Does Hamlet Make a Good King?

728 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Hamlet's leadership style

In the play Hamlet, the young prince never does have the chance to become king. Shortly after his uncle Claudius dies, so does young Hamlet. Therefore, many readers wonder whether the prince would have made a good king. Hamlet would indeed make a great king due to his compassion, loyalty, and intelligence. Any great king must be compassionate, and Hamlet is the embodiment of compassion. He shows this through his great sadness after his father’s death. Unlike many others in the play, Hamlet continues to mourn long after his father’s death. In fact, he never stops thinking of his father, even though his mother rushed into a marriage with Claudius a mere two months after her husband’s funeral. Also, Hamlet shows the reader his compassion through …show more content…

He shows the reader this when he convinces the people around him that he is mad to confuse his uncle and hide his knowledge of the truth about his father’s death. After all, he knows that he must disguise his knowledge to avenge his father. Also, Hamlet demonstrates his intelligence when he uses double meanings to speak to others around him. A good example of this is in Act IV, Scene II, when Hamlet states, “the body is with the King, but the King is not with the body (4.3.23-24).” He means that Claudius is with his body but does not hold true kingship. However, the others do not understand this. Through double meanings, Hamlet tells the other characters in the play what he knows without them being aware of it. Finally, he demonstrates his intelligence through his play to observe his uncle’s guilt; a kind man, he knows that he could not seek revenge on Claudius without proof of his guilt. When the actors arrive, Hamlet comes up with his plan to have the actors perform a play which closely resembles the way he believes his father was killed. His uncle’s reaction to this play would, after all, show whether Claudius was truly to blame for the death of Hamlet’s late father. Prince Hamlet’s intelligence would have made him a great

Show More
Related

  • Explore the ways in which Hamlet makes use of the idea or motif of theatrical performance

    1420 Words  | 3 Pages

    The motif of acting is a central literary device of Hamlet – the audience witnesses Hamlet, as well as the other characters of the play, adopt ‘roles’ as no one is truly who they ‘seem’. This is first addressed by Hamlet in the beginning of the play when he responds to his mothers’ request to “cast thy nightly colour off”, and not to forever mourn his father as “all that lives must die,/Passing through nature to eternity”. He expresses that his “shows of grief” can ‘seem’ as “they are actions a man might play”. This is the first instance the play directly addresses the motif of theatrical performance, as it insinuates that Hamlet is the only one who truly mourned his fathers loss – this is especially stressed during his first monologue, in which he expresses moral struggle with his mothers marriage to Claudius, and his suggestion she never mourned her husband: “Within a month?/Ere yet the sa...

    Read More

  • The Tragic Flaws of Heroes Portrayed in Hamlet, Things Fall Apart and 1984

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the title character is one of histories greatest examples of a tragic hero. Hamlet is born a prince and is seen throughout the play as a hero, but soon the reader begins to see a flaw emerge. Throughout the play, Hamlet exhibits indecision and procrastination. These two traits are his tragic flaws that lead to his death. Hamlet at many times during the play has a chance to avenge his fathers’ death and kill Claudius. At one point Hamlet gives a whole soliloquy debating on whether or not to kill his Uncle, “And ...

    Read More

  • Reaction in Milton’s Paradise Lost and Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth

    4883 Words  | 10 Pages

    Hamlet was forced to endure many painful experiences, and the ways in which he chose to react to those experiences are what largely contributed to the tragedy. In his essay dealing with Hamlet and the loss of innocence, Godshalk claims that “the prince...begins the play dreaming of innocence and personal integrity, and in the course of action, this innocence and integrity are severely compromised.” (221) This is indeed true, as the experiences that Hamlet is forced to endure whittle away at his innocence, and as he reacts to these experiences, he is driven by his reactions to act in a way where he must abandon his integrity. The death of King Hamlet took a toll on Young Hamlet, inducing grief and sorrow to the mourning son. In fact, it seemed that just two months after the King’s death, Hamlet was the only one left feeling any kind of sorrow. The experience of losing a loved one, especially his father, was too much for Hamlet and he was too grief stricken in the eyes of some, Claudius especially. Claudius inquired of Hamlet, “How is it that the clouds still hang on you?” (1.2.66) Claudius seems to think that Hamlet has little reason to still be grieving over the death of his father. Claudius continues:

    Read More

  • Hamlet: A Man of Many Qualities

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    is revealed in conversation with his mother, is a negative one and that is anger.

    Read More

  • Hamlet

    3442 Words  | 7 Pages

    William Shakespeare is seen to many as one of the great writers in history. More specifically, the characters in his plays are reviewed and criticized and have been so for nearly four centuries. The character that many have revered Shakespeare for is perhaps the greatest such character ever in literature, Hamlet from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The commentary and response to this legend of literature is of wide array and opinion, though most, such as Pennington, believe him to be a truly magnificent character: "Hamlet is perhaps the cleverest hero ever written, the subject of the first European tragedy, a form of genius. A type Shakespeare despaired of writing thereafter, having perceived that the heroes of tragedies must be sublime idiots" (185). However, despite his clear gifts and aura, Hamlet was a doomed character from the beginning: Hamlet is dominated by an emotion that is inexpressible. It is thus a feeling he cannot understand, he cannot objectify it, and it therefore remains open to poison life and to obstruct action" (Eliot 25). Thus, Hamlet, while possessing the traits of no other men of his time, a true Renaissance man, was doomed from the beginning of the play partly by forces he could not control, and also partly by his own character. It leads to a slow but definite ending to one of literature's great characters, one that he could not control. In the end, Hamlet was out of place in his environment, he was simply not meant to be.

    Read More

  • Father and Son Relationship in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the beginning of Hamlet, the Prince behaves as any normal person would following the death of a loved one. Not only is this a loved one, but an extra special someone; it is his loving father whom he adored. Hamlet is grief stricken, depressed, and even angry that his mother remarried so soon after his father’s death. Having witnessed how his father had treated his mother with great love and respect, Hamlet cannot understand how his mother could shorten the grieving period so greatly to marry someone like Uncle Claudius.  He is incapable of rationalizing her deeds and he is obsessed by her actions.

    Read More

  • How Does Shakespeare Show Sympathy For Hamlet

    399 Words  | 1 Pages

    I feel sympathy towards Hamlet because as everyone is mourning over the King’s death, he is devastated by the news. Another reason for showing sympathy towards Hamlet is because he has just been given this enormous task, and he has yet to realize that he will have to overcome numerous obstacles to accomplish his task. This task makes him go irate and commit wrongdoings he would never have otherwise committed.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Vs. Much Ado About Nothing

    1746 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hamlet has a strong love for his parents and is hurt to see them either die, or fall into the scheme of Old Hamlet’s brother-in-law. Without love in our lives, we would feel almost neglected by the world. After Hamlet’s father dies, he desires his father’s love and comfort that he is unable to get. He turns to his mother after his father’s death and is turned away by her because she has other things to focus on rather than the grieving of Hamlet. Hamlet feels hurt by his mother’s actions and is jealous that she appears to love Claudius and not her own son.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Trust In Hamlet

    1576 Words  | 4 Pages

    His first words in the play is an aside saying "A little more than kin and less than kind" (Shakespeare. 1.2.64-65). Hamlet is already distrustful of those around him, shown in the way Shakespeare uses an aside. This displays a lack of trust and ability to speak his mind out loud. Due to the death of his father and the quick and untimely coronation of Claudius as the new king, Hamlet becomes hostile and distrustful of the people around him as people tell him to move forward and accept his father 's death, just as they have. While he believes his sorrow and mourning is genuine, Hamlet discloses to his mother that the other 's mourning is fake and only "seems"(1.2.83) real. Hamlet believes that their loyalty is fickle and unreliable, there by isolating himself and relying on his inner circle of friends and family to deal with his loss and to loss that support, would leave Hamlet

    Read More

  • Hamlet Acts Morally, Harms Others by his Actions, and Realizes his Tragic Limits

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia. Hamlet ends up deceiving everyone around him, and also himself, by putting on a mask of insanity. In spite of the fact that Hamlet attempts to act morally in order to kill his uncle, he delays his revenge of his fathers’ death, harming others by his irritating actions. Despite Hamlets’ decisive character, he comes to a point where he realizes his tragic limits.

    Read More

  • Hamlet, the Existentialist

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic play about murder, betrayal, revenge, madness, and moral corruption. It touches upon philosophical ideas such as existentialism and relativism. Prince Hamlet frequently questions the meaning of life and the degrading of morals as he agonizes over his father’s murder, his mother’s incestuous infidelity, and what he should or shouldn’t do about it. At first, he is just depressed; still mourning the loss of his father as his mother marries his uncle. After he learns about the treachery of his uncle and the adultery of his mother, his already negative countenance declines further. He struggles with the task of killing Claudius, feeling burdened about having been asked to find a solution to a situation that was forced upon him.Death is something he struggles with as an abstract idea and as relative to himself. He is able to reconcile with the idea of death and reality eventually.

    Read More

  • Personality Traits Of Hamlet

    503 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet also shows that he is clever in this play. One way that Hamlet's cleverness is shown in this play is the way that he reacts after he sees his father's ghost for the first time. He makes Horatio and Marcellus swear that they did not see the ghost and to also swear that they will not reveal that Hamlet is only pretending to be insane. You can also see how Hamlet is clever in his plan to reveal Claudius as his father's murderer. In his plan the players that are visiting the castle will reenact the murder of Hamlet's father in the lines that Hamlet has written for them. This plan works because when Claudius sees the reenactment he runs out of the room in fright, revealing to Hamlet and everyone else that Claudius did indeed murder Hamlet I.

    Read More

  • Free Essays - Hamlet as a Tragic Hero

    1445 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the play’s tragic hero, Hamlet exhibits a combination of good and bad traits.  A complex character, he displays a variety of characteristics throughout the play’s development.  When he is first introduced in Act I- Scene 2, one sees Hamlet as a sensitive young prince who is mourning the death of his father, the King.  In addition, his mother’s immediate marriage to his uncle has left him in even greater despair.   Mixed in with this immense sense of grief, are obvious feelings of anger and frustration.  The combination of these emotions leaves one feeling sympathetic to Hamlet; he becomes a very “human” character.  One sees from the very beginning that he is a very complex and conflicted man, and that his tragedy has already begun.

    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 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 Does Hamlet Make a Good King?

Open Document