More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis of the book Hamlet by Shakespeare
Detailed analysis of Hamlet's character
Detailed analysis of Hamlet's character
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Destruction from a family member may be gruesome. Betraying family could possibly be deceitful. When there is false affection towards others, the truth will become noticed. To most, family is a top priority, to keep safe and loved by others, with no secrets among none. This may be possible for some, but in the Shakespearean play, Hamlet, this is not so. One thing that is most common in the entire play is betrayal from different family members, especially the Uncle, King Claudius. But, in a way that Hamlet discovered the truth was unorthodox. With Hamlet, the King of Denmark, finding out who killed his father was like being stabbed in the back because it felt unreal to know that your own blood can kill a loved one, just to be crowned king. The
If he be now return’d as checking at his voyage, and that he means no more to undertake it, I will work him to an exploit, now ripe my device, under the which he shall not choose but fall: and for his death no wind of blame shall breathe, but even his mother shall uncharged the practice and call it accident” (Shakespeare IV. vii. 59-65). So this saying that they will set Hamlet up by poisoning him and call it an accident. The day of Hamlets death, he was to fence Laertes. Said in Absolute Shakespeare, “Hamlet wins the first two rounds against Laertes but is stabbed and poisoned fatally in the third round” (Shakespeare Summaries). Also with this it states that, “. . . Queen Gertrude drinks a poisoned cup meant for Hamlet, dying but not before telling all that she has been poisoned” (Shakespeare Summaries). The poison over all was for Hamlet, but got to everyone else and then he died last. Queen Gertrude died by drinking from the cup that Hamlet was suppose to drink from, Laertes dies by a stabbed wound by Hamlet that had poison on it, King Claudius was stabbed by Hamlet with the same sword that killed Laertes, and Hamlet dies by a sword wound made by Laertes that had the poison on it. With this being said that last person to actually die was
King Hamlet loved his son like any father does. Hamlet looked up to his father like all children do and his life was greatly changed when he learned of his fathers death. After hearing the news of his father’s death, Hamlet felt as if a part of his life was ripped away from him, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. During an encounter with his father’s ghost, King Hamlet, Hamlet learns that his father was murdered. It was not the news that his father was murdered that shocked Hamlet into reality, it was the fact that the one who murdered him, was in fact his own loving brother, Claudius. After killing his own brother, Claudius believes that he can go on with life like nothing has happened. Hamlet does not understand how someone can murder somebody, who is not only the King, but their own brother, and go on with life like he did nothing wrong.
It is too late though, the poisonous sword had cut Hamlet. In anger, Hamlet steals the poisoned sword and runs it into Laertes. He then charges Claudius and runs into him. He also takes the wine and forces Claudius to drink from it. Both Claudius and Laertes died before Hamlet.
This is the story of a man who could not make up his mind. "O wicked spite that ever I was born to set it right," Is a quote from Hamlet Even agreeing that he wished he did a lot of things way differently. Hamlet dies in the play because Laertes stabs him with the poisoned sword. Laertes stabs him because they are having
In the last scene of the play Claudius sends for Hamlet asking if he will duel with Laertes for a wager the king has made. Horatio, the prince’s closest and dearest companion , advises against the jester notifying the prince, “You will lose this wager, my lord”(5.2.196). Horatio is aware that the king is attempting to mischief Hamlet, but the prince rejects horatio's notion and attends the duel anyway. Little to prince Hamlet's knowledge, the sword Laertes uses in the fight along with a cup of wine that is poured for the prince has been poisoned. Hamlet’s swordsmanship dominates Laertes's and the Queen mistakenly drinks Hamlet’s tainted cup wine. In the midst of the battle, Hamlet and Laertes are both cut with the poisonous sword. The Queen dies from the poison wine then Laertes, realizing he to will die, confesses and blames Claudius for
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
Hamlet as Victim of a Corrupt World Troubled by royal treason, ruthless scheming, and a ghost, Denmark is on the verge of destruction. Directly following King Hamlet's death, the widowed Queen Gertrude remarried Claudius, the King's brother. Prince Hamlet sees the union of his mother and uncle as a "hasty and incestuous" act (Charles Boyce, 232). He then finds out that Claudius is responsible for his father's treacherous murder. His father's ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his death, and Hamlet agrees.
Finally we arrive at the sword match between Hamlet and Laertes. Hamlet is unaware of Claudius’ poisoned goblet and the poisoned tip of Laertes’ sword. When Laertes cuts Hamlet, he makes the choice to stab Laertes, who would see him dead as well.
The worst feeling of pain anyone could feel is when you are betrayed by some who you though loved you. Betrayal is an act of disloyalty and it is violating someone's trust. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, betrayal is a reoccurring action between many characters. This play shows the audience different types of betrayal that are imaginable, from a husband betraying his wife, a boyfriend betraying his girlfriend and a mother betraying the son and father. These actions of betrayal hurt the people that are most loved and destroys them where it most hurts in the end. Betrayal is one of the strongest and most important themes in Hamlet. The entire play revolves around the murder of King Hamlet. Betrayal is expanded even further, there is not one character who does not commit betrayal through the course of the play. The actions of betrayal in the play lead to the hurtful destruction of the characters.
Claudius, the wise man, is not so wise anymore. His short amount of time being King, 9 people died, including King Hamlet, Hamlet, Queen Gertrude, Laertes, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius, and Claudius, him self, all because of his selfish ways. First he wanted to become King, and have a gorgeous wife, because he was envious of his brother. He wanted it all, but no one gets it that easy. As soon as anyone got in his way of his brilliant plan, he wanted to destroy them. Claudius did everything in his power to save his ass. Although poison was a metaphor in this play it is also clear that poison was literally being used as well. Unfortunately for Claudius though, saving his own ass killed everyone around him, including the ones he loved, therefore left him with nothing and now he is the one who is truly dead.
Throughout this process, his relationship with his uncle Claudius and mother Gertrude worsen. Hamlet and Claudius’ tainted relationship successively intensifies through their planned plots to kill one another. The relationship between Hamlet and his mother Gertrude worsen due to her shameful acts, and her disregard towards her son in his times of need. If it had not been for this corruption between the family, Denmark would’ve continued to be ruled by an honourable and truthful family. Instead, the kingdom of Denmark became rife with dishonesty, eventually leading to the death of Hamlet and Claudius, the ultimate
Claudius killed Hamlet’s dad and then married his mom to become the leader of Denmark. Later in the play, Hamlet sees his dad’s ghost and is informed of the horrific act committed by his uncle. Hamlets’ dad’s ghost says, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I. V. 25). Hamlets’ dad says this to Hamlet so that his uncle could get retribution for his actions. Hamlet has many opportunities to kill Claudius, but is unable because of the wrong timing.
Claudius is Hamlet’s uncle and stepfather. He had an affair with Hamlet’s mother and murdered Hamlet’s father. Claudius cared for no one in the play but himself. There were very few happy moment for Hamlet in the play, but one came when he made a play within the play. Hamlet wanted to see the reaction the Claudius had to the scene on the play where they show how the king was murdered. Claudius’ reaction to the scene was astounding. “Give me some light. Away!”(III.2. 255). Hamlet saw his reaction and knew for sure that Claudius killed his father. Claudius was a horrible uncle ...
There are many examples of betrayal in the play Hamlet. In these examples betrayal leads to the destruction of relationships. Claudius is the king of Denmark and he will do anything to stay that way. His wife Gertrude loves her son Hamlet and Claudius knows that. In order to stay king he must please Getrude, therefore he pretends to love Hamlet in front of Gertrude but behind her back, he plots to murder Hamlet. “I will work him To an exploit, now ripe in my device, under the which he shall not chose but fall. And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe”1. Gertrude’s trust is betrayed by Claudius at that moment because Gertrude believes that Claudius loves Hamlet, when in fact, he despises him and wishes death upon him. Claudius is not the only character that betrays in the play Hamlet. Hamlets makes Ophelia believe that he loves her for a long time, until one day he tells her things that break her heart. Because Hamlet suspects that someone is listening to his conversation with Ophelia, he acts like a mad man and says cruel things to Ophelia. “Virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not.”(III, i, 118-120) All the promises he had made to her before that day are now broken; he has betrayed her trust. Hamlet and Claudius betrayed someone that they where supposed to love. Because of this betrayal the relationships they had ended in a sad tragedy.
The loss of a loved one is difficult on everyone who knew them. It is especially tough on the people who were closest to and looked up to them. We can see Hamlet struggling immensely with the loss of his father at the beginning of the play. To make matters even worse, he does not have the emotional support of his mother and uncle. I would like to discuss Hamlet’s negative relationship with his relatives and its rather large impact on the play itself.
Ultimately, Hamlet is killed by Laertes. This is ironic in that Hamlet’s very act of killing Polonius earlier is ultimately what led to his own death. Laertes killed Hamlet as a way of avenging Polonius’ death. Hamlet’s death is not shameful or heroic.