Hamlet Essay, Research Paper

I believe deep down everyone has felt like they themselves where Hamlet.

They can empathize with some of the emotions Hamlet was feeling, the grief and the sorrow, the abandonment and resentment. Not many carry their fantasy as far as Hamlet did. Shakespeare wrote of a man who had to face the great loss. Not the loss of his beloved father or of his lover Ophelia, but he lost himself in a world of make-believe where he could regain the control that he lost in his life.

In the beginning Hamlet comes home to mourn the passing of his father. Then within two months the Queen, Hamlet’s mother, marries the brother of her old husband. This enrages Hamlet. His mother and his uncle! It was disgusting. The King tries to play the part of father. He seems to care for the welfare of his new son. Hamlet doesn’t care to be called Claudius’s son, he even said “A little more than kin, but less than kind.”(I, ii, 65) The king did not catch the remark though. Hamlet believed that the king only pretended to be nice to him because he had to. Claudius was now his “father”. Meanwhile the queen tries to convince Hamlet that morning for so long is wrong. Dying is a natural part of life and when you die you go to god. By morning so long you are disgracing his fathers memory.

Hamlet mopes around feeling sorry for himself. Him and Horatio, a friend of Hamlets, began to talk about the old king. Hamlet said how much he misses his father and that he knows he will never see anyone like him again. Horatio then delivered a fatal blow, he told Hamlet “My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.” (I, ii, 189) Hamlet’s world then began to turn. He at first doubted his friend, and then naturally the hope of his father being alive got the better again. He followed Horatio and Marcellus to a spot away from prying eyes and he encountered the ghost. It was as his friends had said; it did appear to be his fathers ghost. The one thing that changed Hamlet then happened. The ghost looked at him and divulged his secret. He told a story that a serpent crept into his garden while he was asleep, and that “the serpent that did sting thy father’s life, now wears his crown.” (I, v, 39) Hamlet did not take this news lightly. He could not believe his uncle could and would kill his father. The ghost then forced Hamlet to swear to get revenge.

Hamlet cannot shake the feeling that the ghost might not have been who he said to be. So he conjured up a devious scheme. He decided the only way to get the information he wanted without looking like he was committing treason was by acting completely crazy. He asks Ophelia’s father if he had a daughter, and he walks around spouting nonsense. Polonius runs to the king and queen to tell them “the very cause of Hamlet’s lunacy.” (II, ii, 50) He claims Hamlet is crazy because of his undying love for his daughter. That Hamlet could not handle it when he told his daughter to ignore him. The king bought it but I think the queen knows her son better than the story would have you believe.

Hamlet believed the only way to get the truth about his father’s suspicious death was by getting a reaction out of his uncle. He came up with an idea of a play where the characters acted a scene like what happened in real life. Then as the king in the play died Hamlet would then look at the reaction on his uncle’s face. If nothing happened then he would then know his uncle did not kill his father. The king has a strong reaction. Hamlet asked “What, frighted with false fire?” (III, ii, 245) The king was so shook by the play he had it stopped. Hamlet now had the proof he need for his insane plan to kill the murderer of his father.

Hamlet almost succeeded in his plan but something happened. He saw the king and he raised his sword and was about to strike his uncle, but he stopped. Something made him pause. He couldn’t go through with it. After that happened death loomed over Hamlet’s dismal life. First to die was Polonius, then his daughter. Leartes came home to find his father dead. Then later he learned his sister drowned in the lake. Both Leartes and Hamlet mourn Ophelia’s death. They take it extremely hard. Hamlet then admitted his true feelings for Ophelia. He said, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum.” (V, I, 240) Hamlet for once was completely honest with his feelings for Ophelia, only if he could have told her before it was too late. Now he has nothing.

Leartes is so upset about the lost of his father and his sister he challenges Hamlet to a dual. The king conspires with Leartes to poison Hamlet by tainting the blade of Leartes sword. Hamlet and Leartes exchange blows and both get cut. The queen toasts Hamlet and takes a drink of her son’s drink. “The drink, the drink! I am poisoned.” (V, ii, 283) The queen falls down dead. Leartes stabs Hamlet and informs him that he too has been poisoned and he would join his mother soon. Hamlet takes Leartes sword and stabs him with it. Before he dies Leartes forgives Hamlet for everything. He now realized the king was the one to blame. Hamlet looked at his uncle and finishes the job he should have done long before. Hamlet and the king both die leaving the kingdom to Fortinbras.

Poor Hamlet’s disillusioned world caused so much pain and suffering. I can understand how he felt for he truly loved his father. When his father died his world crashed around him. But most people can pull themselves out of it. He wanted so badly for his father to come back to him he was blinded. He could not see the truth. He would believe anything. When he did he caused the ones he loved to lose their places in his life. Hamlet in the end was a tragedy of tragedies. For he believed what he was doing was right.