Guilt In Hamlet

Improved Essays
Hamlet
The consequences of taking revenge can sometimes be server and painful. The play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare demonstrates a tragic hero who tries to take revenge on King Claudius for murdering his father. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet, the protagonist, cannot make up his mind about killing Claudius, the antagonist, in order to avenge his father’s death. In my opinion, it is his fault to not be able to make up his mind about killing Claudius, because Claudius a bad person. Moreover, he had proven Claudius is guilty. However, he can just live on a happy life if he can leave the murder aside.
To start off, one can tell Claudius is not a good person by judging on his morality. “Claudius hastily married King Hamlet’s widow, Gertrude,
…show more content…
In ears
Claudius abruptly rises and leaves the room proof positive for
Hamlet of his uncle’s guilt.” (Hamlet summary, paragraph 5)
This quotation shows how Hamlet found proof for the ghost’s word. Hamlet should be able decide whether to revenge or not. If he wants to take revenge on Claudius, he should take action and should carry out with a clever plan. In addition to the evidence of guilt “Claudius hastily married Hamlet’s mother” shows Claudius is desperate to get the throne from his brother. However, Hamlet can just live on a happy life if he can put the murder aside. If Hamlet did try to kill Claudius, Claudius would not try to kill him using poison. In addition, he and Ophelia could have lived happily together if he ceases his plan.
“ Ophelia, is courting Hamlet. ” Even though his father is dead, but he can still have a happy life with Ophelia. At the end, almost all the people dead and some of them are innocent. Hamlet’s revenge has leads to a tragedy following the death of many innocents. To conclude, it is Hamlet’s fault to not be able to make up his mind about killing Claudius. Because we already know Claudius murdered his father, and Claudius is not a good king. But he can live on a happy life. Either way, Hamlet should be able to make a decision because two path clearly leads to a different path of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Another reason why he didn't get justice was because when he finally had caught Claudius off guard , He was on his knees and Hamlet though that he was praying for forgiveness for his sins. Hamlet thought that if he killed Claudius right then and there he would have went to heaven instead of hell where he wanted him to go for killing his father. Hamlet did not get justice because he procrastinated and really didn't have a well thought out plan to follow through…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The question of whether Hamlet was truly mad or not has sparked many conflicting answers about The Tragedy of Hamlet. However, there is more powerful evidence pointing to the fact that Hamlet is truly mad. As Shakespeare develops his characters, Hamlet seems to become crazier as the play progresses. Hamlet’s true madness is revealed in a number of different ways. A few examples of how Hamlet goes mad are shown when Hamlet ignores Horatio’s warning not to speak to the ghost, when Hamlet shows no remorse for taking a human life, and in the appearance of a ghost that only Hamlet can see.…

    • 1008 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moral Truths, Redemption, and a Justice in Hamlet Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, is a tale of a prince whom returns home from school to a mess of a situation. The king was murdered and Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, remarried to the king’s brother, Claudius. While dealing with the loss of his father, Hamlet becomes suspicious of his uncle, as pieces of the murder come together in his mind. It seemed to be all too soon for Claudius to overtake the thrown.…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Revenge is not always the answer and can turn into a bunch of people getting hurt or killed if handled the wrong way. Destruction is the result of revenge in the wrong hands. In the play, Hamlet, we see one of the motifs, revenge, result in tragedy and death. In the beginning of the play Hamlet sees a ghost of his father who has passed away.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Theme Of Guilt In Hamlet

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Of all the feelings a person can feel, there’s but one feeling that can leave us in a state of shock, help us escape reality, commit deeds that we can’t endure, and corrupt our rationality of thinking. This is more commonly known as the emotion “guilt”, which is a feeling one feels after realizing they have done something unspeakable. The theme of guilt is clearly evident in Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business and William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Guilt is particularly used in both narratives to portray the true nature of characters in both narratives, by developing emotional tension in characters, contrasting the type of guilt felt by between characters and is also used to influence their decisions. First, characters throughout their respective novels have different types of guilt they feel and is often contrasted with other characters in the same narrative.…

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Next, Hamlet damages Ophelia emotionally when he acts “Mad as the sea and wind when both contend / Which is the mightier” (IV.i.7-8). Ophelia begins to suffer from depression as she loses her father, Polonius, and begins to believe that Hamlet does not love her. Furthermore, as stated in Lidz’s essay, “it is not her father 's murder that has driven her mad but, rather, his murder by Hamlet, the person she loves and upon whose love she has placed her hopes.” She continues by stating that “Now, she {Ophelia} can never marry him, and worse still, she has an obligation to hate him” for killing her original love; her father.…

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Theme Of Ophelia In Hamlet

    • 1498 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Because this mission was intricate, it was successful at distracting Hamlet from Ophelia. The critic Brandes agrees, “Hamlet draws away from Ophelia from the moment when he feels himself the appointed minister of a sacred revenge,” (Brandes). As soon as he finds out Claudius killed his father, it’s as if nothing else matters anymore. His only goal is to seek revenge for his dead father. He simply didn’t have time for love.…

    • 1498 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Realm of Uncertainty William Shakespeare is known for his abundance of tragic stories, and Hamlet is no exception. In Hamlet, the young prince Hamlet discovers his father has been murdered, so he sets out to seek revenge on the killer and causes havoc on his way. One obvious theme of Hamlet is uncertainty where ghosts, acts of insanity, and treachery all plague the characters. This looming matter drives the characters into complete madness.…

    • 1631 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This physic but prolongs thy sickly days” (Act III, scene iii). Therefore, Hamlet contemplates whether he should kill Claudius or wait; he measures the effects of what his actions could lead up to and uses his judgement to act upon a situation. In this circumstance, Hamlet decides not to kill Claudius because Claudius was repenting; Hamlet knew that if he were to kill Claudius, revenge would not be satisfying because Claudius would have gone to heaven. Therefore, Hamlet took the repercussions into consideration and acted upon his…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Both Hamlet and Claudius use deception to achieve their goals of revenge and legitimacy, in doing so, they both are being hypocritical. In the end, they are both betrayed by their deceptions. Later, a ghost claiming to be the spirit of King Hamlet, informs Hamlet that his father’s death may not…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hero or villain? Friend or foe? Many people have different views on Hamlet, but I personally would consider Hamlet as a hero in this situation. In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the plot goes as Hamlet is instructed to return home for his father’s funeral. Upon his arrival, he discovers that his mother had been remarried to Hamlet’s uncle, his father’s brother.…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While Hamlet is willing to hurt and push away his loved ones in order to perfect his insane act, Claudius is willing to go to much more dangerous and morbid lengths to preserve his great image and create a flawless façade. To make sure Hamlet will not expose the real him, Claudius is prepared to plan Hamlets own murder. After Claudius confirms that Hamlet knows of the murder and is a threat to his “good guy act”, he tells Hamlet he is set for England, and later reveals his letter to the King of England which says that he must help him with ‘”the present death of Hamlet, for like the hectic in [Claudius’] blood, he rages” (4.3.65-66). Claudius is willing to do whatever it may take to tie up his loose ends and perfect his image, all to hide his true self. There is no limit to what Claudius’ will do to remain hidden and prefect his façade, not even the murder of his step son/nephew.…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If he do blench,/I know my course.” (II. ii. 623-627) Hamlet first plans to try and expose Claudius with the play to make sure that it was in fact him who had murdered his father. Moreover, even when Hamlet knows Claudius is the murderer and is provided with the chance to kill him he chooses not to.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Hamlet 's madness he accidentally kills Ophelia 's father, Polonius, because he thought it was an intruder in his mother 's chamber. He expresses his hope that it would be the king that he killed because that 's who he has been wanting to assassinate. After he finds out it was Polonius the situation gets even more complicated. Hamlet is stuck in a position that either way will be hurtful. He still loves her.…

    • 1058 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In hindsight, getting revenge for his father’s death seemed imminent, justifiable, and achievable to Hamlet, but he never considered the interference of internal and external forces at play. He attempts to rationalize this cognitive dissonance (a state in which a person’s beliefs/values and actions contradict each other) as a way to relieve this internal conflict, wanting to kill Claudius but not actually going through with it when he’s given a perfect opportunity, by saying that he’ll wait until he’s in a more compromising and particularly sinful situation to kill him, which is preposterous in and of itself. Deep down, he knows this isn’t plausible, but regardless it works as a quick temporary solution for the problem and at that moment, it takes precedence over rationality. And once a person procrastinates, it becomes exponentially easier and seemingly convenient to fall into this cycle until eventually you’re forced to deal with the unavoidable repercussions at the end, for instance when Hamlet kills Claudius after Gertrude and Laertes die at the end of the…

    • 1427 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays