Family In Hamlet

William Shakespeare wrote a play called Hamlet. It is about a royal family, there is a king who is murdered by his own brother in order for his brother to become the king. The old king’s ghost comes back and tells his son Hamlet what happened to him, at that point Hamlet starts to go mad in his head for revenge to kill his uncle, the new king. Hamlet sleeps with a girl named Ophelia who he tells he doesn’t love, he kills her father. Later Ophelia dies from drowning and Hamlet gets upset and talks about he loved her. Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, and the new king work together to bring Hamlet to his death for different reasonings. At the end of the play, there are a total of nine deaths that occur, four of which were in the same scene. Two big

Family is supposed to mean that blood is thicker than water, as the characters are around each other in Hamlet they act as if nothing could break their sacred family bond, but yet when they aren’t around one another they show that family means nothing when they have their minds set on something or someone. In Hamlet, the old king Hamlet is killed by his own brother in order for the brother, Claudius, to get the throne. Next Hamlet’s mother marries Claudius, even though the old king who was her husband had just passed away, so that she could stay on the throne as queen. At the end of Hamlet there are many people who die, but another example of the family situation is that the new king, Claudius, helps another man, Laertes, try to kill Hamlet. Claudius tells the queen that he loves Hamlet as well, and tells Hamlet that he cares about him and everything else, then when no one is looking he is off helping plan ways to accomplish Hamlet’s

In today’s society people are quicker to hold grudges or start arguments/fights that could end with injuries than to have a calm conversation with someone to solve the misunderstanding. In Hamlet however they are huge reasonings as to why the people who want revenge, want revenge. Hamlet decides that he will get revenge on his uncle after the ghost of his father returns to tell him that it was his uncle, Claudius, who was the new king that killed him. Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, wants revenge on Hamlet for what he made Ophelia go through, as well as for killing his father Polonius. Laertes also put his emotions of Ophelia’s sudden death, or suicide, into rage towards Hamlet. The new king Claudius and Laertes work together to come up with a scheming plan in order to bring Hamlet to his death. Their plan was that Hamlet and Laertes would fence, but with Hamlet’s foolishness he wouldn’t notice that Laertes’s sword was sharpened more. The end of Laertes sword would be dipped in poison, and if the poison for some reason didn’t kill Hamlet or if Laertes didn’t get a hit on Hamlet, Hamlet would be offered a drink, and in that glass would also be the poison.

Today’s society shows many themes from Hamlet, but the two that stick out the most are the themes Family/blood and revenge.