In life everyone has responsibilities, and these can either lead to great or not so great things happening. When people make selfish or wrong decisions it can lead to tragic events occurring. In the Shakespearian play of Hamlet tragedies are a constant occurrence. All of the tragedies take place as a consequence of Claudius’ choices. Claudius is more responsible than Hamlet for the tragedies in the play. He is more responsible for a few main reasons. The murder of King Hamlet, his frantic actions, and the manipulation of Laertes are all contributions to the tragic events in Hamlet.
The murder of King Hamlet can be seen as where it all began. The selfish decision Claudius makes to murder Hamlet’s father makes him liable for all the other tragedies that occur. The death of King Hamlet causes Hamlet to act out of character, which makes him do things he would not normally do. This leads to the deaths of Polonius and Ophelia. “Thou wreched, rash, intruding fool farewell./I took thee for thy better: Take thy fortune:/ Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger (3.4, 32 - 35) When Polonius gets caught spying on Hamlet talking to his mother, Hamlet takes a sword and stabs through the curtain and kills Polonius in hopes that it was Claudius. Hamlet would never have knowingly killed Polonius. On account of the death of Polonius, this causes Ophelia to act crazy because she misses her father. “Well good dild you! They say the owl was a baker's/ daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not/ what we may be. God be at your table!” (4.5, 40 - 42). Ophelia talking crazy was just the beginning of it all. The absurdity of Ophelia’s actions and talking lead to the eventual demise of her character, leading to her death(suicide). “One we do...
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... the room the Queen would not have drank the cup and died. All of the evil plotting Claudius did to try to kill Hamlet did not work to well and just lead to greater tragedies in the play.
In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet the blame for all the tragedies can be put on Claudius. His evil nature created downfall for many of the characters in the play. The murder of the King, the decisions Claudius makes, and how he manipulates Laertes all lead to tragic events occurring. Claudius’s actions directly impacted and contributed to the tragedies. In a tragic event there is always one person that is going to be more liable and it just happens to be Claudius. We can learn to take responsibility for our actions. Whether they end in good of tragic events. One’s actions can lead to tragic consequences.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
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 ...
In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare developed the story of prince Hamlet, and the murder of his father by the king's brother, Claudius. Hamlet reacted to this event with an internal battle that harmed everyone around him. Ophelia was the character most greatly impacted by Hamlet's feigned and real madness - she first lost her father, her sanity, and then her life. Ophelia, obedient, weak-willed, and no feminist role model, deserves the most pity of any character in the play.
More tragic play The tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark is the most popular works of William Shakespeare. Probably the popularity of this play lies in the use of character of Hamlet in exemplifying the human mind through its complex workings. Hamlet’s internal dilemma of making the decision whether he should revenge the death of his father or not was a crucial turn in his life as the state of mind was the main reason which effected the decision power one makes in his life. His uncle Claudius was the one who murdered his father and the moment when the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears and asks Hamlet as to when the revenge of his foul and most unnatural murder is to take place. From this point onward Hamlet is under a constant dilemma. He does not find himself ready to take the revenge. If Hamlet had killed Claudius at the first opportunity than the revenge would have been taken but his internal dilemma would have never been solved. This play became very popular and the reason for the popularity was Shakespeare’s use of the character Hamlet and through this character he has tried to exemplify the complex workings of human’s mind. Shakespeare used emotion, reason and attitude of Hamlet to allow the readers to form an opinion or make a judgment about the basic aspects of the life of human beings. The reason the prince could not take the revenge of his father’s death was that he was a man of great moral integrity and to take revenge was an act which was against his deepest principals. Some of the other behaviors of the prince was that after the death of his father Hamlet became so disenchanted with his life that he lost all his desire and will to take any kind of revenge. Due to the delay in revenge Shakespeare was able to develop th...
Claudius' Greed for power is to blame for all the tragedies in the play Hamlet. Claudius was jellous of his brother and did go through exstemes inorder to gain power through greed. Relying on others was another tragedy. Polonius' death was not the fault of Claudius' greed. Hamlet killed Polonius. Don't assume because assuming lead to sticky situalions. Nevertheless, Hamlet was obsessed with killing Claudius because Claudius had killed his father and Hamlet wanted to seek his father's revenge. Keep your nose out of other people's buisness and find another solution to making your fatther proud. The bottom line is that Claudius craved power fortune and lust therefore leading to corruption, greed, jeallousy, and death.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a play that tells of a young man, Hamlet, who wanted revenge for the death of his father. After speaking with his father's spirit, Hamlet was led to believe that the person who murdered his father was his uncle, Claudius. Claudius kills his brother mainly because of jealousy, the crown, the queen and a hatred of his brother. Therefore Claudius is guilty of the murder of his brother.
In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the death or murder of a character becomes very freuquent. Although many people die. It is a result of their own wrong-doing. You could almost say they deserved what they got. But there were deaths of people, that were due to the manipulation from the royalty. A good example can be found in the family of Polonius’. The real tragedy of Hamlet is not that of Hamlet or his family but of Polonius’ family because their deaths were not caused by their own, sinful actions, but rather by their small instigation of Claudius and Hamlet’s battle.
middle of paper ... ... If Hamlet had decided to kill Claudius when he had the chance, then he would never of accidently killed Polonius, making Laertes angry. Ophelia’s life may have been saved if Hamlet had killed Claudius earlier. The story of Hamlet can be seen as eccentric; never knowing if Hamlet was truly mad will always be a mystery of the story.
William Shakespeare's character of Ophelia in Hamlet, suffers greatly, from the time she learns of her father Polonius' death, until her own mysterious death. In Hamlet, Gertrude, Horatio and Claudius refer to her state, and conclude that she is crazy1[1]. Though there is some truth to their claim, Shakespeare created Ophelia as an overly- dramatic character, who is somewhat exaggerating her emotions to give an impression of madness. Although their impression of Ophelia can be supported, evidence is not shown as much in her words, as it is shown in her actions. Ophelia's songs seem like riddles and nonsense2[2], yet they are similar to the patterns of speech by Hamlet, revealing truths and true emotions, and at times sarcasm. However, Ophelia's whimsical, and child-like behavior is quite different than the prim, reserved Ophelia at the beginning of the play. Still, this behavior is not consistent with the sad words in her grief-laden songs, nor is it consistent with a woman in grief rather Ophelia's physical behavior is the strongest evidence that Ophelia may exhibit signs of madness. Hamlet's act to convince his insanity to all that knew him influenced Ophelia to perform following Hamlet's lead with his feigned madness, eventually leading to the girl's suicide, thus implicating Hamlet in her death.
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.
Throughout Shakespeare 's Hamlet, the protagonist, Hamlet himself, is determined to achieve his ultimate goal by seeing that Claudius is put to justice for the crime of murdering the king of Denmark, Claudius 's very brother and Hamlet 's father, and figures that he must pretend to have been driven insane by his father 's death in order to gather the evidence needed on Claudius without anyone figuring out his true intent. However, this ultimately becomes the undoing of Hamlet and causes harm to everyone that comes in contact with him. The suffering of others in the story, inflicted by Hamlet, are examples of the motifs of misogyny (evoked by his mother), incest and incestuous desires (occurring between Ophelia and Laertes, Claudius and Gertrude, and even Hamlet and Gertrude), which compliments and help develop the main themes, such as, the impossibility of certainty,
...when King Claudius runs scared out of the room, as someone who is guilty of murder. Last, an ironic reversal occurs between young Hamlet and his mother Gertrude. As Hamlet begins closing in on Claudius for murder, He goes to his mother advising her not to go to bed with Claudius and to stay pure. However, even though he told her to stay pure, Hamlet and his mother ended up having sex with each other which was no better than the incest that went on with Claudius and Gertrude. The reversals and recognition of Hamlet are very influential in how the play progresses to conclusion.
In the story of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, there are many different perceptions of what the tragedy could be. In my opinion, the tragedy in Hamlet was a direct result of the foul play emitted by Claudius onto the royal family of Denmark, and his refusing to reveal his evil plot. From these acts, a series of events developed could have been avoided by a simple act of confession.
Claudius is one of the main characters responsible for his own death in the play because he portrays himself to be untouchable; not thinking clearly of the consequences to his actions. He starts off by killing his own brother and marrying his queen, Gertrude, only because he lust power and sex. His cold-hearted actions make him the antagonist of Hamlet and most deserving of death. Through all of his malicious actions, he plans a duel between Laertes and Hamlet assuring Hamlet’s death as well by poisoning a drink and the end of Laertes’ sword. He definitely got a taste of his own medicine because he died a rightful death by the sa...
At first, Hamlet sees the circumstance as a perfect opportunity for revenge against Claudius. Hamlet knows that Claudius truly committed murder after seeing his reaction to the play ...
...ed her horribly and degraded her by saying she was unfit and promiscuous. The confusing relationship she had with Hamlet and death of her father led to Ophelia’s madness and soon after suicide. He was the cause of the murder this is the deterioration of his character and see it when he confesses his love for Ophelia at her funeral that its too late.