Essay about Turning Points in Hamlet

Hamlet kills Polonius and Gertrude becomes scared as to what is going to happen with Hamlet. Claudius betrays her trust by taking advantage of it and takes matter into his own hands. Claudius solution to the problem is to have Hamlet sent to England, where he is going to be safe from the law and will not have to deal with any consequences for his actions. " O Gertrude, come away! The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch. But we will ship him hence, and this vile deed. We must, with all out majesty and skill, Both countenance and excuse" (4.1.28-32). Claudius makes Gertrude believe he is setting this up because he wants to protect Hamlet. But even though the audience knows the real reason as to why he is doing this. He is sending Hamlet to England to be killed. " By letters congruing to that effect, The present death of Hamlet" (4.3.66-67).

First they think that Hamlet is lovesick over Polonius' daughter, Ophelia, but after the king spies on Hamlet and Ophelia in conversation, he comes to the conclusion that Hamlet is mad, a threat to his rule, and must be sent to England to be executed.  This is a sign of the king's uneasiness over the mettle of Hamlet's anger which is directed towards him.  The last thing that Claudius wants is for Hamlet to be unhappy with him, in fear that Hamlet will overthrow him, discover the murder, or possibly kill him.  The king becomes increasingly nervous as time passes, making him a bit paranoid over Hamlet.

He is seen again delaying his revenge due to over thinking when refusing to kill Claudius in a moment of weakness. The prince’s reluctance to murder the praying king and thus sending him directly to heaven is ironic due to the fact that Claudius is unable to confess his sins and ask for God’s forgiveness. The readers once again observe Hamlet’s failure to execute his responsibility due to his overwhelming desire to perform the perfect revenge.

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main protagonist, Hamlet experiences a series of events that dramatically change his character. When the audience first meets Hamlet, he is dressed in all black he is portrayed as a sulky, depressed prince. Through the course of the play however, it is revealed that Hamlet as a character has more than one side to him – he is brooding as he is impulsive, and he is vengeful as his is indecisive. The audience sees Hamlet struggling with the death of his father, and the emotional toll of knowing the truth but being unable to exact revenge. This is what essentially changes Hamlet. Because of the constant back and forth of having to act like nothing is wrong and having to suppress his rage towards King Claudius,

The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare brilliantly recounts the tale of feigned and true madness as it delves into themes of betrayal, incest, revenge, moral corruption, and death. The play, set in the kingdom of Denmark, gives an account of how Prince Hamlet seeks exact revenge on his uncle Claudius, for murdering his own brother and Prince Hamlet’s father. After assassinating King Hamlet, Claudius succeeds the throne and becomes joined in holy matrimony to King Hamlet’s widow and Prince Hamlet’s mother, Queen

Cleverly, Hamlet decides to feign madness before the King and the court as a way for others to ignore him, so he may construct his plan of revenge for his father’s death. What is interesting is that he initially does not set out to kill Claudius the current king, which suggests that he is troubled on whether or not the apparition he spoke with is truly his father telling the truth. He deceptively uses Ophelia as a messenger to the King to describe his initial count of being mad. This causes the King, Polonius, and Ophelia to spy on Hamlet. When putting on a production to see whether Claudius is truly guilty of being the murder Lord Hamlet states, “that he must be idle” which suggest that his madness is feigned. With Claudius being deemed guilty, Hamlet knows what he must do. Interestingly, Hamlet is unable to kill Claudius the first time when he gets a chance since he did not want to send Claudius to heaven. The level of distress of Hamlet is apparent when he sees his mother after passing Claudius praying to God. Getrude calls for help and a noise is heard behind a curtain. Without thinking Hamlet slays Polonius; the person behind the curtain. This is a very controversial moment for this

Hamlet realizes that he is dying and that he now has the excuse to kill Claudius

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

Hamlet soon resolves to take action. He sets up a play to trap Claudius so he can find out if the ghost was telling the truth. This is his intelligence and craft. He will not impulsively commit murder because of the word of a ghost who seemed to be his dead father. When he meets with his mother later, he is very angry and emotional and kills Polonius believing it was Claudius. Hamlet shows himself to be a man of action before thought in this case. He is rather cold that he is not terribly sorry about this accidental death but does show genuine concern for his mother which leads him to fits of intense emotion.

In Act 3 Hamlet finally decides that now is the time for action, he must betray both Claudius and Ophelia if he is to get anywhere. The first scene in act 3 includes Hamlet acting berzerk towards Ophelia while Claudius and Polonius watch from the shadows. In this scene the pride of Polonius is what will lead to his demise. Due to Polonius thinking so very highly of himself, he must get involved in the affairs of Hamlet and Ophelia. This ends up draws him into

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.

Hamlet fascinates many readers and the first thing to point out about him is that he is mysterious. Shakespeare's work demonstrates Hamlet's dilemma as the role of revenger showing a man of thought forced to be a man of action. Hamlet is extremely philosophical and introspective. He is particularly drawn to difficult questions or questions that cannot be answered with any certainty. Faced with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, Hamlet becomes obsessed with proving his uncle's guilt before trying to act. He is equally overwhelmed with questions about the afterlife, about the wisdom of suicide, and about what happens to bodies after they die.

In Aristotle’s Poetics, he discusses the elements that are involved in making a great tragedy, specifically. His methods have been followed by many a playwright, even if they do not decide this consciously. Shakespeare is somewhat of an outlier, generally defying much of the traditional rules set forth. Even so, Shakespeare’s plays can still show signs of Aristotle’s elements, and his methods can provide a deeper reading into plot, character, thought (theme), diction, song, and spectacle. By analyzing Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, using Aristotle’s six elements and his definition of a turning point, one is able to uncover Hamlet’s false madness and see that his true intentions are set on revenge.

Hamlet is essentially telling the actors in this scene to be deep into character. This is important as he wants to direct the most vivid representation to Claudius to unmask him. Hamlet in context says “to say what you mean and do what you say.” Hamlet is giving advice to himself indirectly. This is a turning point in Hamlet’s state of mind. Before the play scene Hamlet had been only giving his word such as in Act 1 he promised to avenge his father's with full force by killing Claudius. From Act 1 to Act 3 he hadn’t expressed his word through his actions for the most part, but now he is beginning to. He realizes that the majority of the individuals he lived with were hypocrites to their words. Hamlet wants to be different and wants to be truly

Hamlet has the opportunity to kill Claudius when he is praying, but does not because he is fearful that Claudius will go to heaven despite his crimes. Hamlet is admirable in not killing Claudius while praying because Hamlet wants a revenge worthy of his father and himself. While keeping up his act, Hamlet kills Polonius, Ophelia dies and Claudius and Laertes construct a death plot against Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes plan ironically spins out of control and them both himself killed and the queen killed. Although Hamlet also dies in the process, Hamlet justly kills Claudius with the poisoned dagger and the poisoned drink. The final image of most of the characters on the stage being dead provides a superficial pessimistic ending. However, the ability for Hamlet to maintain his honor when all odds were against him provides a great sense of hope in the audience. Also, the exchange of forgiveness from Laertes to “noble Hamlet” also provides an optimistic ending. Upon the arrival of prince Fortinbras, Hamlet is given a soldier’s funeral of the highest honors which allows for a promising ending.