Hamlet
Hamlet is a classic example of a tragedy as Hamlet suffers while trying to avenge his fathers death and eventually dies at the end while attempting to do so. Hamlet feels empty without resolution to his father’s death and since there is no justice system that is going to reveal the truth about his father’s death, he must take it into his own hands. Hamlet delays killing Claudius for a long time after the ghost appears. Hamlet delays his revenge of his fathers death not because he is a coward but because his psychological feelings and need for a perfect revenge cause him to delay in order to wait for the perfect moment to kill Claudius.
When the ghost first appears to Hamlet he tells him that it was his brother who slipped poison in his ear while he was sleeping in the orchard and clearly asks him to get revenge for his untimely murder. The ghost speaks to Hamlet about his father and says, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murderer';(1.5. 31). Although Hamlet has little doubt that the ghost is not his father’s, he must still prove to himself that Claudius is in fact the murderer before he attempts to kill him. Hamlet decides to have the players act out what the ghost has told him and see Claudius’ reaction. When the play “The Mouse Trap'; is performed, Claudius is shocked by the play and storms out, which is the reaction of guilt that Hamlet had hoped for. The play is named “The Mouse Trap'; because it is designed to catch Claudius so that he reveals his distress of the play and shows that he was the murderer. Hamlet is now certain that Claudius is the murderer of his father and he can now carry out his revenge by murdering him.
Hamlets first opportunity to kill Claudius that he actually considers is when Claudius is confessing to god. Hamlet decides not to kill him at this point because he does not want to kill him while he is praying because he will go to heaven. This is the farthest that Hamlet has come to killing Claudius so far as his sword was drawn and ready to be used until he thinks logically and realizes that Claudius will be free from sin at the time of his death. This was a luxury that his father did not even have so why should he allow Claudius to have it.
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...es a plan to poison Hamlet but it backfires as Gertrude drinks the cup and both Hamlet and Laertes are cut with the poisoned rapier. When Hamlet learns from Laertes that they are both near death he is put in a must do situation and he reacts without hesitation. He orders the doors locked and for the first time he puts Claudius in a defenseless position and he attacks him with the poison. Claudius dies shortly after and Hamlet has completed his mission to seek revenge for his father’s soul.
Hamlet could have easily killed Claudius at any moment if he did not care how it was done. However, Hamlet was looking for the perfect revenge and therefore he passed up many opportunities to kill Claudius. He could have easily followed Claudius out after the play and killed him, he could have easily attacked him while he was praying, or even at any point when he could get Claudius alone, but this would not have been the dramatic revenge that Hamlet was looking for. Hamlet delays his revenge of his fathers death not because he is a coward but because his psychological feelings and need for a perfect revenge cause him to delay in order to wait for the perfect moment to murder Claudius.
By most accounts, this passage would be taken to mean that he does not kill Claudius because at this time the King is praying, and when praying one's soul will ascend to heaven if one should die. Hamlet wants Claudius to burn in hell; for him to go to heaven would make his revenge void. He will avenge his father's death when Claudius is engaged in some other less holy act, in order to insure the King's place in hell.
Hamlet is a normal person which brillant ideas. He waited so long to kill Claudius because he wanted people to be able to know the story of really happened and did not want to seem like a bad guy. Hamlet’s soliloquy, “To be or not to be” (Act 3,Scene 1 Line 64) also means should he live to do as his father or or die to betray him. Hamlet knew everything that was going on in the kingdom but wanted to act as if he did not to get even further in and have more information. He did this because he wanted to think a more brilliant plan to kill Claudius and anyone else that was dealing with it, that is how he killed
One of Hamlet’s flaws is that he over thinks things a lot and it is first shown the most at the prayer scene with Claudius. Once Hamlet sees how Claudius reacts to the play he knows that Claudius killed his father and that the ghost was right, he has a chance to kill him and doesn’t take it . His only proof was the ghost and even though others saw the ghost no one else heard it talk except Hamlet. Hamlet was also considering a lot of other things at this time, like how if he killed Claudius now Claudius would be free of sin and would go to heaven. He was also thinking if his father didn’t get to die free of sin it wouldn’t be fair for Claudius to die free of sin either, which shows how vengeful Hamlet’s character is. At the same time, Hamlet has morals and understands the consequences so that’s why it’s harder for him to perform the act . After a l...
...e up the chance to kill Claudius himself because he would not get enough punishment that he deserved in the after life if he killed him then. Claudius would have to be a worthy adversary if Hamlet felt that he deserved to suffer also in the after life.
Hamlet does not take the opportunity to slay Claudius as he prays because he believes it will save his soul. His contemplative nature takes over regarding the ghost’s revelation and he decides to devise a play to pique Claudius’ conscience and make sure he is really guilty.
It is the idea of revenge that sends a cool shiver down the spines of justly men when they begin to question as to why someone would stoop to such a level. But yet it is still more than an idea for revenge has been carried out in various forms along all the eras of history side-by-side of that of novels and tragedies. Even so, revenge is still a dark scheme; an evil plague of the mind per se. It is such a plague that will turn even the greatest persons of the brightest, optimistically capable of minds into lowly, as well as lonely, individuals. Thus, revenge will, and can, only end in despair and agony of the mind. Therefore, provided that all that has been said is true, revenge would appear quite unseemly to the observant onlooker. However, taking an in-depth insight into revenge you can uncover quite a compelling feature, which is best summed up into one word. Pride. Pride is the one clear motivational proprietor needed to push a protagonist into the downward spiral of personal vendetta. Without pride, revenge is no more than a mindless massacre of flesh and bone ending in the obliteration of any hope for reconciliation.
The question of why Hamlet delays in taking revenge on Claudius for so long has puzzled readers and audience members alike. Immediately following Hamlet's conversation with the Ghost, he seems determined to fulfill the Ghost's wishes and swears his companions to secrecy about what has occurred. The next appearance of Hamlet in the play reveals that he has not yet revenged his father's murder. In Scene two, act two, Hamlet gives a possible reason for his hesitation. "The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil, and the devil hath power / T' assume a pleasing shape" (2.2.627-629). With this doubt clouding his mind, Hamlet seems completely unable to act. This indecision is somewhat resolved in the form of the play. Hamlet comes up with the idea of the play that is similar to the events recounted by the ghost about his murder to prove Claudius guilty or innocent. Due to the king's reaction to the play, Hamlet attains the belief that the Ghost was telling the truth the night of the apparition.
'Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder,' says the ghost of Hamlet. The fact that his own uncle could kill his father leaves Hamlet dumbfounded and confused. Although Hamlet knows something is wrong in Denmark, he begins to question everything that the ghost has told him. When something is needed to be done, Hamlet is to busy thinking about his problems. An example of this is when Hamlet has his knife over the head of Claudius, and is prepared to murder him. He talks himself out of it. Instead, Hamlet writes a play in which the actors play out the same story that the ghost told Hamlet. This is when his tragic flaw, his hesitance to act, actually comes into play. His plan is to study Claudius's reaction to the play to determine his guilt. However, after Hamlet decides his uncle is guilty, he still does nothing. This would have been a great time to confront Claudius, but Hamlet seems more interested in taking credit for what he did instead of seeking revenge. By putting on that play Hamlet has plenty enough evidence to show Claudius was guilty, therefore he should have carried out his revenge as soon as possible, but again, his thoughts take over. This should have been the final piece of action for Hamlet to avenge his father?s death. Hamlet should have then stabbed Claudius the moment he knew he was guilty. This would...
Hamlet only kills Claudius when he has also murdered the queen, Laertes, and has also poisoned himself. It takes a threat of death to do what his own dead father orders him to do. A largely held opinion is that he is to emotional to do it, but it is when his emotions all come together that he murders Polonius. Another opinion is that he to full of morals to kill, but how then can he alter a note and literally sentence two old friends who were just following orders too death. It is also believed that he is too cowardly to go through with it, but if a man is bold enough to face a ghost, confront a queen and kill an eavesdropper, than what should stop him from avenging his father and ridding Denmark of the disease that infests it's royal line. The answer is simple, he is to smart to get around to doing it.
Hamlet should have acted decisively and killed Claudius as soon as possible after the Ghost told him to avenge his murder. But then comes the indecisive character in him that thinks it though. he debates that if he does not kill Claudius, he may forever be locked in the stressful mental state in which his obsession puts him, but then again if he attempts or succeeds in killing Claudius he is released from all the responsibility he feels for represtenting his father. Whether he does or doesn't kill Claudius, he faces enormous psychological pain. This allows him to mope about the castle for months on end. He's convinced a few people that he's mad. Hamlet could have killed Claudius and gotten away with it. Hamlet was incredibly popular with the people, and Claudius wasn't.Instead he wiles away the time, playing mad and deceiving people, but accomplishing nothing.
Revenge has caused the downfall of many a person. Its consuming nature causes one to act recklessly through anger rather than reason. Revenge is an emotion easily rationalized; one turn deserves another. However, this is a very dangerous theory to live by. Throughout Hamlet, revenge is a dominant theme. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all seek to avenge the deaths of their fathers. But in so doing, all three rely more on emotion than thought, and take a very big gamble, a gamble which eventually leads to the downfall and death of all but one of them. King Fortinbras was slain by King Hamlet in a sword battle. This entitled King Hamlet to the land that was possessed by Fortinbras because it was written in a seal'd compact. "…our valiant Hamlet-for so this side of our known world esteem'd him-did slay this Fortinbras." Young Fortinbras was enraged by his father’s murder and sought revenge against Denmark. He wanted to reclaim the land that had been lost to Denmark when his father was killed. "…Now sir, young Fortinbras…as it doth well appear unto our state-but to recover of us, by strong hand and terms compulsative, those foresaid lands so by his father lost…" Claudius becomes aware of Fortinbras’ plans, and in an evasive move, sends a message to the new King of Norway, Fortinbras’ uncle.
Hamlet can be explored from a Traditional Revenge Tragedy approach, as the whole play revolves around Hamlet seeking revenge for his father’s death. Traditional Revenge Tragedy is whenever a crime is committed against someone, but the character cannot get revenge in a lawful way, so they have to take it upon themselves to punish the other character even if it is a involves a personal risk (Taofiki.) Whenever Hamlet’s father first dies, everyone assumes it is just a natural death, but soon a ghost comes to make Hamlet think otherwise. The ghost reveals to Hamlet that his own brother, Hamlet’s uncle who now is married to his mother, murdered his father by pouring snake venom into his ear. Hamlet is then faced with a predicament because his father
This scene is in fact a visual representation of Hamlet’s problem throughout the play, this focal problem is open to two different interpretations: either Hamlet has the ability and passion to kill Claudius but he doesn’t have the right time to do it, or Hamlet doesn’t have the self-assurance and courage to do ...
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.
With his thinking mind Hamlet does not become a typical vengeful character. Unlike most erratic behavior of individuals seeking revenge out of rage, Hamlet considers the consequences of his actions. What would the people think of their prince if he were to murder the king? What kind of effect would it have on his beloved mother? Hamlet considers questions of this type which in effect hasten his descision. After all, once his mother is dead and her feelings out of the picture , Hamlet is quick and aggressive in forcing poison into Claudius' mouth. Once Hamlet is certain that Claudius is the killer it is only after he himself is and and his empire falling that he can finally act.