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Symbolism of the Ghost in Hamlet
The Character of Hamlet
The Character of Hamlet
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Recommended: Symbolism of the Ghost in Hamlet
There are many theories to why Hamlet, who plays the prince in the tragedy, Hamlet, delays in killing his Uncle, King Claudius. Hamlet feels the need to murder King Claudius because he is convinced that his uncle is the cause of Hamlet's father's death. Even though the action of killing Claudius is not carried out until the very end it dictates Hamlets every move in the play. Though he does not know for sure that Claudius is his father's murderer, it is his obligation to prove that he is the cause of the death before committing this act. Hamlet is confused and is unsure if he should seek revenge and kill his uncle.
Hamlet delays in killing his uncle not only because he might feel guilty, but because he want's to prove to everyone that King Claudius is in fact the murderer. Besides the fact that Hamlet wants to prove that Claudius is responsible, his sanity delays Hamlet from killing Claudius. An apparition had appeared before Hamlets eyes and it is the ghost of the murdered father. "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder."(Act one, Scene five) The ghost explains how he was murdered and who murdered him. After the ghost departs, Hamlet decides if the ghost was real or not, and if it was an evil or good ghost. Hamlet then studies the situation and is set on the idea of avenging his father's death.
While Hamlet delays murdering his uncle, he decides to put on a play and ree...
Prince Hamlet, a university student, is an extremely philosophical and thoughtful character. When his father the King of Denmark dies, Hamlet returns home only to be presented with evidence that suggests his uncle Claudius may have been responsible for his father’s murder. In the initial acts of the tragedy, Hamlet seeks to prove his uncle’s guilt and contemplates all of his actions and options, prior to seeking revenge.
In the beginning of the play, Hamlet's father comes to him as a ghost from the grave. He tells Hamlet of his uncle's betrayal of him and tells Hamlet that he must kill Claudius to set things right. Through this event, Hamlet...
Before his aborted voyage to England, Hamlet spends the majority of the play (between the first scene of the second act and the fifth scene of the fourth act) deciding what to do about his dead father's command to avenge his "foul and most unnatural murder." Although Hamlet believes that revenge upon his uncle is the morally correct thing to do, and that revenge is required by familial loyalty, he still finds many excuses to delay. The most striking example of an excuse that Hamlet finds to avoid killing his uncle comes in act three, scene three, when Hamlet comes close to killing his uncle, but abstains from doing the deed because his uncle is praying.
Sometimes, when people are asked to complete a deed, they are unable to do so until they are able to find an ideal set of circumstances. Shakespeare explores this very issue in his play Hamlet, Hamlet is a young man whose been asked to do something; however, Hamlet delays carrying out this deed, causing there to have been many discussions over the centuries on why Hamlet delays, but some theories are more prevalent than others. Hamlet vows to avenge his fathers death at the hands of Claudius; however, he procrastinates throughout the play and does not seek revenge until the end, when Hamlet finally acts by his instincts, and kills his fathers murderer. Hamlet is stopped in seeking revenge by a number of
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.
In William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” there are many different events throughout the play that affect and shape the main character Hamlet. The biggest event being when Hamlet meets the ghost of his father, the king, who then proceeds to tell him that his uncle murdered him. This event will lead Hamlet to madness with sanity while plotting his revenge on his uncle which will ultimately end in his, his uncle and several other’s deaths at the end of the play.
Many people question the psychological condition of the character Hamlet in the sixteenth century play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. One of the reasons that the mental health of hamlet is in question by many people is the result of hamlet's actions as well as his reactions to events that occur during the play. Some people argue that the character Hamlet is insane, while others may argue that his insanity can be justified by several means such as his need for justice of his father's murder. However, Hamlet's need for justice or revenge does not necessarily justify Hamlet's behavior in the play. In addition, Hamlet's behavior falls into several categories of insanity such as shizophrenia. Therefore, there are many ways in which it can be proven that hamlet may truly be insane.
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.
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.
Hamlet is unlike the other two characters in the way that he uses reason and logic before he acts and decides to kill his uncle, Claudius, because he is aware of the consequences. For example, when Hamlet is trying to determine how he can prove Claudius the murderer, after conversing with the players about the play, following Hamlet’s reasoning that the ghost could be a devil trying to deceive him, in his soliloquy he states, “I’ll observe his looks… If he do blench, / I know my course… I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” (II, ii, 625-634). He reattaches himself to his revenge based on the logic of Claudius’ guilt. If Claudius does not feel guilty and has no reaction to the play, Hamlet will not act because logically Claudius was not to blame. Subsequently, Hamlet discovers that Claudius is guilty and commits himself to taking his life, but when Hamlet approaches Claudius and sees him praying he thinks to himself, he shouldn’t kill him there saying, “That would be scanned:/ A villain kills my father, and for that, / I, his sole son, do this same villain send/ to heaven… this is… not revenge.” (III, iii, 80-84). As Hamlet over thinks his actions he reasons himself out of killing Claudius because he compares how Claudius would die, to his father’s death. By over thinking this he stalls and has more time to think about w...
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, title character in the play of the same name, has been criticized for centuries due to his delay in killing his uncle Claudius and the consequences that occurred as a result. But as one critic once pointed out, “No delay, no play” (Jenkins 137). The entire plot of Hamlet is based on the events that occur due to Hamlet’s waffling as to whether or not he should, and when he should, avenge his father’s murder. Hamlet, who appears to be a Christian man, would be committing a murder regardless of the reasons. This is not something that most would take lightly or rush in to under any circumstances. This discussion will defend Hamlet’s continuous delays by analyzing certain situations in the play which affect his decision to wait to kill Claudius.
William Shakespeare's “Hamlet” is one of the most tragic plays ever written. It is about a young prince trying to keep his word to his dead father by avenging his death. Hamlet procrastinates when avenging his father’s death, which is his tragic flaw. Hamlet appears to be a coward as well as depressed. He finds himself questioning his own ambitious motives such as revenge and hatred toward his murderous uncle. Hamlet tells Horatio, his friend that he is going to fake madness as he loses his determination. It is Hamlet’s hubris that makes me begin to believe he is mad. Hamlet does at one point have doubt concerning the honesty of the ghost. His various reasons for delay in seeking revenge is that he wants to make sure his uncle Claudius is one hundred percent guilty and at the same time does not want to hurt his mother. He has too much Oedipus complex, love for his mother.
Due to surprising himself with his own reaction at the sight of the play, Claudius is now desperate to be rid of Hamlet and after Polonius is murdered he has the perfect excuse to send his nephew away. The King plots to have Hamlet
He would be alive at this point if he would have been quiet. Hamlet in his quest for revenge has become very edgy and when he saw an opportunity to strike at the king he took it. He had no knowledge that Polonius was in the room, but instead believed that it was Claudius who had entered the room in an effort to seduce his mother into lying with him in bed. When Hamlet heard the voice behind the tapestry call for help, he pounced and seized at what he thought was his chance to kill Claudius. He was wrong, however, and shed the innocent blood of a loyal servant. Many people would say that Hamlet does not want to get revenge for the death of his father, but throughout the play, we see Hamlet doing that very thing. He concocts multiple plans in an attempt to make the king confess what he has done, that way Hamlet can punish him for his cruel actions. Hamlet became so consumed with his quest for revenge that he ended up killing innocent people in hopes that it was the king. His goal was not justice, but to see his uncle end up dead for the murder of his father. Hamlet is a smart young man, who throughout the play lusts for revenge. He wants to make his uncle suffer for the crimes of he committed and should not be an example to anyone because he believes that the only way to solve the problem of his father’s murder is to take revenge. Hamlet also loses the ability to think about other things because his quest for revenge takes
Hamlet’s tragic flaw was shown to him in a dream by the ghost of his father. His father tells him that he was murdered by his uncle, Claudius. In this scene, the tragic flaw was transferred and manifested itself in Hamlet’s actions. His obsession with revenge and death is all he can think about. He needs to act quickly and decisively but finds himself procrastinating about what to do. In Act III, Hamlet holds the knife over the head of his uncle, Claudius, but cannot strike the fatal blow. Instead, he writes a play about the same scenario to study the reaction of Claudius as to a clue of his guilt. After he decides Claudius is guilty of murdering his father, he still relents from taking his revenge. He says, “Haste me to know ‘t, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thought of love May sweep to my revenge.