Hamlet demonstrates the betrayal between family, friends, and lovers. The wants desired in the tragic story become more a tamable then the necessities. Those who say keep friends close but enemies closer should watch out for family members.
In Hamlet power becomes more important than family, which causes betrayal between two brothers. Claudius storms up this clever idea to gain the power he desperately carves, so he decides to poison his own brother. “Ghost: I find thee apt; and duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed that roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: ’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, a serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark is by a forged process of my death rankly abus’d: but know, thou noble youth, the serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown.” (DiYanni, 1565) King Hamlet ruled Denmark before getting poisoned in the ear by his brother Claudius, now Claudius wears his dead brother’s crown. Everyone gave respect to King Hamlet and Claudius envied all the attention his brother acquired. Claudius betrays King Hamlet by murdering him because he wanted to gain the power the king held in his hands and all the attention he engraved his heart to have. After his brother’s death he betrays King Hamlet yet again by marring his wife and that looks suspicious because Claudius and Queen Gertrude might have had a fling before King Hamlet’s death and that could be another reason Claudius murder his own brother. Claudius certainly does not believe in brotherly love since he betrays King Hamlet to get want he thinks he needs.
Another act of betrayal between family members occurs toward the end of the catastrophic story Hamlet. Claudius conjures...
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... cannot make up his mind if he loved her or never loved her, “Hamlet: I did love you once. Ophelia: Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. Hamlet: You should not have believ'd me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I lov'd you not. Ophelia: I was the more deceiv'd.” Even though Hamlet cannot make up his mind about Ophelia he betrays her by tagging her long with the he plays with girls by showing affection for her and telling her all this sweet things. Hamlet’s gets Ophelia caught up in her emotions but then tell her that of course he lied and she should have caught on to what he was doing to her. One moment he confesses he did love her then completely changes his mind to not loving her at all and obviously lied straight to Ophelia’s face. Ophelia truly believed he loved her but she discovered the lies buried beneath his story.
Claudius feels much guilt about the death of his brother he also faces the desires of power. The guilt of his brother death drives Claudius to be on his toes around the kingdom. He remains very scared that someone like Hamlet Jr. might avenge his father’s death. Hamlet Jr. chooses to use a play to test Claudius’s guilt. He rewrites parts of the play to replicate the story voiced by the ghost. Hamlet Jr. watches Claudius carefully during the performance, and the king leaves during it (Gale). Claudius gets up and leaves because he cannot bear to see the reenactment of how he killed his own brother. The internal conflict of the guilt about his brother eats Claudius up and he goes to repent for the corrupt act he has done: “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,/ And like a man to double business bound,/ I stand in pause where I shall first begin,/ And neglect; what if this cursed hand,/Were thicker than itself with brothers blood” (3.3.40-45). Claudius repents but knows his words will mean nothing to the heavens because Claudius is an insincere being whom
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.
Hamlet’s characterization have had an apparent fluctuation ever since he encountered his father’s ghost. His relationship with the male figures in his life seemed to be the most significant in the play. For example, Hamlet’s hateful relationship with Claudius over the years is the
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
In order to sway everyone in Elsinore that Hamlet was insane, he first sells his insanity to Ophelia because he knows of her loyalty to her father. By convincing her, he would convince her father and the king. Despite his successful plan of "craziness", he severs many relationships with friends and family, especially with his believed-to-be lover. After verbally assaulting her in the castle, Ophelia takes his words "I loved you not" (3.1.117) and "...what monsters you make of them" (3.1.134-35) to heart and she feels betrayed and abandoned. Once again, the relationship is demolished. However, upon Ophelia 's death, Hamlet professes, "I loved Ophelia; forty-thousand brothers / could not match with all their quantity of love / make up my sum" (5.1.236-38). The readers learn in Act V that Hamlet 's love for Ophelia was indeed genuine despite his previous actions and words.
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
Hamlet, Ophelia’s lover, accidentally kills her father and “confesses” he never loved her, Hamlet toys with Ophelia's emotions intentionally and unintentionally to solidify his madness. Even though she was the who initiated the “breakup”, her sorrows of the relationship are much more public than Hamlets. Hamlet’s madness scares Ophelia away which he used as a defense mechanism to not be hurt anymore. His madness looks as though he had been "loosed out of hell to speak of horrors" (2.1.83-84) and she "truly [did] fear it"(2.1. 86). His insanity and rudeness suffocated any love she had for him. She admits that their "their perfume [has been] lost" (3.1. 99). This helped Hamlet solidify his insanity by cutting ties with the ones he loves, and having them tell others he is mad. This comes with the cost of discontinuing his relationships: especially with Ophelia. Both have hinted around in the text of an intimate affair. This makes the emotions and breakup even more difficult for both of them. Their relationship was a love, not an innocent crush or courtship. Poor Ophelia initially thought she caused Hamlet's madness due to the abrupt ending of their affair. But because of her naivety, she lacks to see his other internal struggles. Ophelia’s trust in Hamlet left her heartbroken. Hamlet’s agenda of or getting justice for his father occupied his mind more than Ophelia did. Which left her feeling
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
Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” is full of intrigue. Is there really a ghost? Does Hamlet truly go mad? And where in the world did the pirates come from? Yet, even with all these questions, the most compelling is whether Hamlet truly loves Ophelia. One of the most iconic romantic relationship ever to be penned, and the love is still questionable. Does he really love her? Before the argument can be continued, the definition of romantic love which is used throughout must first be defined. It is a simple beauty— Love is caring for someone more than yourself. If held to this standard, Hamlet does not truly love Ophelia by the end of the play, though he may have loved her a some point. By the end of the play, where once existed some form of love for
Betrayal When someone gets stabbed in the back, it is not easy to forgive or trust that person or anyone else because of recent experiences. Trust is not given but earned, sometimes the people closest to us are the ones who hurt us the most. This is in the play Hamlet when Claudius kills his own brother and gets married to his wife for power, this shows the trait jealousy. Hamlet is not only grieving over his father's death, but in eye theirs no one on his side he trust no one. Queen Gertrude, betrays both her son and her dead husband.
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...
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.
This altered view of love has also undoubtedly changed Hamlet's relationship with the women he loves and who claims to love him, Ophelia. He comments on the love of a woman in general when he is seated beside Ophelia, watching the play and he asks her about the prologue. She responds "'Tis brief, my lord" for which Hamlet answers "As woman's love" (III.ii. 137-138). Hamlet distances himself from Ophelia and tells her that he had never loved her (III.
The path one takes to seek a personal reward may result in the treacherous acts that causes devastation for others. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the moral corruption that occurs between family members causes animosity that results in their downfall, and eventually their ultimate demise. More specifically, the tainted view of an individual in a family may result in the downfall of the other family members involved. Evidence of the tainted view of a family member causing undue harm can be found in the relationship between Hamlet and Claudius, Hamlet and Old King Hamlet, and Hamlet and Gertrude
Two of Ophelia’s difficulties arise from her father and brother. They believe that Hamlet is using her to take her virginity and throw it away because Ophelia will never be his wife. Her heart believes that Hamlet loves her although he promises he never has (“Hamlet” 1). Hamlet: “Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but not the time gives it proof. I did love you once.” Ophelia: “Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.” Hamlet: “You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock ...