Summary Of Hamlet Act 4

Immediately following Hamlet’s exit, Claudius asks Gertrude what happened. Gertrude tells the king that Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, and Claudius realizes that he could have been killed too. Claudius asks where Hamlet has gone, and Gertrude replies that he has gone to take the body away. The king then orders Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to seek out Hamlet and find out where he has taken Polonius.

Beyond Claudius’ need for admiration, he also tends to disregard the feelings of people around him. This is shown in a similar way as his need for admiration, being that he kills his brother to gain power. Such a selfish action will obviously impact those around King Hamlet, but Claudius disregard that and simply does it for his own gain. He doesn’t think about how Hamlet’s death will affect Gertrude, young Hamlet, Polonius, or anyone else close to him. In the aftermath of this, instead of helping Hamlet through the hard time following his fathers sudden death, he tells Hamlet he’s not a man for mourning for such a long time. Staying on the topic of the death of a father, Claudius uses Polonius’ death to get Laertes to want to avenge his

Hamlet is an extremely intelligent character, therefore, he thinks each decision through completely before acting on it. This is shown, for instance, when Hamlet didn’t kill Claudius in the chapel, even though he had every perfect opportunity to. Hamlet considered what would happen if he kill Claudius while he confessed his sins, and determined he didn’t want his soul to go to heaven while his father’s sat in purgatory. He also created the “play within a play” to prove Claudius guilty. Hamlet didn’t go after Claudius until he was positive that he was guilty of his father’s death.

He knew that his Uncle Claudius was guilty to the murder of his brother. While trying to get revenge for his father, he killed Polonius by stabbing him through the curtain. He thought Polonius was Claudius behind the curtain. After killing Polonius, Hamlet doesn’t react in the way a normal person would. Hamlet hides Polonius under the stairs. This act of madness leads to the death of Ophelia. Ophelia drowns herself from being stressed out and overwhelmed by the death of her father. The killing of Polonius makes Laertes want revenge on Hamlet for his father. Hamlet’s act of madness contributes to a lot of deaths throughout the

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

In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Prince Hamlet’s speech or soliloquy from Act 4, Scene 4 effectively targets both the plays audience and other characters in the play. In Hamlets speech, he is reflecting on how he is meaninglessly prolonging Claudius’s death, even though he could have killed him at anytime and how he has everything he needs to accomplish his goal. He is also reflecting on how God has blessed humans with the power of thought to use when needed and that blessing is what makes humans different from animals. Hamlet’s speech opens the eyes of the audience by showing them how humans are capable of doing anything they put their minds too and the consequences of overthinking and not taking action to

Hamlet’s tragic flaw is his inability to take action. Rather than killing Claudius right away he first puts on a play believing he needs proof first and that the play will give him that proof. “I prithee, when thou seest that act afoot,/Even with the very comment of thy soul/Observe mine uncle. If his occulted guilt/Do not itself unkennel in one speech,/It is a damnèd ghost that we have seen/And my imaginations are as foul” (3.2.83-88). Then when he is provided with the perfect opportunity to kill Claudius doesn’t go through with it claiming that he didn’t want to send him to heaven. Had he not hesitated to act Claudius would not have been alive to manipulate Laertes into killing him and He himself possibly wouldn’t have murdered Polonius. Claudius and Polonius were also victims of their own hamartias. Claudius’s tragic flaw was in his desire for power and control which was what led him to kill his brother and orchestrate the death of his nephew. Polonius flaw was similar to Claudius he needed to be in control of people. He needed to know what everyone was up to and needed to be in control of

In the book of Hamlet there were many opportunities to take his revenge but Hamlet found reasons not to. He always found ways to procrastinate until the end of the book. It came to a point where he was a danger to everyone around him. If he would have killed Claudius the first chance he got many lives could have been spared. Hamlet has proved throughout the story he had difficulty taking his revenge by killing King Claudius.

Hamlet doesn’t think it would be just to kill Claudius now because it would be basically sending him “to heaven” which Hamlet does not want. He wants to take what he perceives as the nobler path of catching Claudius in sin and send him to eternal damnation, where Hamlet’s father supposedly roams. To what seems like noble justice to Hamlet leads him to continuously postpone his revenge. Hamlet is not interested in making himself king, rather he is more interested in killing Claudius the, truthfully, unchristian way. Hamlet does not want Claudius to repent and absolve of his sins. Although Hamlet calls Claudius a “villain”, it makes the reader ponder if the executioner of the villain is always the “hero”. So far in the play, Hamlet does not show any characteristics of a traditional hero as he broods and shows temper tantrums. Using his false sense of righteousness, Hamlet waits for the right chance to exact his noble “revenge”.

When King Hamlet passes away everyone seemed to want to just forget about him and act like he never existed, including Queen Gertrude. That would explain why Hamlet really wants to get revenge on Claudius so bad. He wants his father to still have some sort of legacy and not just be thrown away like a piece of trash. Since Claudius became king he just shows his true self more and more which makes Hamlet angrier and his sense for revenge stronger.

One main theme that arises in the Hamlet is the power struggle between Hamlet and Claudius. The main problem is between Hamlet and Claudius; they are in an ongoing battle throughout the play to see who will rise with the power of the throne. Claudius is the antagonist in the story and has multiple people under him that follow his every rule (Innes). He is a manipulative character who seeks revenge on Hamlet through other people he knows. On the other hand, Hamlet is the protagonist of the story, he is very unhappy after finding out the news of how his father had been killed (Innes). He is overtaken though by the ghost of his father, Old Hamlet, and is seen to become mad as a consequence. Although Hamlet seeks revenge against his

One of the best known pieces of literature throughout the world, Hamlet is also granted a position of excellence as a work of art. One of the elements which makes this play one of such prestige is the manner in which the story unfolds. Throughout time, Shakespeare has been renowned for writing excellent superlative opening scenes for his plays. By reviewing Act 1, Scene 1 of Hamlet, the reader is able to establish a clear understanding of events to come. This scene effectively sets a strong mood for the events to come, gives important background information, and introduces the main characters. With the use of this information, it is simple to see how Shakespeare manages to create stories with such everlasting appeal.

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

Claudius is only acting out what Hamlet secretly wants to do, take his father’s place as his mother’s lover. This would explain why Hamlet puts off the revenge instead of carrying it out immediately after seeing his father’s ghost. It would also provide a reason for Hamlet’s later insanity.

Climax is the highest point of tensions or drama in a narrative's’ plot. Climax mostly depends on people’s perspective.But if it could be provided be evidence and explanation then its valid. In hamlet there is also lot of climax people think.Most people argue that scene 3 of act 3 is a better climax than scene 4 act 4.So basically scene 3 act 4 was about when Polonius was hiding behind a curtain and when Hamlet’s enter makes his mother cry and he noticed somebody in the back he thought it was his uncle so he kills him but it ends up being Polonius and that leads to lot of tension for Hamlet.