Timidity In Hamlet

Throughout the play, Hamlet undergoes a painful split between head and heart, caused by numerous family problems. When the prince returns home to pay his final respects to his dear and beloved father, he discovers a most terrible fate. He learns that his noble father whom he had loved so, is not only deceased, but his own uncle is to blame. Hamlet's mother, whom he also loves dearly, is now sharing an "adulterous bed" with the very murderer of her once beloved husband. Initially, Hamlet is driven to a state of ruin by

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

Hamlet's rant to persuade her that Claudius is a bad man and the murderer of his father depicts his disrespect to his mother. For instance, he tells her, "You go not till I set you up a glass / Where you may see the inmost part of you." (III.iv.20-21) He is threatening his own mother! Later, he addresses her as "thou wretched, rash, intruding fool" (III.iv.32) Even though Gertrude's lust for Claudius aggravates him, Hamlet fails to show even the most fundamental respect to his superior. The relationship is full of disloyalty and distrust from Gertrude's part. First, she appeases, "Be thou assured... I have no life to breathe what thou hast said to me." (III.iv.201-203) It is assumed that she will listen to Hamlet and stay away from Claudius. However, in the next act, she displays her true loyalty to her husband, telling him that Hamlet is "in this brainish apprehension kills / The unseen good old man." (IV.I.12-13) This is partially contributed by her observations of her son talking to a ghost that she doesn't see. Polonius' death causes her to think Hamlet is dangerous, further driving the two apart. Her distrust to her son harms him by further solidifying Claudius' plan to execute him in England because the king sees him as a threat to the throne who is capable of killing. In the end, Hamlet and Gertrude's relationship take a bittersweet ending.

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

Hamlet does not see a need to live in a world as corrupted as thee, for which the new king Claudius has taken over, and has made life miserable for him. Hamlet questions his belief in G-d, for he does not have a say or choice in anything that occurs. Hamlet continues to live in the "unweeded garden" (135), which he refers to Denmark being a prison, given that Claudius has demanded for him to stay close by his side. Stuck in the town of Denmark, Hamlet does not have the choice to go to college and get an education. Claudius and his mother Gertrude control his boring life, and it leaves Hamlet with nothing to do. Hamlet feels that the mourning of his father by his mother was too short, indicating to Hamlet a false mourn, or simply that she did not care for the death of her husband, the king, for so many years. Hamlet says that his mother moved on so quickly from a Sun G-d to basically a nobody, "So excellent a king, that was to this/ Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother, / That he might not beteem the winds of heaven/ Vist her face too roughly" (139-141). Hamlet thinks of his father as being such a great guy and powerful, and doesn't see how his mother could move on from such a great man, yet to belittle

    Hamlet is a character that we love to read about and analyze. His character is so realistic, and he is so romantic and idealistic that it is hard not to like him. He is the typical young scholar facing the harsh reality of the real world. In this play, Hamlet has come to a time in his life where he has to see things as they really are. Hamlet is an initiation story. Mordecai Marcus states "some initiations take their protagonists across a threshold of maturity and understanding but leave them enmeshed in a struggle for certainty"(234).  And this is what happens to Hamlet.

Both Hamlet and Claudius betray many to reach their goals of ridding themselves each other other. Even from the very start of the play, when Hamlet is first introduced, he is visibly unhappy with the situation at hand with his new father, but he can’t really do anything about it. This is the way things stand until the end of the first act, when the spark that ignites the plot and theme of treachery takes place. Old Hamlet appears to Hamlet on the outer walls of the castle and tells him of the treachery that his uncle has committed. Of course Hamlet is shocked but he still isn’t ready to take action on his uncle. Not until he knows for certain that it was his uncle, Claudius who killed his father. Act 2 is almost entirely betrayals, Claudius and Gertrude hire Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet, while Polonius commits a similar act. He orders one of his servants, Reynaldo to go to France and spy on Laertes.

People will start detaching any connections involving them, whether it is voluntarily or otherwise. This occurs to Hamlet many times in the play, where he is isolated due to his ambition. In the play, Hamlet experiences many betrayals that leave him segregated. For example, Hamlet has two childhood friends Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, they are very dear to Hamlet. Yet, no matter how dear they are to him, they still choose to betray Hamlet when the king Claudius commands them to spy on Hamlet, for Claudius has already sensed Hamlet’s ambition. “But we both obey, and here give up ourselves, in the full bent, to lay out service freely at you feet to be commanded.” (2.2.29-32) This leaves Hamlet stranded on his road to vengeance. In addition, when his beloved father king Hamlet dies, he needs comfort and care from his loved one, however, his mother Queen Gertrude remarries Claudius and betrays his former husband in less than two months, this is another shock to Hamlet. “Let me not think on’t; frailty thy name is woman! A little month, or ere those shoes were old with which she follow’d my poor father’s body, like Niobe, all tears:-Why she, even she, O god, a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourn’d longer.” (1.2.146-51) Not only she does not give support to Hamlet, she severs the only strand of hope that Hamlet holds, making him

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.

Hamlet faces challenges throughout the play that try his inner strengths and test his ability to handle the situation. He is torn between wanting to seek justice, and avenge his father’s death. Hamlet is also caught up in an intricate web of lies and deceit, he is considered mad by most characters when in all actuality it is just playing off of the actions of others to benefit himself. He puts on different acts trying to hide the truth, which makes him seem sincerely mad to the people around him. The truth of the matter is that Hamlet can’t decide whether or not his convictions are accurate. This dilemma ultimately leads to not only the deaths of the main characters, but the downfall of the kingdom.

This causes Hamlet to not be able to trust Claudius, while he is still married to his mother. King Claudius took over as king and father for Hamlet, but his lack of care and the unforgivable crime he made. Hamlet gave more of a reason to become depressed and furious with his family. Gertrude, Does not get involved until she is asked by polonius, if she would have talked to Hamlet earlier, she would have most likely helped Hamlet after she has learned the truth. It would have helped Hamlet not only have someone to help him.

Hamlets father was king married to Queen Gertrude but Hamlet had to return home to attend his funeral. He was a loving son; mourning, only to figure out his mother (the queen) had already married once more. The Queen’s new husband is King Claudius who is Hamlets uncle and the deceased King’s brother. This betrayal was like none other in Hamlet’s eyes. He knew right anyway from a feeling that Claudius was responsible for King Hamlet’s death. Hamlet even worried and sometimes assumed that his mother was part of the planning or even killing of his father. Returning home immediately became about getting revenge on the people that hurt his family and even in some cases that meant his mother. Hamlet was a smart man and very cunning but in the end it doesn’t work out for anyone.

Shannon L. Alder, and inspirational author, once said, “The battle you are going through is not fueled by the words or actions of others; it is fueled by the mind that gives it importance”. The inward conflicts that Hamlet faces are suicide and revenge and the outward conflicts include his relationships with Claudius and Gertrude. Hamlet allows all of the conflicts that he is trying to deal with control his life. The conflicts that slowly start to pile up for Hamlet could simply be dealt with if he was capable of dealing with them. King Hamlet’s death is the heart of Prince Hamlet’s internal and external conflicts which suggests that Prince Hamlet is ambivalent and incapable of dealing with conflicts that he is confronted with.

The topic of betrayal is a big idea in the play. The way that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern blindly follow Claudius’ orders to keep an eye on Hamlet, can teach you that even those you think you can trust are capable of hurting you. Hamlet is also betrayed by both his uncle, which can teach us that family can also be untrustworthy at times. It also teaches us that we should act on what we promise ourselves before it’s too late. It is presented in a very dramatic way, with Hamlet having his revenge of finally killing Claudius, but we should have learned that it’s always best to act quick on our

Hamlet’s downfall begins with the tragic death of his father, King Hamlet and the betrayal of his mother caused by her marriage with his uncle, Claudius soon after the death of King Hamlet. Hamlet struggles to cope with these events and begins to manifest this hardship. After his strange encounter with his father’s ghost, Hamlet chooses to confide only in himself, Horatio, and the ghost. He shows his trust in the mysterious ghost when he says “And thy commandment all alone shall live / Within the book and volume of my brain” (1.5. 103-104). His faith in the ghost also catalyzes the downfall of his character. In this emotional conflict, Hamlet distances himself from those he was once close with such as Ophelia and his mother Gertrude. He crumbled