Now wears his crown” (1.5.46-47). Claudius’s brother was a great warrior that probably ruled with ideas of justice and moral balance but Claudius is a corrupt politician, he rules with manipulation and does not even feel guilt for catalyzing the fall from grace of so many characters. He schemes and manipulates other characters to get what he desires. When Claudius was certain that Hamlet knew of his lie about his brothers death he planned a match between Laertes and Hamlet in which Hamlet was not suppose to come out as the victor. Claudius will stop at nothing to maintain his power if he has he heart to murder his own brother, he will have the heart to murder anyone that blocks him from his goal. It is his own scheming that leads to his death, if power is gained by lies and manipulation more lies and manipulation must take place to maintain it and that life can only be held a secret for so long. The constant deaths, spying and confusion led many to become mad. His lack of guilt can be seen when he openly shows his affection for his wife in front of Hamlet and does it in a very obnoxious way. This affection for his wife is questionable because of his need for power. It is not certain whether or not Claudius actually has sincere feelings towards Gertrude or whether she is just another character playing a part in his lie, something that just came along with what he truly wanted, the crown. However even though his motives for marrying the queen are questionable, if he does not truly love Gertrude he covers it up well, showing once again his good use of manipulation. He openly shows affection and even declares his love in words, “The…
Hamlet seems to be the one who lets things dwell in his mind before taking any action or making an attempt at trying to get on with his life. After the death of his father he becomes depressed and gradually becomes enraged with his mother's immediate marriage to his uncle Claudius. He was lead to believe his father died of natural cause but he became aware of the murderer when his father's ghost appeared to him. When Hamlet learns the truth of his father's murder, he cries, but promises action, though he delivers none. He says "Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge." (Act 1, Sc. 5, 29-31). At the end of the scene he says "The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right!" (Act 1, Sc. 5, 188-189). This shows that he is no longer in such a rush to avenge his father's death by killing his uncle Claudius.…
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 himself does not know why he procrastinates the murder when he has "the means motive and opportunity"(4.4.2833-2835). But I think Hamlet hesitates to kill Claudius for religious reasons. The audience witnesses Hamlet admitting that he wants Claudius to go to hell, and that is the reason Hamlet hesitates to kill Claudius when he is praying (3.3.2375):…
signs of guilt. Having established the evidence his Wittenburg education would require for action, Hamlet now felt he could now enact revenge on Claudius. Any action against his uncle was postponed for sometime, but the complexities of Hamlet's character necessitated the delay.…
Another major theme in Hamlet is procrastination. Throughout the play, Hamlet wants to avenge his father's death by killing Claudius, but every chance that arises is pushed aside by Hamlet. Claudius was praying all alone, and rather than kill him at that moment, Hamlet thought about the situation and decided that he didn't want Claudius to have a chance to go to heaven. Had Hamlet simply went ahead and done what he wanted to do, deaths that occurred later in the play could have been prevented. It's this obsessive nature that led Hamlet to his tragic ending. Hamlet never thought about whether or not killing Claudius would hurt his mother;…
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…
Based on these examples, Hamlet’s demeanor allowed him to easily kill multiple people without regard or remorse and thus he should not have hesitated in killing Claudius, a person who killed his Father and married his Mother. However, this is not the case, despite his promises to get his revenge “with wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love” (Hamlet.1.5.29-30). This same idea was mentioned by Sigmund Freud in “The Interpretation of Dreams” when he states “The plot of the drama, however, shows us that Hamlet is by no means intended to appear as a character wholly incapable of action… What is it, then, that inhibits him in accomplishing the task which his father's ghost has laid upon him?” (Freud, page 86). Additionally, Jones noted that “there is every reason to believe that, apart from the task in question, Hamlet is a man capable of very decisive action” (Jones 77). These quotes further support my opinions that Hamlet acts decisively when it comes to taking the lives of others, as such, he hesitance to kill Claudius must related to a deeper…
However, Hamlet incapable of doing it and proceed to what according to Ghost told him to (Javed 332). This is an identity crisis for Hamlet, as he does not know whether he is acting upon his free will or upon the Ghost words. Killing Claudius is what the Ghost wanted. However, Hamlet is confused whether he want to Claudius or not, hence the delay in his actions. ”Hamlet is too delicate or too subtle for the purpose. A less self-questioning hero would have been a better instrument” (Javed…
In ‘Hamlet’, major antagonist is a shrewd, lustful, conniving king who contrasts sharply with the other male characters in the play. Whereas most of the other important men in ‘Hamlet’ are preoccupied with ideas of justice, revenge, and moral balance, Claudius is bent upon maintaining his own power. The old King Hamlet was apparently a stern warrior, but Claudius is a corrupt politician whose main weapon is his ability to manipulate others through his skillful use of language. Claudius’s speech is compared to poison being poured in the ear, the method he used to murder Hamlet’s father. Claudius’s love for Gertrude may be sincere, but it also seems likely that he married her as a strategic move, to help him win the throne away from Hamlet after the death of the king. As the play progresses, Claudius’s mounting fear of Hamlet’s insanity leads him to even greater self-preservation; when Gertrude tells him that Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius does not remark that Gertrude might have been in danger, but only that he would have been in danger had he been in the room. He tells Laertes the same thing as he attempts to soothe the young man’s anger after his father’s death. Claudius is ultimately too crafty for his own good. In Act five, rather than allowing Laertes only two methods of killing Hamlet, the sharpened sword and the poison on the blade, Claudius insists on a third, the poisoned goblet. When Gertrude inadvertently drinks the poison and dies, Hamlet is at last able to bring himself to kill Claudius, and the king falls to his own cowardly doings.…
For a man to get avenge on his father’s murderer takes much strength and courage, but not necessarily time. In the tragedy, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet waits five acts to kill his father’s murderer, Claudius. Critics have come up with two types of reasons for the long delay, one reason being internal and the other external. The internal reasons being, Hamlet was too weak, he thought too much, and he was too religious. The external reasons being Claudius was heavily guarded and he was not sure if the ghost that gave him the orders to kill Claudius was actually his father. Every critic explains his view thoroughly.…
Claudius craved the throne, and went to great lengths to obtain--and keep--his position as king once he gets it. He is able to manipulate other people to do what he wants them to. Take for example Polonius, who does his bidding all of the time. Also take Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; they used to be trusted friends of Hamlet's, but under Claudius' manipulation turn into spies and potential murderers. Then, Laertes is cunningly manipulated into challenging and intending to kill Hamlet. Claudius takes what he wants, with no concern for others. He murders his brother and woos the queen, all to obtain the kingdom. Whether this hurts people in the process is of little concern to him. One telling scene in the play shows Claudius on his knees, praying, tormented by his sins. So despite his crimes and cunning nature, he still has a conscience that afflicts him occasionally. Even though Claudius is able to take the throne and manipulate people, he is very smart in how he does it. He is aware of his position and popular opinion, and works around it very well. Instead of having Hamlet killed for Polonius' murder, he sends Hamlet away on a ship, ordering his death away from the kingdom where people might rebel. He carefully arranges for Hamlet's…
King Claudius kills Hamlet’s father, so Hamlet is in a confused as to how he will get revenge. He wants to do what it takes to avenge his father’s death. "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder," demands the ghost in (Act I, scene 5, line 23). The ghost tells hamlet he needs to kill King Claudius but Hamlet is to busy consumed in all the problems he has, that he doesn’t act at the right time. He had many chances to do something about King Claudius but didn’t because he was too indecisive about it. For example: when the King is kneeling paying Hamlet has a chance to kill him but he doesn’t. He talks himself out of murdering him, and instead makes a play to see if he is guilty.…
Hamlet is fated to his own destruction. Hamlet should’ve just killed Claudius when the Ghost first told him that Claudius was a murderer instead of trying to give Claudius chances to prove him self innocent. For example after he watches the players, Hamlet berates himself for his inability to avenge his father’s murder, “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!....monstrous that this player here….could force his soul so to his own conceit.” Also when Hamlet says, “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven; And so am I revenged”, Hamlet is about to kill Claudius while…
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.…