the only characters who Hamlet’s has a personal relationship with. Even his schoolboy friends whom he has known for years he
Ophelia loves Hamlet; her emotions drive her to perform her actions. Some would say that Ophelia’s emotions could have actually been what ended her young
As soon as Hamlet kills Polonius he is sent away to England, to be killed without his knowledge. Ophelia goes crazy and later while she is picking flowers off a tree, the branch breaks off and she falls into the swamp. She just lets herself drown herself and by the time hamlet comes back, he finds out Ophelia is dead by running into her procession. Hamlet says he loved Ophelia, which goes on with did he REALLY love her or did he just say he did. Dr. Ray says “his behaviour to Ophelia "discloses an interesting feature in mental pathology”(Deighton).
Hamlet’s obsession with taking revenge destroys the relationships in his life. His furiousness with his mother’s marriage causes him to lose respect for her and wish for no more marriages in Denmark (III. i. 144-152). Hamlet’s loss of respect for women affects his relationship with his girlfriend, Ophelia. He slowly begins to drive her away. Hamlet becomes impetuous and consequently kills Ophelia’s father, which permanently destroys their relationship. Another instance of obsession to revenge is Laertes. He becomes so bent upon avenging his family, that he does not think clearly. Claudius deceives Laertes by persuading him into killing Hamlet so that he remains out of harm’s way. However, their obsession to revenge becomes the foundation of their
Another significant female character is Ophelia, Hamlet's love. Hamlet's quest for revenge interferes with his relationship with Ophelia. There is much evidence to show that Hamlet loved her a great deal, but his pretense of madness drove her to her death. Ophelia drowned not knowing what was happening to her. This can be deduced by the fact that she flowed down the river singing and happy when in truth she was heartbroken. Ophelia was very much afraid when she saw Hamlet "with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). She described him as being "loosed out of hell" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). In addition to that he scared her when he left the room with his eyes still fixed on her. She is especially hurt when Hamlet tells her that he no longer loves her and that he is opposed to marriage. He advises her to go to a nunnery and avoid marriage if she can.
In Hamlet, Ophelia is unaware of the evil is spreading around her. She is an obedient woman, and is naive in that she takes what people say at face value, which makes her an innocent lady. "You should not have believed me, for virtue/ cannot so inculate our old stock but we shall relish of/ it. I loved you not." (III.ii. 117-119). Hamlet says these lines as a mask of his madness, but Ophelia does not understand his true motives and takes Hamlet's words very seriously to heart. The words that Hamlet says to Ophelia both confuse and hurt her greatly. Hamlet's lines are what eventually lead Ophelia to insanity, and Ophelia's insanity is what causes her death by drowning.