Hamlet Sacrifice Essay

People make sacrifices everyday, but sometimes they have to decide if what they want is worth the price they must pay for it. In Shakespeare's tragic play, Hamlet, many of the characters make sacrifices to achieve a goal. One of these characters is Claudius, who sacrifices his family and integrity because he values power and control so highly. This contributes to the theme that a struggle to gain power does not always end how it is expected to. In Act I, the ghost of Hamlet’s father reveals that he was murdered by his brother Claudius, who has now married the king’s widow Gertrude, and has stolen the throne for himself. Claudius not only betrayed his brother’s love and trust, but he obtained his position as king through foul play, which is …show more content…
He claims that his “offence is rank, it smells to heaven.” Claudius tries to find salvation through his prayer, but his passion for control overpowers his guilt, so he does not repent. Here he sacrfices his own good jugdement for his power. In Act V, Claudius arranges a duel between Laertes and Hamlet, but it is no ordinary sword fight. Claudius poisoned both the swords and the wine to ensure Hamlet would end up dead. Rigging the duel like that shows a major loss of integrity. Claudius also sacrifices his wife, Gertrude, when he lets her drink the poisoned wine and die. However, all of Claudius’s efforts to stay in power fail when he is murdered by Hamlet. In fact, when Hamlet does the deed he shouts, “Here, thou incestuous, mur’roud, damned Dane!” These vulgar insults show how little respect Hamlet has for his uncle. Whereas in a functional family a boy should hold his uncle in high regard, Hamlet thinks so low of Claudius that he can call him those names and then kill him. Claudius threw away love and respect from his nephew in order to gain power, and that lead to his death. The sacrifice he thought power was worth, ended up backfiring on him, contributing to the theme that plans do not always have the effect you intend them