How Is Hamlet Flawed

William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet relays Hamlet’s quest to avenge the murder of his father, the king of Denmark. The late King Hamlet was murdered by his brother, Claudius, who took the throne and Hamlet’s mother Gertrude for himself. Hamlet is beseeched by the ghost of his father to take vengeance upon Claudius; while he swears to do so, the prince inexplicably delays killing Claudius for months on end. Hamlet’s feeble attempt to first confirm his uncle’s guilt with a play that recounts the murder and his botched excuses for not killing Claudius when the opportunity arises serve as testimony to Hamlet’s true self. Hamlet is riddled with doubt towards the validity of the ghost and his own ability to carry out the act necessary to

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

In Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Hamlet seeks to avenge his father’s death. The ghost of his father appears and tells Hamlet that Claudius murdered him. Claudius poisons his brother so that he can take the throne. Hamlet responds to the injustice of his father’s murder with his brand of justice, revenge.

Hamlet is indecisive in the murder of King Claudius, due to his methodical thought process. Though he is given several opportunities to avenge his father throughout the play, he simply cannot take them as the result of his questioning nature evident when doubts the ghost’s reciting of the King’s murder is true. “The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil, and the devil hath power / T’ assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, / Out of my weakness and my melancholy” (2.2.627-630). To ease his doubt, he uses a play to trap Claudius into showing some guilt of his actions. However, even with confirmation, Hamlet still hesitates, using the excuse that he does not want Claudius to go to heaven, but to kill him while he is sinning.

There are many different possible reasons for Hamlet to resist murdering Claudius in order to exact revenge for his father’s death. Revenge, for Hamlet, is not simply about killing Claudius – it’s about making sure he suffers in hell, just like his late father is thinking. The main reason that Hamlet resists is that Hamlet is torn between whether seeking revenge is the right thing to do. For example, Hamlet does not know if that the ghost, “…I have seen / May be the devil, and the devil hath power / T’ assume a pleasing shape” (2.2.561-563), therefore, he needs some time to think if how should believe the ghost that declares that he is his father. At the end of act 3, Hamlet sees that Claudius is certainly guilty when he eavesdrops on Claudius’s

Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, tells the story of a young prince Hamlet attempting to exact revenge on his murderous uncle. While attempting to avenge the death of his father, Hamlet and the other characters in the work are given flaws. The flaws exhibited by the characters throughout the course of the play ultimately lead to their untimely deaths. Although he convinces himself that he is simply waiting for the perfect moment to kill his uncle, Hamlet’s major flaw is his uncanny ability to procrastinate. There are multiple instances where Hamlet is given the opportunity to get his revenge but he always manages to talk himself out of committing the act.

A common concept that can be found in literature is that characters make mistakes. In William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Hamlet, Shakespeare recounts the story of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, and how he returns to home upon hearing about his father’s death. Immediately, Hamlet leaves his university in Germany to go back to his home, Elsinore, to mourn his father. Thereafter, Hamlet soon discovers that his uncle is the one who murdered his father, and will stop at nothing to avenge the death of his father. This realization subsequently causes Hamlet to make numerous poor choices.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is an interesting play in many ways. The character Hamlet is particularly intriguing in regards to his fatal flaw. Hamlet’s fatal flaw is a specific trait that forces him to postpone killing the king and it is this trait that drives Hamlet mad (Shakespeare 1.4.23-38). This Shakespearean tragedy is open to many interpretations of Hamlet’s fatal flaw. Two recent film productions of the play, Kenneth Branaugh’s Hamlet and the Zeffirelli’s Hamlet, each show a different fatal flaw in Hamlet. Branaugh shows his fatal flaw to be that Hamlet over thinks everything. Zeffirelli accentuates the Oepipus Complex in Hamlet meaning that Hamlet is jealous over his mother. Branaugh and Zeffirelli both use different methods to

In the play, Hamlet, William Shakespeare plants the plot of revenge into Hamlet's head. In Denmark, Hamlet's father is murdered by Claudius. Claudius is the new king and Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet does not like Claudius because he marries Gertrude, his mother, and because Hamlet's father dies. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to Hamlet to tell him to seek revenge on his murderer. The ghost then tells Hamlet Claudius has murdered him by pouring poison into his ear. Hamlet loves his father and believes he needs to kill Claudius. The opportunity to kill Claudius appears when Claudius is in his room. Hamlet walks in on Claudius praying and is about to kill him. Hamlet refuses to murder Claudius in that moment. In Hamlet, Hamlet does not kill Claudius when he is given the opportunity because Claudius is praying, Hamlet is not ready to kill, and Hamlet is insane.

Hamlet initially fools readers into thinking he is murderous and ready to take action after he vows to avenge his father’s death; however, time passes, and Hamlet takes minimal steps in executing his plan to assassinate his uncle. Instead of going immediately to murder, Hamlet stalls by creating a play which reenacts his father’s death. He does so in order to see Claudius’ reaction so that he can ensure that it is not “a damnèd ghost that [he has] seen,” and that Claudius is, indeed, guilty (Act III, Scene ii, Line 87). If he is truly out to get revenge, Hamlet should not need any further reassurance over the ghost’s word, yet he gets some, anyways. After his uncle watches the play and then flees from the

When Hamlet’s father, the late king of Denmark, comes to him as a ghost and reveals he died at the hands of his brother, Claudius, he demands Hamlet “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1.4.23-25). Without hesitation, Hamlet agrees to avenge his father’s death, saying, “Haste me to know’t, that I with wings as swift / as meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge” (1.5.29-31). He decides the proper form of justice is to kill Claudius, just as the king killed his own brother, though he has his own motives. Hamlet loathes Claudius for marrying his mother, and learning King Hamlet died at the hands of Claudius only provokes Hamlet more. As the play continues, Hamlet plots his revenge, and he deceives everyone with his apparent insanity. Hamlet eventually succeeds in his search for vengeance and justice, though it kills him as well. He

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, the Danish prince finds himself in the midst of a moral crossroad. His mind and soul have been subject to torment, and he now debated ending his life. His beloved father is dead, and his mother, who seemingly deeply loved the King, quicky remarried. Not only did she remarry, but her new husband is her former brother-in-law! Hamlet is understandably upset by this news, and with the added weight of his father’s death resting on his shoulders, Hamlet must find a way to cope with both perceived tragedies. Hamlet knows that this marriage is wrong, and it greatly affects him, but he can’t bring himself to act upon his feeling. This is the dilemma of Hamlet in the first soliloquy, he is simply unable to bring himself to take action against the new King and Queen no matter how

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

Throughout the play, Hamlet struggles with avenging his father’s death. Hamlet often struggles with killing Claudius, his uncle who murdered his father and married his mother, and his religious views. When Hamlet is introduced in the play, the audience see’s that religion impacts Hamlet’s decision-making process. Once Hamlet meets the ghost for the first time and he sees his father and without hesitation he tells the ghost “haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge” (Hamlet Act 1 Scene 5 29-31). Hamlet agrees to avenge his fathers death but after seeing Claudius pray Hamlet states “the spirit that I have seen may be the devil: and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me” (Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2 576-579). Hamlet immediately begins to question his passion for

Instead of killing Claudius immediately, Hamlet decides to put on a play to prove Claudius’ guilt. This is demonstrated when Hamlet states, “more relative than this; the play’s the thing/ where in I’ll catch the conscience of the king” (II.ii.606-607). In doing this, it proves that Hamlet is not a tyrant. Although Hamlet finally takes action towards his vengeance, he is delaying by over speculating and not instantly killing Claudius. The play fortunately proves Claudius guilty. However, Claudius becomes paranoid and begins to suspect that somebody knows of his murderous act. Suspicious of Hamlet, this brought Claudius to send Hamlet to England in order to be executed upon his arrival. This is shown when Claudius states, “Nor what he speak, though it lack’d form a little,/ was not like madness, There’s something in his soul […]Thus set it down: he shall with speed to England” (III.i.165-171). Though this was an advantage for Hamlet to get time away to plot the king’s death, Hamlet could have killed Claudius before he went to England but he decides to put it off. Therefore, Hamlet is not a tyrant. However, Hamlet contemplating whether he is doing the right thing trying to prove Claudius’ guilt results in his procrastination contributing to the disaster in which he