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The ghosts role in hamlet
Revenge and characters hamlet
The theme of revenge in Hamlet
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William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet deals with the motif of revenge. The murder of King Claudius is the result of Hamlet’s plan to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet’s vindictive attitude is resulted from an encounter between him and the ghost of his father, the reigning King of Denmark. Prince Hamlet was introduced to the play two months before his father’s death. At this time a ghost, described as his father was spotted in the castle making numerous amounts of visits in search for his son. Haratio, Hamlets close friend, and other Danish soldiers therefore brought the information of the mysterious ghost to the prince. They described the ghost as a king in an all armored suit with the characteristics of his father. Eventually the ghost …show more content…
In the play, the players were to act out the exact events that supposedly happened at the scene of the crime. “The play’s the thing where in I’ll catch the conscience of the king.” (Shakespeare 2.2.58). As Hamlet conducted the play he would look at Claudius’ reaction to the players. Deeper and deeper into the play as Hamlet continuously peeked over to Claudius he noticed how uncomfortable Claudius was getting as the events got more and more similar to him. This was evident in the way that the king conducted himself. Claudius’ initial reactions clearly showed how deeply guilty and nervous he was. After the climax of the play, when the poison was poured into the ear of the actor playing the king, Claudius proceeded to go into another room. It was now evident that the ghost was telling the truth and Prince Hamlet was obligated to seek revenge. There was now no doubt that Hamlet was going to seek revenge. Hamlet had to “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (Shakespeare 1.5.7). Therefore Hamlet followed Claudius after he left the play. As Hamlet finally met with him in private as he wanted he was forced not to execute his plan at that very time because the king was praying. Although Hamlet wasn’t able to kill Claudius at that time he was still determined to finish the job that he was given so the first chance that he got, he was going to kill …show more content…
Claudius planned on Laertes killing the prince with that sword. Although the king had confidence in Laertes to finish off Hamlet, he also had another plan if Hamlet won the fight. King Claudius decided that if Hamlet was refusing defeat, he would drop poison into a cup, and tell everyone that it was a gem to congratulate Hamlet on his victories. After the first round Hamlet surprisingly was winning and the king immediately offered the cup for him to drink. Hamlet refused the drink and decided that he would drink after his next round. Before the next round started, Gertrude decided that she wanted a sip out of the cup. As Claudius and Laertes watched the queen drink the poison neither the king nor Laertes said anything because of the fright that everyone was going find out what was going on. They just watched the queen
His father was killed by Hamlet and his sister was driven insane due to the series of events that took place because of Hamlet. Like Hamlet, Laertes wants to avenge his father by killing the man who killed Polonius. As described earlier, Hamlet is slow to act. Laertes, on the other hand, acts quickly and with precision, wasting no time in acquiring his target and formulating a plan. Robert Palfrey Utter, Jr., puts it best, Hamlet and Laertes both come to the same conclusion that murder must be carried out, but Hamlet reaches that conclusion only “after he has had a few minutes to think it over.” (140) Once Laertes finds out that the man who killed his father was Hamlet he is ready to charge in and kill him as soon as possible. He is only stopped by Claudius, who advises him on a more subtle approach. Straight off the bat it is clear how efficient Laertes is compared to Hamlet. Hamlet wastes a large amount of time scheming up complex ideas on how to get a confession out of Claudius and how to kill him. Laertes on the other hand wastes no time in getting a straight and to the point plan that he can execute immediately. After spending more than half the play watching Hamlet squirm around on the stage getting almost nothing accomplished, the audience would be acutely aware of the stark difference between Hamlet and Laertes even though they share the same motivations. Laertes has his speed but he shares in Hamlets lack of critical thinking when he gets hot headed. He is in such a blind rage that he doesn’t think on what he is agreeing to do with Claudius. Just like Hamlet, his brash actions cost those around him his life. In carrying out the plan, the King, the Queen, Hamlet, and he all die to the poison that was used in the duel. Hamlet was slow and reckless while Laertes was quick and reckless. Wilds sums up the relationship between Hamlet and Laertes perfectly, “Laertes and Hamlet have been foils to each other
Claudius quickly takes advantage of this by manipulating Laertes to duel Hamlet. Laertes, under the influence of Claudius takes his fury one step further and poisons his sword, a poison so lethal that one cut will end Hamlet. During their duel, Laertes wounds Hamlet then "In scuffing", they exchange swords. Hamlet wounds Laertes and they are both poisoned.
Hamlet is a man of words not actions. His delay to react after finding out Claudious is behind his fathers murder is hesitated due to his desire to validate the information from Old Hamlets ghost to see if what he had told him was really the truth: “I’ll have these players play something like the murder of my father before mine uncle... The play’s the thing where in ill catch the conscious of the king.” (p.31) Hamlet believed the play will expose Claudius’ guilt through the actor’s emotions and talent on stage. Hamlet’s plan turned out perfectly causing Claudius to react suspiciously towards this act because of his guilt. Claudius’ reaction gave Hamlet the proof that he needed to point fingers at Claudius for the murder of his father. Hamlet can now seek revenge on his uncle and cause him to suffer the way Hamlet has been ever since this tragic event with his father. Although with this proof Hamlet still holds off the killing of the killing of Claudius and decides to confront his mother about it instead of taking action. In act 3 scene 4, while Hamlet is speaking to his mother he he...
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.
Moving forward, rather than lagging behind, a truly noteworthy concept of revenge can be seen in the Shakespearean tragedy: “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.” It is within this particular tragedy that prince Hamlet is enlightened, by the ghost of his father, to the murder of his father by his uncle, Claudius, an incestuous, adulterous beast who greedily claimed the throne and Hamlet's mother as his wife. (Hamlet 1.5.45-46, 49-53) Nevertheless, it is through this enlightenment that Hamlet sets off toward avenging his father's death, but along the way he is pitted against misfortune as the downward-...
Hamlet’s revenge mission begins when he is visited by his father’s ghost who commands “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (Shakespeare 1.5.31) after his father recounts the cause of his murder. From this point on, Hamlet begins to act mad in order to put his revenge mission into action. In fact, pretending that he has gone mental is all part of Hamlet’s plan to ultimately murder King Claudius. Furthermore, “Hamlet 's madness is an act of deception, concocted to draw attention away from his suspicious activities as he tries to gather evidence against Claudius…” (Mabillard). Therefore, Hamlet feigns a mental disorder so that he can prove that King Claudius is guilty and can therefore murder King Claudius. Hamlet seeks his revenge on the behalf of someone else, unlike Laertes who seeks revenge for himself. Nevertheless, Hamlet’s act of madness causes everyone around him to see him as having gone insane. Hamlet’s false insanity successfully convinces everyone that they should not worry about him because of his mental state and they are not concerned about him. Although few people concern themselves with Hamlet, King Claudius does after what King Claudius had observed in Act 3, Scene 2. Hamlet instructs the actors in a play that everyone is going to see to reenact the murder of King Hamlet. While that play is taking place, he is watching
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.... ... middle of paper ... ...
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.
Revenge is a recurring theme in Hamlet. Although Hamlet wants to avenge his father’s death, he is afraid of what would result from this. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet’s unwillingness to revenge appears throughout the text; Shakespeare exhibits this through Hamlet’s realization that revenge is not the right option, Hamlet‘s realization that revenge is the same as the crime which was already committed, and his understanding that to revenge is to become a “beast” and to not revenge is as well (Kastan 1).
Hamlet has evidently shown in the play how his uncertainty in his decisions slows him down in killing Claudius. His indecisiveness makes spend more time thinking about the situation and the possible outcomes. In act 2 scene, Hamlet has yet to fulfil his promise to his father. Hamlet is holding himself back from avenging his father. Hamlet refuses to act as if he knows what he is doing when in reality, he has not found out whether the act of killing is heroic and moral or cowardly and immoral. “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 who 're, unpack my heart with words and fall a-cursing like a very drab, a scullion! Fie upon’t, for!” (2.2 579-585). Despite all this, instead of taking revenge immediately, Hamlet wants to find out whether his ghostly father is telling the truth. This takes a while as Hamlet would eventually realize it is true later in the play. Hamlet had a so much time to kill King Claudius but it is his uncertainty of his father 's words that delays the revenge. Later in act 3 scene 3, King Claudius is seen kneeling in prayer as he confesses his sins.
It could be said that Hamlet is deliberately delaying his revenge for fear of actually committing it. However, religion was a focal part of people’s lives at the time the play was set and at the time it was written, one would be justified in claiming that Hamlet genuinely didn’t want to kill Claudius while he was praying to prevent him from going to heaven.
Revenge almost always has the makings of an intriguing and tragic story. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a perfect example of how revenge unfolds and what it unveils. The play tells the story of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, marries his mother soon after his father’s death. Hamlet greatly disapproves of the hasty marriage and suspects foul play. His suspicions are confirmed when the ghost of his father appears and tells him that Claudius murdered him. Hamlet’s father asks him to take revenge upon Claudius, and soon everything takes a drastic change. The courses of revenge throughout Hamlet surround each character with corruption, obsession, and fatality.
When the ghost of King Hamlet first appears to young Hamlet, he injunctions three requirements he needs Hamlet to act upon. Revenge his father’s death, do not emotionally affect his mother, Gertrude, with the killing of her new husband, Claudius, and to not let himself go insane by trying to accomplish these vital tasks. Hamlet is bewildered, overwhelmed, and shocked with what the ghost of his father told him, and responds with “ haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift as mediation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge” (1.5.29-31). This response from young Hamlet makes the audience believe that the plot against Claudius will be very swift. Yet on the other hand you get this sensitive side from the response because Hamlet compares the quickness of taking revenge, to the pace two people falling in love with each other. Eventually the revenge of his father’s death takes place, but not until the very end of the play, and the way Hamlet took revenge against Claudius is not how he had planned on doing it. Hamlet wanted the revenge of Claudius to be a very quick and a secret like task, yet his own emotions and conscience caused the murder to be a complete massacre and tragedy. The inj...
Hamlet was a perfectionist in revenge. He wanted everything to be perfect, and this caused him to take unusual steps to gain his revenge on Claudius. Hamlet’s play within a play caught the conscience of the king. Hamlet did not only want to kill his father’s murderer; he wanted to send him to an eternal punishment of damnation.
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.