Hamlet Essay : Will Hamlet Be Sent To Hell?

Including these parts into the play, it shows just how affected people can be, and how many really do react to the unpleasant tragedies. Once Ophelia, a smart, young woman found that her father had been slain, she went mad in grief, singing sorrowful tunes and drowning herself in the river, not being able to bear any more of the sadness that she felt. All happening so soon, in this story characters are faced with corruption, but not all know how to bear with it. Ophelia is just one of many that faces this kind of heartbreak, however all people experience it in different ways. The frailty also will lead to anger, and confusion in actions, allowing many, including Laertes and even Hamlet, to pursue rebellious acts without remorse until it has been done. Shakespeare demonstrates that people are not invulnerable, and many of the ominous feelings we face can lead to terrible

Allowing herself to continually feel her grief without support and guidance causes Ophelia to lose her mind. King Claudius says of her, “O, this is the poison of deep grief: it springs/ All from her father’s death…; Poor Ophelia/ Divided from herself and her fair judgement,/ Without the which we are pictures”(4.5.74-75,83-83) Without her father and his ability to reason and tell her what to do, Ophelia loses the little control she has over herself. Previously, she could rely on Polonius to speak for her, but her only support is gone, and her coping strategy is ineffective and detrimental. By being separated from “herself and her fair judgement”, Ophelia is no longer herself, and the girl who she used to be has been destroyed.

Hamlet was deeply in love with the recently departed fair Ophelia, daughter of Polonious, who also sadly is not with us. He loved her much more than he expressed, and it is unfortunate that his inability to express his love for her could have been part of her downfall. Although he treated her scornfully and rudely I know that he loved her more than anyone could imagine. Hamlet, I remember, at the dear Ophelia’s funeral, you told the whole world of your love. “I loved Ophelia. 40 thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love make up my sum,” you said. I cannot help but think that if you had expressed your love for the fair maiden, both her and quite possibly you would still be with us today. He loved his mother, Queen Gertrude. Although he held her in disdain for her hasty marriage to Claudius, who he despised, he still loved her with all his heart

Ophelia’s father, Polonius, wishes to keep his family’s honor in tact, and fears that Ophelia’s open regard for Hamlet will diminish his honor. Both Polonius and Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, believe that Ophelia’s preference for Hamlet will only end in disgrace for their family, as Hamlet would never marry her due to her lower social standing, therefore, they counsel her to break off any understanding with Hamlet. As a woman, Ophelia realizes her duty to her father and her brother, and therefore decides to disregard her own feelings about Hamlet and do as her father and brother wish.

Polonius teams up with King Claudius and once again places demands on Ophelia which require her to disregard her own self to fulfill their wishes of deceiving Hamlet into revealing the cause of his erratic behavior. And once again, it is Ophelia’s duty to her father and this time to the king to be obedient. Disobedience to the king and his advisor are not an option. Polonius wants the king to look on him in good favor and he is willing to step on his daughter to get this admiration. He neglects Ophelia’s feelings by not even thinking of how his requests will affect her. He feels at liberty to request whatever he would like. He is purely worried about himself. Polonius holds a position of unquestioning authority over his daughter. He treats her as though she is not intelligent enough to make her own decisions and he knows that she will inherently obey him. To him her feelings are irrelevant and immature which he states when saying “Affection, puh, you speak like a green girl.”(1.3.101) Following her fathers instructions, she loses her lover and a piece of her happiness.

But Ophelia is not only fenced in and loaded down. She also lacks the capacity to act, so that even if she were released from her confines, she would be at a loss with what to do with her freedom. And this state of precariousness is evident in her frightend reply to Polonius “My lord, I do not

   Poor Ophelia, she lost her lover, her father, her mind, and, posthumously, her brother. Ophelia is the only truly innocent victim in Hamlet. This essay will examine Ophelia's downward spiral from a chaste maiden to nervous wreck.

When individuals lack the ability to defend their ideas and personal preferences to others, with confidence they will lose their identity and sense of self as they allow others to control their opinions and thoughts. Ophelia’s lack of confidence in herself solidifies both Laertes and Polonius into occupying a dominant role expected of men in the 16th century. Polonius assures Ophelia that her obedience is the best thing for her, and creates this illusion of himself as a crutch she needs to respond to competing demands. Subsequently, when Ophelia finds herself torn between two loyalties – her love for Hamlet, and her father’s expectations, Polonius sways her to compliance with his ideas. “I shall obey, my lord.” (I, iv, 145 )This complete obedience of her father ultimately eliminates Ophelia’s self-preservation that would ensure her best outcome. It is clear her father’s requests of her are not out of love and concern for Ophelia but for his own issues of vanity and securing his status. This can be seen in misalignments in Polonius’ claims, and the condescension in his words to Ophelia. As Laertes prepares to leave, Polonius grants him with advice, “This above all: to thine own self be true.” (I, iii, 84). He contradicts

Opposite of King Hamlet, his brother, Claudius, will lead Gertrude to hell due to his crimes, and her loyalty to him. Hamlet also believes that Getrude deserves to go to hell along with Claudius. He yells at her : “A murderer and a villain,/ A slave that is not twentieth part of the tithe/ Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings,” ( 3.4, 97-99). Hamlet truly believes that his mother will follow hell, until his father appears and guides him to lead Gertrude to heaven. It may have not worked, because at the end, when everyone dies including Gertrude, her loyalty is questioned again. When Claudius and Laertes try to poison Hamlet, Gertrude tries to drink to poisoned cup, and Claudius warns her not too but she responds: “ I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me.” ( 5.2, 268). Hse may have known that the drink was poisoned and didn’t want to battle her loyalty anymore and join King Hamlet, but suicide is a sin since she is still killing herself. Later, when Hamlet kills Claudius, Hamlet informs him: “Follow my mother”. (5.2, 306). It is clear that Claudius goes to hell, so why would he follow his mother? This may answer the question of where Gertrude loyalty lies, and if she goes to heaven or hell, but there is evidence for both sides.

The mood of the passage is gloomy and depressing. Ophelia says, “ I/ cannot choose but weep”(68-69) to describe her depressing emotional state at the death of her father. The promises made to her by Polonius contribute also to the sadness of the message. The words also used by the people surrounding Ophelia also contribute significantly to enhance the impact of Ophelia’s pain. For example “give me superfluous death” gives the readers an overview of how the atmosphere surrounding Ophelia at the time of severe grief is

Upon further thought though, this may have been an important ideological question to answer: either Hamlet went to heaven or he went to hell after he died. For the audience, the idea of a murderer going to heaven was probably a blasphemous one. He killed Polonius, Laertes, and his Uncle Claudius after all, so that would mean he’s going to hell after he dies. He committed one of the seven deadly sins: murder, and multiple times at that.

In Continuation, one of Polonius requests is for Ophelia to assist him in spying on Hamlet to determine what is truly running through Hamlet’s mind. As a Guardian, he is also pushing that he knows what Ophelia should be more than she does. While in the beginning Ophelia thinks she is just helping her father check on Hamlet, what really happens is she turns her back on Hamlet by siding with her father. Throughout the play, Ophelia finds herself having to choose one side or another. As a female of Shakespeare's era, Ophelia would have been controlled by the men in her life. This ties into Ophelia’s conflict with herself where she has to decide which contradictory opinion she wants to listen to; the one from her family or the one from her love. On the one hand, Polonius tries to use her as a source of information. On the other hand, Hamlet appears to be using Ophelia as a means to an end in getting his revenge.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the story of a prince who becomes angered because his kingship is stolen from him by the man who killed his father and married his mother. In order to personally redeem himself, Hamlet must end the life of Claudius, his uncle and father’s killer. It’s completely understandable that Hamlet would want to take revenge on this evil man. The reasoning behind much of Hamlet’s activity is best understood through the lens of his religion. Hamlet, a Christian, is not an obvious believer but one that allowed what theology he did know to control certain aspects of his life. Throughout his story, Hamlet continually proves his spirituality by utilizing Christianity’s concepts in order to better understand the events happening in

Hamlet is much different than what meets the eye as well. In the beginning scenes of the play, Hamlet is approached by the ghost of his deceased father and is commanded to avenge his death. Hamlet puts together a plan “To put an antic disposition on.” By acting crazy, people may say things around him that they otherwise would not and give him clues as to if Claudius was the true murdered of his father. In Act 2, Scene 1, Hamlet frightens Ophelia with his inappropriate intrusion of her room, wearing clothing that would be disgraceful to his royal background. Polonius (Ophelia’s father) thinks he is “Mad for thy love?” (Act 1, Scene 2, line 85) from Ophelia and has gone mad out of pain of heartbreak. Truthfully, this is just the beginning of Hamlet’s plan and is using this situation to start to make people think he has been driven insane to avenge his father. Later on in the play, Rosencrantz and Gildenstern come to visit Hamlet but are convinced by Claudius to spy on him. Hamlet knows of the conspiracy yet decides to act as if he knows nothing, yet on the inside he is planning a bloody revenge. As Hamlet is being shipped to England to be secretly executed, he rewrites the execution letter to allow Rosencrantz and Gilderstern to face death instead, all with a naive on his face. Near the end of the play, Ophelia goes becomes a shell of herself after being rejected by Hamlet and the death of her father. Hamlet truly did

The King, Queen, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern enter the scene. King Claudius then asks Gertrude where Hamlet is. Gertrude then asks to be left alone with King Claudius who then asks what had happened. The Queen starts talking about how mad Hamlet is and starts to describe the death of Polonius. Claudius feels that he should have been stricter with Hamlet. Gertrude then tells Claudius that Hamlet has stated that he will get rid of the body. King Claudius decides that it is best to banish Hamlet and sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to fetch Hamlet. The King then tells Gertrude that they will find a way so that the death of Polonius does not raise any suspicions against them. In the next scene Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find Hamlet and ask