| Hamlet Tragism Essay, Research Paper
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare the main hero Hamlet is a tragic
character. The tragism of the situation is going through the whole poem and even
every phrase is fulfilled with the tragedy. 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 the character of Hamlet Is the
tragic one. Hamlet with his passive and scheming approach manages to kill his
father’s murder his uncle Claudius.
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