Hamlet Essay, Research Paper

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare Two of the character’s

fathers are brutishly murdered. The first murdered character is King

Hamlet who is supposed to be revenge by his son prince Hamlet. The

second murder is Polonius who is supposed to be revenged by his son

Laertes. Both Prince Hamlet and Laertes go to seek revenge for the

death of fathers, however they will each use different methods to

accomplish their deeds.

Prince Hamlet has a meeting with the dead ghost of his father King

Hamlet. King Hamlet’s ghost reveals to his son, his murder by his

brother Claudius. Hamlet is informed by his father that he needs to be

avenged by the death of his brother Claudius. By this time Claudius has

already ascended the throne, and married Hamlet’s mother Queen

Gertrude. Hamlet decides to take a passive approach to avenge his

father. Hamlet first decides to act abnormal which does not accomplish

much besides warning his uncle that he might know he killed his father.

Later in the play a troop of actors come to act out a play, and Hamlet

has them reenact the murder of is father in front of his uncle

Claudius. The actors murder scene also make Hamlet question himself

about the fact that he has done nothing yet to avenge his father. Hamlet

says ” But am I Pigeon-livered and lack gall / To make oppression

bitter, or ere this / I should ha’ fatted all the region kites / With

this slave’s offal. Bloody, bawdy villain! ( Act II scene 2 page 84

line 577- 580 ). During the play Hamlet watches is uncle Claudius to

see his reaction when the actors perform the murder scene. Hamlet plan

works his uncle throws a fit and runs out the room, where Hamlet goes

after him. When Hamlet catches up to his uncle his uncle is kneeling

down praying, and Hamlet pulls out his sword and gets ready to kill

him. But all the sudden Hamlet changes his mind because if he kills his

uncle while he’s praying he will go to heaven, and Hamlet wants him to

go to hell. So hamlet postpones the execution of his uncle. The next

confrontation does not happen till the end of the book when Hamlet

escapes from his uncle’s ill murder attempt on his life. Hamlet later

sword fences with Laertes. All the sudden Hamlet’s mother Queen

Gertrude drinks a poison glass intended for Hamlet. When Hamlet is not

looking Laertes stabs him with a poison sword then Hamlet takes hold of

the poisoned sword, and stabs Laertes with it. As this happens Queen

Gertrude dies from the poison drink. As Laertes lays down dying he

reveals to Hamlet that his uncle King Claudius was behind it all, the

poisoned sword and drink that has just killed his mother. Hamlet then in

a fit of rage runs his uncle through with the poison sword. Hamlet has

now finally revenged his father through much time then after his task is

completed he finally collapses from the poison on the sword.

Polonius is murdered by Hamlet when Polonius his discovered listening

to Hamlet, and his mother’s Queen Gertrude conversation . Hamlet

unknowing of who the person behind the tapestry is, kills Polonius from

where he was spying. When news of his fathers death reaches Polonius’s

son Laertes, he comes back with an entourage to seek revenge for his

fathers death. In this conversation Laertes believes Hamlets uncle King

Claudius is responsible for his fathers death. ” How came he dead?

I’ll not be juggled with. / To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest

devil! / Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! / I dare

damnation. To this point I stand, / That both the worlds I give to

negligence, / Let come what comes, only I’ll be revenged / Most

thoroughly for my father. ( Act IV scene 5 page 134 line 133-139 )

Laertes takes a more aggressive stand point than Hamlet Laertes is

ready to kill the king right away thinking that he murdered his father.

But king Claudius tells Laertes that Hamlet is the one who killed his

father. King Claudius also finds out that Hamlet has escape the trap

that he setup to get him murdered. So King Claudius sets up another

plan with Laertes. This plan calls for Hamlet and Laertes to have a

mock sword fight, but Laertes will be using a real poisoned sword.

Laertes agrees with this, ready to claim Hamlets life for his father’s

vile murder. When the sword fight begins Hamlet is winning, but Laertes

gets frustrated and stabs Hamlet when he is not looking with the

poisoned sword. After Laertes stabs Hamlet, Hamlet then turns around

and manages to take the sword from Laertes and stabs Laertes with it.

Although Laertes dies first he accomplishes his purpose because Hamlet

will die shortly from the poison on the sword.

In this play Hamlet by William Shakespeare these two characters Hamlet

and Laertes both seek to revenged their slayed fathers. Hamlet with is

passive and scheming approach manages to kill his father’s murder his

uncle Claudius. Laertes with his direct, and forceful dedication slays

his fathers killer Prince Hamlet. Altough Laertes took a much more

direct approach than Hamlet wasting no time, they both however

accomplished their goal but at the ultimate price of both their lives!