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An Analysis of the Characters in Hamlet Essay

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An Analysis of the Characters in Hamlet

Hamlet by William Shakespeare has been considered by many critics as one of the best plays in English literature. It has also been considered as one of the best tragedies among the many Shakespeare wrote. It is a story which revolves around this person called Hamlet, prince of Denmark. It is set in the Elizabethan times in the 16th century. It is a tragedy because it results in the deaths of many characters either accidentally or purposefully or forcefully. They all revolve around Hamlet’s actions and thoughts and the deaths, either directly or indirectly are a consequence of his actions. Each character in Hamlet is important and deserves a great deal of …show more content…

The ghost also makes Hamlet and three other Danes swear to avenge ‘his most unnatural death’. The ghost brings about the beginning of the play by making its appearance and appealing to Hamlet.

The ghost appears again when it confronts Hamlet with his mother, Gertrude. It brings Hamlet back to his senses after he commits a murder in a rash mood. It is not seen by Gertrude. It tries to urge him to try to dissuade his mother to live any longer with Claudius. The ghost plays two roles, the first one to inform Hamlet of the truth and the second one to pacify him after his rash action.

2. Claudius – Claudius is the late king Hamlet’s brother. He murders his brother, marries his sister-in-law and ascends to the throne despite the king’s own son Hamlet being alive. Claudius is a very cunning and shrewd man who speaks eloquently and manipulatively trying to justify his actions. He is the person at whom Hamlet’s anger is mainly targeted at.

Claudius gives us the picture of a very crafty person who is very quick to spot areas which can help him and to exploit them. He is a man who tries to turn everything to his advantage. He is also quite shameless about his horrendous deeds though, he does try to ask forgiveness for his crime by trying to pray at which he fails miserably.

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