The Problem of Moral Agency in Shakespeare's Hamlet

The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton, 1974. page 329.

However, quickly after Hamlet's father dies, Claudius succeeds the throne by wedding Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. This precipitous event makes Hamlet furious. These triggers lead Hamlet to plan to kill Claudius however, he is indecisive about when to commit the murder. He begins to pretend he is mad, so he can plot against Claudius without anyone becoming suspicious. As the play unfolds, Hamlet's procras... ... middle of paper ... ...ge his father.

For example, this quote justifies that King Claudius had to do something with late King Hamlet’s death, because after the play Claudius cried for the lights to be turned on and then stormed out of the room. Hamlet knew Claudius was guilty by his sudden conscience outburst. By now, Hamlet is on a full rage to proceed with his actions of avenging his father’s passing. Later on throughout the novel, Hamlet achieves his promise to his deceased father by slashing Claudius’s across the neck and had him forced to drink the poison cup. Finally, the first motivation was Hamlet to King Claudius because Hamlet needed to find out if Claudius was guilty of murdering his father and to avenge late King Hamlet’s

New York: Bantam, 1994. Shippey, T.A. J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter, et al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998. 1954.

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes and Hamlet both lose a father by unnatural and sudden death. The unnatural death of the father is brought on by someone close to the son. When Laertes discovers that his father is dead, he is outraged. When Hamlet learns from the ghost of his father’s murder, he weeps, and promises action, though he delivers none. Both Laertes and Hamlet grieve deeply for their fathers, but Laertes acts upon this grief while Hamlet carefully plots his revenge and waits for the perfect moment to avenge King Hamlet.

The New Golden Bough. Mentor Books, NY, 1959. Jorgenson, Paul. William Shakespeare: The Tragedies. G.K. Hall, Boston, 1995.

Hamlet Revenge For Your Father In Shakespeare's tragic epic Hamlet, one man is torn between loyalty of his new king or the revenge of his old king and past on father. Should Hamlet lose everything while his uncle controls what should be his? Many things led to the down fall of Hamlet some of them are the murderous acts of Claudius, the act loyalty to revenge the death of a king and father, and the great depression that Hamlet struggles to control. In Hamlet there are many unfortunate events. The start of the unfortunate event is when the king is brutally murder.

In act two, scene two (1021), Hamlet admits that he is delaying killing Claudius. “O vengeance! Why what an ass am I, this is most brave, that I, the son of a dear father murdered, prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, must like a whore unpack my heart with words […]”. Hamle... ... middle of paper ... ...used Hamlet to finally react was after he witnessed his mother die from the poisoned wine. He was infuriated by Claudius’ conniving treachery.

Hamlet ‘s initial reaction is to avenge his father, a reaction that is brought on by a sudden shock of the ghost’s confession.To prove that Hamlet has love for his father he is going to avenge his father’s death. “Haste me to know’t, that... ... middle of paper ... ...and wounds the king. Hamlet finds out that the king poisoned the drink that killed his mother. Hamlet is full of rage and runs his uncle through with the poisoned sword. Hamlet states, “Here, thou incestuous, murd’rous damned Dane, drink off this potion.