Macbeth And Hamlet Research Paper

Laertes loses his family because of Hamlet’s actions. His father is killed by him and his sister kills herself because of her grief. Laertes and King Claudius begin to plot Hamlet’s murder, planning to poison him, by drink or wound, whichever comes first. However, the plan backfires on the both of them and Laertes dies from his own blade, but not before saying “The King, the King’s to blame.”

Laertes plots for vengeance due to Hamlet killing his father and second-handedly killing his sister, Ophelia. Hamlet, who is still a self-absorbed narcissist, is beyond clueless to Laertes intentions for fighting. In the end, Hamlet is cut with the poisonous sword, Laertes is stabbed with the poisonous sword, Gertrude drinks from the poisonous cup, and King Claudius finally gets what he deserves after Hamlet, as he’s dying, stabs him and forces him to drink the poison. Hamlet, who suffered through a road of vengeance, finally kills Claudius at the last possible second. All of Hamlet’s family and friends die because of his inability to be a man of action and a man of thought at the times when they are opportune. His delay of killing Claudius led him to become invested in his own issues and become the domino effect for the death of others. His moral ambiguity is questioned even at the end of the play because he killed Claudius at the last possible second. In Shakespeare’s tragedies, like Hamlet, Hamlet desire for vengeance ultimately corrupts the morals and decisions he makes further affecting the people around him as he is so self-involved. Hamlet’s morals suffer because he never once looked within himself to understand where he went wrong. Hamlet’s moral ambiguity creates this significance to the play by emphasizing the fact that

When Hamlet hears a noise behind a curtain, and stabs at it wildly, assuming it is the man who killed his father, he finds out it is his friend Polonius, the father of Ophelia. After Ophelia learns of her father’s death, she loses touch with reality, and drowns. Once Hamlet decided to take action, he had no control over the actions of his revenge, which consequently led to his girlfriend’s death. Also, Laertes, the son of Polonius, after learning of his father’s murder by Hamlet, concocts a plot of his murder. He poisons a rapier to kill Hamlet, but Hamlet unknowingly uses that same poison against him. Laertes´ desire for revenge against Hamlet led to his own death from his own actions. After being poisoned in his duel with Hamlet, he says “I am justly killed with mine own treachery” (5.2.338). The characters who pursued these acts of vengeance expected satisfaction, but the opposite occurred. Thus, Hamlet, undermines the belief that revenge gives satisfaction and relief to the pursuer, especially because of Shakespeare’s acknowledgement of the drastic consequences. Finally, the play offers the idea that for both parties, revenge can be forgiven, which is more satisfactory than any other

36-38). King Claudius appears to be an honest, noble king, but in reality he is King Hamlet's murderer and a manipulative ruler. Near the end of the play, Claudius manipulates Laertes into a duel with Hamlet, so that he can murder Hamlet without suspicion when he says, "But you content to lend your patience to us,/And we shall jointly labor with your soul/To give it due content.". (4.7. ) This shows that Claudius is openly offering a chance for Laertes to seek revenge upon Hamlet for killing Polonius. Later on, Claudius also lays out the plan to murder Hamlet, when he says

Hamlet is considered to be Shakespeare's most famous play. The play is about Prince Hamlet and his struggles with the new marriage of his mother, Gertrude, and his uncle and now stepfather, King Claudius about only two months after his father’s death. Hamlet has an encounter with his father, Old King Hamlet, in ghost form. His father accuses Claudius of killing him and tells Hamlet to avenge his death. Hamlet is infuriated by this news and then begins his thoughts on what to do to get revenge. Hamlet and Claudius are contrasting characters. They do share similarities, however, their profound differences are what divides them.Hamlet was portrayed as troubled, inactive, and impulsive at times. Hamlet is troubled by many things, but the main source of his problems come from the the death of his father. “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the everlasting had not fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter” (Act 1, Scene 2). In this scene, Hamlet is contemplating suicide, which is caused by the death of his father and the new marriage of Gertrude and King Claudius. This scene shows the extent of how troubled Hamlet is. Even though Hamlet’s father asked him to avenge his death, Hamlet is very slow to act on this throughout the play. “Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven” (Act 3, Scene 3). This scene shows King Claudius praying, while Hamlet is behind him drawing his sword but decides not to kill

"But I am very sorry, good Horatio, /That to Laertes I forgot myself; /For, by the image of my cause, I see/The portraiture of his" (V.2). In seeking to revenge, Hamlet accidentally stabs Polonius, the king's advisor, thus killing the father of Laertes. Hamlet acknowledges, with his sense of higher justice and objectivity, that Laertes has a reason for hating him, given that he is also a parricide. There is a sharp, circular irony to this cycle of revenge. Similarly, Ophelia is driven mad by the death of her father and kills herself. Hamlet, while much of his madness is assumed, is also driven to a state of emotional distress. Laertes, Hamlet, and Ophelia all act irrationally in ways that bring about their death because of the extremity of their grief.

According to the classical view, tragedy should arouse feelings of pity and fear in the audience. Does Macbeth do this?

His reign of terror does not end there. Hamlet unknowingly brings about the death of Laertes and the queen. In a duel, Laertes also hopes to inquire vengeance on Hamlet for his father’s (Polonius) death. HOwever, in a wave of madness both Hamlet and Laertes are pierced with a sword “unbated and envenomed” (5.2.348). Even though Hamlet had no knowledge of the poison, his hands brought Laertes to his deathbed. Furthermore, Hamlet brought the poison on himself for the murder of Polonius. Before he recognizes his insanity, Hamlet has caused the death of an entire family, whom were simply associated with the wrong people. After suspicious behavior from Hamlet, Claudius ventures out to end Hamlet “in a of practice” through Laertes’s duel(4.7.157). However the queen having no knowledge of the poison intended for Hamlet, drinks it. Although she can not be found blame free, her death stands as a side effect of Hamlet’s mission. In an effort to deliver justice for his father, Hamlet inadvertently ends his mother feel the grief of theses deaths. Only then, in a rush of fury, does he achieve his goal. He executes Claudius, but the tragedy he inflicted on those around him did not give him the justice he sought.

Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia.

Hamlet was a performance written by the brilliant mind of William Shakespeare. Written between 1599 and 1601, Hamlet is a tale of murder, love, lost, ghost and sword fights. Some may argue it is the best work of William Shakespeare.

Laertes, a foil to Hamlet in the play, faces similar problems as Hamlet. Laertes learns Hamlet is responsible for the death of his father, Polonius by Claudius. But, in Act III Scene iv, Polonius was hiding behind the arras of the Queen Gertrude’s room and Hamlet killed him accidentally. Claudius took the opportunity to use his manipulative skills and convince Laertes he should kill Hamlet for what he did (Cruttwell). Claudius’ speech to Laertes implies that not acting would show no love for his father, “Not that I think you did not love your father, but that I know love is begun by time, and that I see in passages of proof”(IV. vii. 111-113). Claudius’ tone influences Laertes to immediately seek revenge on

   William Shakespeare has written many literary works - from his sonnets to his plays, each has it's own individual characteristics.  One popular characteristic that comes from his plays is the tragic hero.  The audience can always relate to the tragic hero and the many trials he faces.  Macbeth and Hamlet are just two of Shakespeare's plays that involve the tragic hero.  Through their nobility, tragic flaws, and dignity Macbeth and Hamlet prove to be tragic heroes.

As Horatio puts it, “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” Hamlet (5.2 97-98). On the other hand, even though he dies in battle on the battle field, Macbeth isn’t able to die honorably, because of all the lives he has taken, purely for his own potential need. So says Macduff as he enters with Macbeth’s head. “Hail, King! for so thou art. Behold where stands Th’ usurper’s cursèd head. The time is free. I see thee compassed with thy kingdom’s pearl,” Macbeth (5.8 65-67)

A Comparison of Macbeth and Hamlet MACBETH stands in contrast throughout with Hamlet; in the manner of

Great writers create great stories. In “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “Hamlet” William Shakespeare creates characters that want to protect a loved one's virtue and character that have no virtue at all. In “The Tragedy of Macbeth” Lady Macbeth does not show virtue and it all ends with her death. In “Hamlet” Laertes cared for his sister Ophelia and tried to protect her virtue until she drowned. Also, Hamlet wanted to protect his mothers virtues, because she married his uncle, until she was accidentally poisoned. Shakespeare uses characterization and symbolism in “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “Hamlet” to describe how people sometimes do not have virtue and men want to protect it.