Hamlet's Obligation Essay

Day 49 – I informed the King and Queen that I would like them to attend my play today. I’m anxious to see Claudius’ reaction when the actors act out his murder. I really hope that he reacts in such a way that I can prove to my mother and everyone else that he was the one who murdered my father, and that he did

In the play, “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, Hamlet struggles to restore honour and certainty in the kingdom. Hamlet’s father, the true King of Denmark was murdered by Claudius so that Claudius could become the king, this was seen as dishonorable as Claudius was the King’s brother, and the right to the throne was not his. Hamlet finds out about the murder and feels he must avenge his father to restore honour and certainty in the kingdom.

Hamlet’s determination and addiction for revenge is confirmed when he is willing to sacrifice his entrance to heaven by separating from his values and beliefs. Initially, Hamlet wishes “that this too too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!” He is contemplating suicide as a result of his father’s death and his mother’s haste in remarrying to his father’s brother, Claudius. However, Hamlet brushes off this idea as an option by saying, “Or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! Oh, God, God” This portrays the religious beliefs of Hamlet at the time. He wishes suicide was not a sin. However, since it is, he cannot commit it. Similarly, Hamlet also shows his beliefs and values when the Ghost shares his story and then commands Hamlet to avenge his death.

Hamlet is as much a story of emotional conflict, paranoia, and self-doubt as it is one of revenge and tragedy. The protagonist, Prince Hamlet of Denmark, is instructed by his slain father’s ghost to enact vengeance upon his uncle Claudius, whose treacherous murder of Hamlet’s father gave way to his rise to power. Overcome by anguish and obligation to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet ultimately commits a number of killings throughout the story. However, we are not to view the character Hamlet as a sick individual, but rather one who has been victimized by his own circumstances.

This, in turn, exploits Hamlet’s similar flaw of ego and furthers the conflict, but what’s more, it illustrates Claudius’ sheer audacity and lack of repentance. He continues to try to cover up the sin and appease Hamlet into complacency rather than confess and ask for forgiveness. In a mark of pure arrogance, Claudius tells Hamlet to “throw to earth / This unprevailing woe and think of us / As of a father”, conceitedly requesting that Hamlet merely forget the murder and replace his father with the murderer himself (I, ii, 110-112). Similarly, instead of directly confronting Hamlet about his mental condition, the king more or less hires Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on the prince, again cementing his smug mindset. The king does not believe he can be caught or, rather, that Hamlet is competent enough to figure out his plan and foil him. Claudius, too, thinks only of himself after Hamlet’s inadvertent killing of Polonius, pondering “how shall this bloody deed be answered? / It will be laid to us” instead of considering the ramifications of the murder with respect to Hamlet (4.1.17-18). The other two paper-thin traps the king hatches only reinforce his failure to see beyond the apparent; his attempt to deport Hamlet to England and have him killed reeks of treachery and, luckily, Hamlet realizes the king’s subterfuge, crushing the plot and flipping it back on him. Claudius remains steadfast in his efforts to remove Hamlet, going so far as to set up a

An act as appalling as this would never cross the mind of a person with a healthy sense of sanity. Although he committed this dreadful crime, Claudius was good at keeping secrets; nobody ever knew of his sins. “Claudius is socially adept, and his charm is genuine. He can exhibit deep distress over his ‘dear brother’s death’ and admiration for his wife, ‘Th’imperial jointress to this warlike state.’ He knows the value of a great funeral, but quickly turns mourning into celebration and moves on ‘With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage’ to whatever lies ahead” (Claudius). This narcissistic king only cared to bring attention to himself when his kingdom chose to mourn the death of Hamlet. Claudius mourns his brother’s death in public but he only pretends to grieve so that his crime will not seem conspicuous. “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death the memory be green, and that it us befitted to bear our hearts in grief , and our whole kingdom to be contracted in one brow of woe, yet so far hath discretion fought with nature that we with wisest sorrow think on him together with remembrance of ourselves” (Shakespeare 10,11). Claudius explains that although it is necessary to mourn, life still goes on. He points out the importance of realizing the health and prosperity of himself as the new king, only to take the attention off of the abhorrent tragedy he caused to the kingdom for the sake of gaining power and a

It is Hamlet himself who, subduing murderous nature, will hold his vengeance in check until it is pronounced fair by others (thus conforming, if not to medieval Danish law, to a biblically based sixteenth-century English statute that required at least two witnesses to condemn someone for treason). Only after the ‘honest’ ghost (1.5.138), Horatio, and, finally, Laertes have confirmed that ‘the King's to blame’ (5.2.320) does Hamlet kill Claudius; thus, as a repentant Laertes finally says, the usurper is

plan to entrap Claudius so that hamlet can be totally sure that Claudius is guilty. “ I have heard, That guilty creatures

• Hamlet comes up from beyond the king and has a perfect opportunity to kill Claudius and gain revenge for him father.

Hamlet went from a mourning Prince of Denmark over the death of his father, to a revenge seeking murderer as the play progresses. This transition in character is evident through Hamlets meaning of life; the desire for justice. After the meeting with the ghost, his worldview completely changed to a craving for revenge. In today’s ever changing world, people who act on revenge are no longer socially acceptable. These people who act on revenge often commit mortal sins and heavy crimes and are set to life in prison. Hamlet is the only person to blame for his death because of his worldview. “A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven.” (Shakespeare 3.3 76-78) At this point, Hamlet’s worldview is completely based on getting revenge for his father. There is nothing more important in life at the time. Hamlet has just killed Polonius mistaking him as Claudius. Moments later Hamlet is face to face with Claudius, but chooses not to kill him because he wants the worst for him. Hamlet says “ I, his sole son, do this same villain send to

It is difficult to say if Hamlet would be a fit king for Denmark because there is not a specific model of what a virtuous king should be in the text. How should a king act? What are the strengths they should maintain? Which weaknesses are minute enough to look over and which weaknesses are dangerous to have? These are all questions that are not directly answered by one character. However, each character does maintain certain strengths, that together could form a worthy king for Denmark, and weaknesses that could be dangerous. These characteristics are demonstrated by the outcome of certain situations that each of the characters experience and how Hamlet, Claudius, and Hamlet’s father are viewed by other characters in the text.

Hamlet’s grief is turned to determined revenge when he sees an apparition which seems to be his father. Upon discussing the murder with the ghost, Hamlet agrees to kill the new king, Claudius: “And thy commandment alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain, unmixed with baser matter. Yes, by heaven! O most pernicious woman! O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!”

I feel like a heavy anchor sinking helplessly in a violent and thick sea; waves of a blood-stained clarity batter and bash my fragile body mercilessly and relentlessly. First, I see my mad son slay my husband’s dearest advisor through the tapestry of my own bedroom, and just now my once thought mad son has confessed there had been a method to his most distasteful lunacy, that it was nothing but a mask he donned to fool a, supposedly, equally imprudent King. “A murderer and a villain, a slave that is not twentieth part the tithe of your precedent lord.” That is what my dearest son said about Claudius.

Claudius’ dangerous and manipulative nature as noted by Bonnet (n.p) is further causes Polonius’s death at Hamlets hands. He does not take the mandate of punishing Hamlet himself for Polonius’s murder but instead sends him to England alongside Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. As a result of his scheming nature, he gives them a letter that will arrange for Hamlet’s death which will later make it appear like an accident. In his prayers, Claudius still wants Hamlet dead as he fears to lose his throne and life at the same time. To prove the animalistic nature

When first reading this scene, I sort of knew that king Claudius might plan to do something vicious, but I did not think he would go this far. Who, I’m i kidding, I did think that he would try to kill Hamlet, but I though he would have want to do it himself. “He is such a coward” I said. Instead of getting his own hands dirty with blood, just like he did to his own brother, the kid’s Father, the Old king of Denmark, he would rather have some one else do it. What I found peculiar was the fact that he asked a king to do this deed. Why did he not jus hire an assassin to do this. At first I though to myself, “is he trying to