Hamlet's Arrogance

Hamlet kills Polonius and Gertrude becomes scared as to what is going to happen with Hamlet. Claudius betrays her trust by taking advantage of it and takes matter into his own hands. Claudius solution to the problem is to have Hamlet sent to England, where he is going to be safe from the law and will not have to deal with any consequences for his actions. " O Gertrude, come away! The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch. But we will ship him hence, and this vile deed. We must, with all out majesty and skill, Both countenance and excuse" (4.1.28-32). Claudius makes Gertrude believe he is setting this up because he wants to protect Hamlet. But even though the audience knows the real reason as to why he is doing this. He is sending Hamlet to England to be killed. " By letters congruing to that effect, The present death of Hamlet" (4.3.66-67).

First they think that Hamlet is lovesick over Polonius' daughter, Ophelia, but after the king spies on Hamlet and Ophelia in conversation, he comes to the conclusion that Hamlet is mad, a threat to his rule, and must be sent to England to be executed.  This is a sign of the king's uneasiness over the mettle of Hamlet's anger which is directed towards him.  The last thing that Claudius wants is for Hamlet to be unhappy with him, in fear that Hamlet will overthrow him, discover the murder, or possibly kill him.  The king becomes increasingly nervous as time passes, making him a bit paranoid over Hamlet.

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s many tragedies. Common themes in these works by Shakespeare are murder and deceit. Hamlet is full of each. The protagonist of the play, Prince Hamlet, is a young man whose father was murdered two months before the beginning of the story. Early on in the play Hamlet is approached by the ghost of his father. He explains to Hamlet that his brother, Claudius, murdered him. Before he returns to purgatory, he asks that Hamlet take revenge on Claudius, who, since the murder has taken the Crown of Denmark and taken Hamlet’s mother as a wife. Hamlet then makes a vow that he will avenge his father, but as the play progresses Hamlet passes up multiple opportunities to kill Claudius. This begs the question, Why does

He is seen again delaying his revenge due to over thinking when refusing to kill Claudius in a moment of weakness. The prince’s reluctance to murder the praying king and thus sending him directly to heaven is ironic due to the fact that Claudius is unable to confess his sins and ask for God’s forgiveness. The readers once again observe Hamlet’s failure to execute his responsibility due to his overwhelming desire to perform the perfect revenge.

In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet, a studious young man and Prince of Denmark, struggles to face the death of his father and the task to kill his father’s murderer, Claudius. He was once known as a charming, smart young man before his father’s death. However, Hamlet experiences depression and anger at the world, causing him to look outwardly on society but failing to look inwardly on himself. The death of his father and the task for vengeance leads him to question whether or not he should follow through in killing Claudius. He becomes a man of thought rather than a man of action. In addition, the delay of King Claudius’ murder leads the readers to believe that he wishes not to kill him; he

Further evidence of Hamlet's tragic flaw can be found in act III, scene 3. At this point, Hamlet is sure of Claudius' guilt, and has even declared that "Now could I drink hot blood and do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on." (p. 99 lines 406-408) He comes to find King Claudius alone, and recognizes it as an opportunity to act, but almost immediately talks himself out of action on the bases that the King is praying, and will therefore go to heaven. He decides yet again to delay avenging his father's murder, this time until he can kill the King while he is in a vile condition, such as "When he is drunk asleep; or in his rage; Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed." (p. 103 lines 89-90) Hamlet has failed to act for so long that the Ghost soon comes back to remind him of his duty.

The present King, Claudius, is questioning Hamlet’s odd behaviour because he feels Hamlet’s new and strange behaviour could be harmful to him and his position. So he asks Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain, to spy on Hamlet to resolve the matter. While hiding behind an arras in Gertrude’s room to listen to the dialogue between Ophelia and Hamlet, he reveals his location by calling out for help, Hamlet realizing there is someone behind the tapestry and suspecting it to be Claudius withdraws his sword and stabs the hidden Polonius resulting in polonius’s death, which assisted in ophelia going mad, and also Laertes, Polonius’s son seeking revenge on hamlet, which makes Hamlet’s quest for honour and certainty even harder to complete.

Cleverly, Hamlet decides to feign madness before the King and the court as a way for others to ignore him, so he may construct his plan of revenge for his father’s death. What is interesting is that he initially does not set out to kill Claudius the current king, which suggests that he is troubled on whether or not the apparition he spoke with is truly his father telling the truth. He deceptively uses Ophelia as a messenger to the King to describe his initial count of being mad. This causes the King, Polonius, and Ophelia to spy on Hamlet. When putting on a production to see whether Claudius is truly guilty of being the murder Lord Hamlet states, “that he must be idle” which suggest that his madness is feigned. With Claudius being deemed guilty, Hamlet knows what he must do. Interestingly, Hamlet is unable to kill Claudius the first time when he gets a chance since he did not want to send Claudius to heaven. The level of distress of Hamlet is apparent when he sees his mother after passing Claudius praying to God. Getrude calls for help and a noise is heard behind a curtain. Without thinking Hamlet slays Polonius; the person behind the curtain. This is a very controversial moment for this

King Claudius expresses, “Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Moreover that we much did long to see you, the need we have to use you did provoke our hasty sending.” (2.2.1-4) He addresses them in what is seemingly a sincere manner, proclaiming the supposed yearning he has had. However, these so-called sincere actions towards Hamlet’s childhood friends are just to convince them to take on the role of spying on Hamlet’s actions and reporting them back to Gertrude and Claudius. He continues to mask his true motives by saying, “To draw him on to pleasures and to gather...you may glean..to us unknown, afflicts him thus that, opened, lies within our remedy.” (2.2.15-19) King Claudius’ choice of words convey an inkling to the audience that he cares for Hamlet because of how he expresses his need to find out Hamlet’s condition, and fix it. This also presents Gertrude with the idea that Claudius has Hamlet’s best interests at heart. This, in King Claudius’ favor, solidifies his honorable, yet selfless stature with his contriving

People sympathise with characters that they can relate to. In the play Hamletwritten by William Shakespeare, the playwright masterfully positions the reader to sympathize with a manipulative flawed protagonist, who has a debilitating inability to act, with a simultaneous tendency to be impulsive. As a tragic hero, Hamlet is represented as a victim of unfortunate and uncontrollable circumstances. Shakespeare emphasizes this through the use of many different stylistic devices. Overthinking will almost always lead to an inability to act. When we overthink an action, we are almost certain to find an array of intimidating outcomes that prevent us from proceeding. Shakespeare plays on this attribute of Hamlet as a relatable trait. “Why yet I live

This fills Hamlet with eager to take action. " Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. " In order for hamlet's father to be at rest, Hamlet needs to complete his goal. Polonius should have stayed out of the royal family's drama. Laertes is ambiguous about Hamlet's action, on the other hand hamlet knows exactly why Claudius killed his

Hamlet, unlike Fortinbras and Laertes, did not follow what his advisor told him without questioning why he should take the advice. As time passes, Hamlet still has not acted out the revenge he promised his father. Out of disgust for his irreverence for his father he says, ?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 and fall a-cursing like a very drab? (II.ii.594-598). This statement prompts one to believe Hamlet has been convinced by his father?s words to act, but does not want to do so hastily. Hamlet questions the validity of his revenge by devising a plan to provide evidence of King Claudius? guilt. Hamlet took advantage of his position at the local theater by instructing his actors

King Claudius's contribution to the conversation exacerbates the tension in the scene. When he refers to Hamlet as “my son “ Hamlet immediately rebuffs him, saying that he is “a little more kin and a little less kind”. The young prince feels aversion towards his malevolent stepfather who has taken over the role of the king and has also married his mother. Claudius does not try to console Hamlet or offer him any support. Instead he criticises behaviour and treats him like a stubborn ignorant child. In Claudius's long speech, refers to Hamlet’s grief as “unmanly“ suggestion that his actions are and fitting for a man. He also declares that his step-sons behaviour is “It shows a will most incorrect to heaven”. This is very offensive as he is saying that Hamlet is going against God's wishes. The sentences Claudius use in his speech clearly imply that his relationship with Hamlet is very distorted.The antagonist continues by adding “why should we in our peevish opposition/ Take it to heart?”. Claudius is acting in a very philosophical and inhuman as if his brother has not died recently. He sees death as a meaningless phase in life and that Hamlet should move on like he did. Two bold words jump out of his speech “unprevailing well“. He can’t feel the pain Hamlet is enduring and that’s why he thinks Hamlet is overreacting. Shakespeare has successfully sent us the message that Claudius is a very insensitive man and that Hamlet is feeling great aversion towards him and this is a reason why their relationship is very weak.

Claudius is ultimately revealed as the antagonist of Hamlet because he removed the good from his life, becoming the prime opposition of Hamlet. He is then faced with the king’s direction to avenge his father’s death by doing anything it takes to reveal the crimes of Claudius. Although not the chief antagonist, another opposition to Hamlet is his mother, whose crime is also revealed by the deceased king Hamlet. The king tells Hamlet how his wife betrayed him when he comments, “whose love was of that dignity that it went hand in hand even with the vow I made to her in marriage, and to decline upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor to those of mine” (I.vi.786-791). Queen Gertrude has also crushed Hamlet’s belief of his mother’s faithfulness by forgetting her vows and looking to Claudius’ gifts and love when she should be remembering king Hamlet. Both Claudius and Gertrude threw Hamlet’s integral foundations out the window, leaving Hamlet infuriated and ready to do what it takes to avenge his father’s death and accuse his opposing family of their crime against him.

Unlike Hamlet though, Claudius thinks about his actions because he wants to make sure he makes a decision that will be the best for him. He knows if he just kills Hamlet the people of the kingdom will turn on him because of the love they all share for Hamlet. He sends in Rozencrantz and Guildenstern to find out what is wrong with Hamlet so that Claudius can decide what to do from there. His decision to send Rozencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on and talk to Hamlet is illustrated when he says, “So by your companies/To draw him on pleasures, and to gather/So much as from occasion you may glean/[Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus]/That opened lies within our remedy” (II.II.14-18). Claudius and Hamlet are both extremely sly and cunning and posses similarities with their ability to act, but this could merely be because of the education they both have which has brought them common sense and the ability to think before acting. One major difference of their ability to act is when Hamlet acts on impulse and kills Claudius’ advisor Polonius. Hamlet unlike Claudius has so much anger built up inside of him because of his father’s death and it kept building and building until he finally let it out when talking to his mother about Claudius. He heard a noise from behind a curtain which was Polonius’, and without thinking Hamlet stabs him releasing some of his pent up aggression. Hamlet shows the anger he has within when he says, “A bloody deed-almost as