Trope Of Poison In Hamlet

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 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”.

In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Hamlet, a studious young man and Prince of Denmark, struggles to face the death of his father and the task to kill his father’s murderer, Claudius. He was once known as a charming, smart young man before his father’s death. However, Hamlet experiences depression and anger at the world, causing him to look outwardly on society but failing to look inwardly on himself. The death of his father and the task for vengeance leads him to question whether or not he should follow through in killing Claudius. He becomes a man of thought rather than a man of action. In addition, the delay of King Claudius’ murder leads the readers to believe that he wishes not to kill him; he

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.

Claudius also seems like a respectable king because he mourns the death of King Hamlet and tells “[the] whole kingdom to be contracted in one brow of woe” (21). Although Claudius seems to be a good king who is deeply saddened by the death of the late King Hamlet, he is actually a horrible man who murdered King Hamlet in a way “most foul,...strange and unnatural” (57). He took his crown and acted as if his death was an accident. Claudius makes it difficult for Hamlet to uncover the truth behind his actions because he constantly acts like nothing is ever wrong. After many different plots against Claudius, Hamlet prevails and the real Claudius is exposed. Claudius played an important role in the play because he reinforced the motif Seems Versus Is and showed the reader that although people can come across as honest and respectable, deep down they can have an evil side.

To start, King Claudius repeatedly generated specific plans, such as to have “in quick determination thus set it down: [Hamlet] shall with speed to England” to which Claudius knew would be for Hamlet to be killed (Shakespeare 3.2.182-83). This scheme alongside his collaboration with Laertes to devise a plot to kill Hamlet in Act IV, Scene VII, efficiently was akin to Hamlet’s own premeditated plans to “have [the] players play something like the murder of [his] father before [his] uncle,” observe his uncle during the process, and have “the play [be] the thing wherein [he will] catch the conscience of the King” (Shakespeare 2.2.623-25, 633-34). Furthermore, both Claudius and Hamlet, after murdering someone, pertaining to old King Hamlet and Polonius, respectively, showed sparse grief or contrition as King Claudius stated “[his] crown, [his] own ambition, and [his] queen” all resulted from murdering his brother and thus, was not willing to relinquish those perquisites (Shakespeare 3.3.59). In congruence, Hamlet did not show much immediate regret or remorse after slaying Polonius as he declared Polonius a “wretched, rash, intruding fool” who was not where he should have been (Shakespeare 3.4.38). Although Hamlet and Claudius

After learning that Claudius had killed his father, Hamlet was furious and set on seeking revenge. He generated a plan to act mad, in order to distract Claudius while ensuing his actual plot of revenge which would eventually end with the death of Claudius, by Hamlet. Hamlet may have been hopeful that his plan would work, but he had no such luck. Claudius did not believe Hamlet’s amateur attempts at pretending to be insane. Claudius says, “Was not like madness. There’s something in his soul (III; I; 161). This shows that Claudius sees through Hamlet’s act, and knows that his new son knows something of the truth and is brewing a plan. Claudius then, also has a plan to kill Hamlet, but ironically it is Hamlet that murder Claudius at the

Overwhelmed with responsibility to his late father and conflicted by the morality of murder, Hamlet fails to capitalize on his first opportunity to kill Claudius, and he asks himself, “am I then revenged / [t]o take him in the purging of his soul, / [w]hen he is fit and seasoned for his passage? / No” (III.iii.89-92). While Claudius is praying in the castle, Hamlet forgoes the opportunity to end Claudius’s life as he does not want Claudius to receive acceptance by God. Hamlet knows he must overcome his flaws of doubt, procrastination and indecisiveness so that his goal of revenge can be achieved.

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.

The audience views Claudius attempting to pray. He wants forgiveness from the heavens for the murder he commits, but he knows he does not deserve it when he still possesses the things he kills for. It is this murder that sets the play in motion; his displaced love turns him into a villain. Not once does

Claudius’ propensity towards fabrications is in direct violation with the Holy Commandment Thou shalt not bear false witness; hence, he violates one of the pillars of Christian moral law.

Claudius’ manipulation takes advantage of surrounding characters’ affection for Hamlet. Paired with Hamlet’s apparent madness, he easily sways them into doing his bidding by feeding them incorrect information, thus influencing their decisions and actions. While innocent characters like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern believe their duty is to simply diagnose the reason for Hamlet’s madness, Claudius uses their care for Hamlet and blind loyalty to plot Hamlet’s death. This along with several other attempts of spying on and murdering Hamlet eventually lead to the deaths of multiple characters including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Not only that, but all the while he is attempting to take Hamlet’s life, he is fearing for his own and desperately

Claudius is a coward when it comes to murder. Claudius finds the most indirect way to kill someone: usually with poison. The King also manages to get Laertes to be the one to fatally injured Hamlet– showing hs manipulative tendencies. “Thou art slain./ No med’cine in the world can do thee good./ In thee there is not half an hour’s life./ The treacherous instrument is in the thy hand,/ Unbated and envenomed… The King, the King is to blame” (5.2.344-51). Here, Laertes is explaining that the king poisoned his fencing sword so he could impart the fatal blow on to Hamlet. It is not Claudius that takes the credit; Hamlet has to find out from Laertes that he is dying. Even as Hamlet is dying, Claudius still chooses to remain a coward. As the antagonist, Claudius is meant to embody evil, condemnable traits that make readers hate him. Shakespeare is

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most popular dramas in world literature, as it examines the passionate, but toxic ambitions of King Claudius. He murders his own brother, King Hamlet, to overtake the throne, power, and wife. As a result of King Claudius’ fratricide, he inherits the “primal eldest curse” of Cain and Abel, and the dispersion of his venom ends the lives of several major characters. Including, of course, Prince Hamlet, who gets drawn into a deep depression over his father’s death, who later visits him as an apparition. This essay will analyze Shakespeare’s symbolic use of poison, embodied by King Claudius and the unintended consequences of his wicked acts.

Secondly, due to his corruptive nature, Claudius manipulates everyone in the play as noted by Mabillard (n.p). It is evident from the start that Claudius symbolizes what is rotten in Denmark. For instance, when the ghost talks to his son prince Hamlet, he refers Claudius as “that incestuous, that adulterate beast” (1.5). Claudius commits fratricide and marries the Queen who is his brother’s wife in an arrangement that is incestuous. Due to his corrupt nature, Claudius manipulates everyone in the play. He manipulates Polonius so that he can have Ophelia converse with Hamlet as his old friends Guildenstern and Rosencrantz spy on Hamlet. In Act five, Claudius fails to alert Gertrude that the cup she is drinking from contains poison which he had planned to use to kill Hamlet. As a result of his corrupt nature, King Claudius turns a victim of his own evil by swallowing his own poison.