Claudius is ambitious man that craves power and unlike other characters of the play he gets and maintains his power in a very immoral way. Claudius, because of his obsession to get the power of his brother, poisons him and this ignites the start of the revenge going to take place by Hamlet, “the serpent that did sting thy father’s life…
Consequently, Hamlets’ tragic flaw leads to his downfall. His lack of action causes him not to kill Claudius when he has the chance, giving him the advantage. It can be seen that Claudius has the advantage to kill Hamlet when he states, “By letters conjuring to that effect/The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England” (4.3.65-6). Since Hamlet reveals that he knows that Claudius killed the former king, Claudius is deceiving Hamlet into going to England, where he will be executed. Hamlet reveals his knowledge of the murder when he puts on the play, re-enacting the former King’s murder. Now Claudius knows that he must kill Hamlet in order to avoid getting caught and stay on the throne. Claudius tells Hamlet that he is sending him to England for…
Hamlet’s decisiveness ruins his life. He has the best chance to kill Claudius, but his hesitation just let Claudius go from Hamlet’s hand. “That would be scann'd: A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his…
Hamlet refers to his father as “dear.” The definition of “dear” is brave, bold, strenous, glorious, noble, and honorable. Each one of these words is how Hamlet sees his father. His fathers was dressed in his war gear when he saw him, which radiates bravery and nobility. Theses traits transmits to the symbolism of a deer. Heads of deer appear on the walls of hunters as a symbolism of bravery and power. Hamlet still sees his father in a good light even though he is angery that he has changed his detiny. The juxtaposition of these animals shows how Hamlet is is weak with no action instead of brave and honorable. Hamlet has been procrastinating against his duty to kill his uncle with questions that plague his mind. Instead of nobility, Hamlet considers suicide as an easy alternative. It allows a deeper understanding of Hamlet on how he doubts the act of…
Although Hamlet is characterized as relatively rational in his acts, he nonetheless still possess a strong desire to enact just vengeance on those who have wronged him. While Hamlet arrives at a propitious opportunity to kill Claudius in Act III, while the unknowing murderer sits in prayer while Hamlet, dagger in hand, watches, he ultimately chooses not to, postponing the act until his uncle “is drunk asleep, or in his rage / Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed / At game a-swearing, or about some act / That has no relish of salvation in ’t” (III.iii.90-94). Hamlet wishes not only for his uncle to pay the ultimate price for his sins – his life – he wants Claudius to suffer in eternal damnation, reflecting the intensity of Hamlet’s feeling (Bloom 20). Only now do audiences realize the full extent to which Hamlet wishes for vengeance. Even among Hamlet’s wit and the guise of his “antic disposition”, passion and hatred…
Hamlet succeeds in troubling Claudius, and because of this, Claudius decides to act. Claudius plans to send Hamlet to England where Hamlet would be executed upon arrival. The fact that Claudius could so easily organise Hamlet’s death shows the fear and panic that exists within Hamlet and Claudius’ relationship. While it is believed that Claudius would have always feared Hamlet, and what he would do if he learnt of the King’s murder, this scene, where Claudius discovers Hamlets murderous intentions and utter madness drives him to action.…
Shakespeare develops Hamlet’s character in relation to Claudius. First example is Hamlet puts on a play to see if Claudius would break down and confess that he killed King Hamlet. “That guilty creatures sitting at a play. Have by the very cunning of the scene, been struck so to the soul that presently. They have proclaimed their malefactions.” (Shakespeare, 2:2, lines 567-570). Hamlet invited players to come to the castle and perform a play for the king and queen. The play is going to reenact the night Claudius killed King Hamlet. Second example is Hamlet seeks revenge on Claudius. “Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell.” (Shakespeare, 2:2, line 562). When Hamlet saw the ghost of his dad in act 1, his dad said he needs to seek revenge on Claudius. Final example is Claudius…
Hamlet tries to acquire proof in order to gain sufficient grounds to kill Claudius. Hamlet puts on a play where “[he’ll] catch the conscience of the king” (II, ii, 603-604). He waits until he's sure of the king’s actions by first observing his guilt (as to not act on mere suspicions) then, attempts to murder him. Both attempts of murder are simply out of revenge. Claudius plots to murder Hamlet in an effort to rid himself of any problems. He sends a letter to the king of England asking that “if [his] love thou hold’st aught- thou mayst not coldly set our sovereign process” then may he cause “the present death of Hamlet” (IV, iii, 59-66). Claudius sees hamlet as a threat to his power and sees no problem in eliminating him once and for all. Both men are selfish in their quests for power and vengeance but technically, ultimately…
The play Hamlet is without a doubt an odd story to read based on what society today has become accustomed to. A brother killing another brother, and then marrying his wife. It is not a typical story in the modern world today. There is a vast variety of different themes that can be traced throughout the play, however the most popular is madness and sanity. Madness and sanity shape the play into what it is, without madness and sanity the play would have no life. Certain actions would not occur, certain events would not occur, and certain statements would not occur. Hamlet is a perfect example in the thought of is he acting insane or is he truly insane?…
I think there is a misplaced speech in Hamlet which has resulted in much unnecessary confusion. You'll remember that in Act I Hamlet meets his father's ghost, who tells his son that he was murdered by Claudius. Hamlet is full of resolve to do the right thing, but he makes no attempt to kill Claudius until Act III, Scene IV. (That attempt is frustrated when he mistakenly believes Claudius is praying.)…
2. Claudius understands the implications of Hamlet’s killing Polonius. He orders Hamlet to be sent to England and secretly arranges him to be put to death when he is in England. Claudius understands that he could have been killed and immediately thinks about how this murder could affect him rather than mourn the loss of Polonius.…
Throughout the play, Hamlet expresses his internalised battle between his mission to avenge his father’s death and his morality through his long soliloquies. For example, in Act 3, Scene 3, Hamlet has a golden opportunity to kill Claudius in his bedchambers but decides against it when he discovers Claudius is praying. He avers that to kill Claudius then, when he is confessing his sins, would be to send him to heaven. He exclaims that ‘this is hire and salary, not revenge’, saying that the action of killing Claudius mid-prayer would warrant a reward instead of being an act of revenge. These conflicting feelings within Hamlet cause him to be indecisive with his actions. As England was in the midst of transitioning from barbaric medieval times to the more refined Renaissance period during the time of Hamlet, Shakespeare uses Hamlet’s confliction to highlight his progressive thinking in comparison to Claudius’ uncouth ways and to signal to his audiences the dawn of a new…
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III scene 1, Hamlet's soliloquy of "To be or not to be" is full of metaphors that bring the various themes of the play together. One of the primary themes of the play is Hamlet's uncertainty of action and inability to decide how to cope with the problems he faces. In Hamlet's soliloquy, Hamlet metaphorically discusses his indecisiveness about the importance of continuing his life and asks himself "whether tis nobler of the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing them, end them." Hamlet wonders whether it is worth facing all his problems ("slings and arrows of outrageous fortune") or to commit suicide ("and by opposing them, end them.") Hamlet metaphorically compares the problems of his life to "slings and arrows" and to a "sea of troubles."…
Intimidation and exploitation are often a result of unbridled power. In both Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Animal Farm by George Orwell there are various aspects of power present. The fight for power between Snowball and Napoleon that Orwell showed us, is somewhat similar to the power struggle between Hamlet and Claudius presented by Shakespeare. Although, in Hamlet the power struggle is mainly because of lineage and in Animal Farm it is more of a political clash in opinions that causes the fight for power. In both texts, the main protagonists take advantage of their power to do things that they would not have done before, such as intimidate their friends and family and abuse their power for their own benefits. In Animal Farm this includes changing the ten commandments and in Hamlet it is taking advantage of the fact that he is the King’s son try and kill Claudius. Corruption has and always will be a problem in our society. More specifically, corruption was one of the main themes in the novels Hamlet and Animal Farm. Hamlet revolves around corruption between the characters, which makes corruption one of the most important themes of the novel. Animal Farm on the other hand revolves around how the animals (mainly the pigs) gradually become corrupt, also making this an important concept of the novel. Both texts showed how power and greed often lead to exploitation and venality. Because of these points the texts are quite similar. However they both have major differences in addition to their completely different plotlines. Whereas Hamlet is mostly about vengeance, Animal Farm is about political power and control.…
Nevertheless, he withholds on killing Claudius because if he was to die at that given moment in time, than the sins of the uncle would be washed away. Hamlet states, "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.”(III.3.77-83) Hamlet determines that he wants to kill Claudius when he will cease to exist in the midst of his sins, which will allow Claudius to undergo some type of calamitous amercement after death. The reason Hamlet goes through as this trouble is due the fact that he wants his fathers killer to endure suffering in their afterlife, meaning hell.…