Examples Of Evil In Hamlet

In the play of Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, has a very rough life for a prince. His father, King Hamlet, was murdered by his own uncle, Claudius. Claudius went on to marry Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, making Claudius Hamlet's uncle and stepfather, and Gertrude his mother and aunt. Hamlet finds out that Claudius killed King Hamlet when King Hamlet visits him as a ghost. Hamlet looks for ways of getting Claudius to confess to the murder of his father to expose him of what he really is. In the end of the play, despite all of Hamlet's best efforts, Claudius has to resort to murdering Hamlet in order to keep him quiet. I believe that Gertrude was innocent of conspiring with her husband about the murder of her son.

Gertrude appears oblivious to the fact that Claudius killed King Hamlet to take over the crown and to have her. Her decision to marry her deceased husband’s brother had a lot of people questioning her sanity also. “The funeral baked meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables” (Shakespeare 17). Gertrude had gotten married so quick after the funeral of King Hamlet that the food from the funeral catered for the wedding. During the play that Hamlet produced to show people what Claudius had done, she was blind to the fact that it was actually Claudius that he was talking about. Due to Hamlet knowing the truth, Claudius has been trying to kill him.

It is clear how Hamlet a lack of communication with his family. Although what happen with his father do not justify his actions it does justify his emotions. Hamlet loved his father very much. With any loss of a dear person, the human reactions towards the lost are always unknown. The grief Hamlet felt was so intense it was the main reason on why he could not forgive his mom for marrying his uncle. It is unknown why Queen Gertrude married King Claudius. Perhaps she married him for love, grief, or even the sake of Denmark, During this time period if the king died the queen must remarry or the prince must get married to become the next king if neither of the events happens the next person (not the prince) must take the throne. Queen Gertrude

The fact that Claudius and Gertrude want to get marry so fast leads to different thoughts. Claudius speaks to the royalty and not to the entire castle that includes the lower class because he does not want to raise suspicions. He could have killed King Hamlet, so he would be the maximum authority in the state of Denmark politically, socially, and economically. Gertrude and Claudius might have been lovers in the past and their rise to power has been carefully planned and executed. And Gertrude wants to preserve her power and high position in Denmark.

Hamlet felt like his mother did not care for his deceased father enough. I think it was very disrespectful in all ways for Gertrude to even marry her late husband's brother. I feel that Gertrude and Claudius should have had more respect for the deceased and if they were to get married more than a month after the man’s death. In today’s society people would give Gertrude and Claudius ugly looks and talk about how nasty it is that they got together. People in today’s society would pity Hamlet to have to deal with his situation.

“To be or not to be,” says Hamlet, acknowledging the presence of Claudius standing out of sight. The presence of betrayal is common throughout history, especially literary pieces such as Hamlet. One would even say the plot revolves around betrayal. Shakespeare’s use of betrayal served the purpose of unveiling the characters for who they really are. It does this by, pushing the character to abandoning their values and placing their family, friends, and kingdom in harm.

A lot of moral corruption can be seen in today’s society. We see it in movies, on TV, in books, on social media, and many other things. Moral corruption means doing something, regardless of it being right or wrong, for your own benefit, like stealing, lying, committing adultery, etc. It is a very prominent theme throughout Hamlet. Almost all of the characters perform some kind of moral corruption, whether it be Claudius killing his brother or Hamlet conspiring to kill Claudius.

His actions were not justified in the treatment of his mother Gertrude. When the ghost of Hamlet’s father appeared he told Hamlet not to blame Gertrude and to tell her not to sleep with the king. When he enters his mother’s room, he thinks that someone is hiding behind the curtains. Hamlet stabs and kills Polonius thinking he is the king. He makes many accusations against Gertrude which was against the ghost intentions. He tells her that she loves Claudius merely after the king dies. He tells her that she has married Claudius not even two months after the king’s death. Because Hamlet had made these accusations against Gertrude, she had felt guilty because she had stated that HAmlet’s words felt like daggers in her ears and repeatedly told him to stop. The ghost of king Hamlet appears and tells Hamlet not to blame Gertrude. Because of this Hamlet’s actions are not justified because he has gone against the ghost’s instructions of blaming Gertrude and the delay of the killing of

Claudius is ultimately revealed as the antagonist of Hamlet because he removed the good from his life, becoming the prime opposition of Hamlet. He is then faced with the king’s direction to avenge his father’s death by doing anything it takes to reveal the crimes of Claudius. Although not the chief antagonist, another opposition to Hamlet is his mother, whose crime is also revealed by the deceased king Hamlet. The king tells Hamlet how his wife betrayed him when he comments, “whose love was of that dignity that it went hand in hand even with the vow I made to her in marriage, and to decline upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor to those of mine” (I.vi.786-791). Queen Gertrude has also crushed Hamlet’s belief of his mother’s faithfulness by forgetting her vows and looking to Claudius’ gifts and love when she should be remembering king Hamlet. Both Claudius and Gertrude threw Hamlet’s integral foundations out the window, leaving Hamlet infuriated and ready to do what it takes to avenge his father’s death and accuse his opposing family of their crime against him.

She spurs Hamlet’s anger throughout the play, because she marries Claudius so quickly. Once Hamlet finds out that Claudius is the one who murdered the late King Hamlet, it drives him even more insane that his mother would be one to marry so quickly. The act of marrying another man when she should be grieving implies that she is only using the marriage for her social status to remain as queen, especially before she had proper time to mourn King Hamlet. Critics say that the act of marriage so quickly was to save her role as Queen. That she is a frail woman that has allowed herself to be seduced by Claudius (Aguirre). Being a frail woman or not, her allowing herself to be seduced by Claudius and her hasty marriage shows that she is in fact a desperate woman. In an analysis of Queen Gertrude, it can be seen that her hasty marriage to Claudius makes her desperate to keep her social status as Queen, with no regards to her first husband’s death, or Hamlet’s

When Hamlet died Queen Gertrude was quick to marry his brother, Claudius. Hamlet II was very distraught and was grieving over his lost father, while Gertrude doesn’t seem to deal with the death of her husband. She even says, “Thou know’st ‘tis common- all that lives must die…” (1.2.71). This shows two things

Claudius wants Hamlet to look up to him as a father, rather than resenting him for the way he inherited the throne, and married his mother so soon after King Hamlet’s death. In Act I, scene 2, Claudius says, “To do obsequious sorrow. But to persevere in obstinate condolement is a course of impious stubbornness. ‘Tis unmanly grief.” (Shakespeare 92-94) What Claudius is saying, in modern terms, is Hamlet is allowed to grieve and mourn for a certain period of time, but after that period is over, it is considered unacceptable and unmanly. He wants Hamlet to get over his father’s death and look up to him, so he can get the admiration he needs.

Hamlet's rant to persuade her that Claudius is a bad man and the murderer of his father depicts his disrespect to his mother. For instance, he tells her, "You go not till I set you up a glass / Where you may see the inmost part of you." (III.iv.20-21) He is threatening his own mother! Later, he addresses her as "thou wretched, rash, intruding fool" (III.iv.32) Even though Gertrude's lust for Claudius aggravates him, Hamlet fails to show even the most fundamental respect to his superior. The relationship is full of disloyalty and distrust from Gertrude's part. First, she appeases, "Be thou assured... I have no life to breathe what thou hast said to me." (III.iv.201-203) It is assumed that she will listen to Hamlet and stay away from Claudius. However, in the next act, she displays her true loyalty to her husband, telling him that Hamlet is "in this brainish apprehension kills / The unseen good old man." (IV.I.12-13) This is partially contributed by her observations of her son talking to a ghost that she doesn't see. Polonius' death causes her to think Hamlet is dangerous, further driving the two apart. Her distrust to her son harms him by further solidifying Claudius' plan to execute him in England because the king sees him as a threat to the throne who is capable of killing. In the end, Hamlet and Gertrude's relationship take a bittersweet ending.

Hamlet puts off avenging his father’s death because of his severe Oedipus complex. Hamlet did not kill Claudius until his mother had already died. This is a sign that Hamlet did not want to hurt his mother because of the sexual feelings he had for her. Hamlet felt that killing Claudius would hurt his mother too much, and he could not do that to her. Hamlet wants to save Gertrude form Claudius because of his feelings for her, his incestual feelings, not maternal ones. Subconsciously the queen knows the effect she has on her son. Gertrude tries to play off that fact that’s she knows about Hamlet’s feeling several times in the play. Gertrude is very fond of her son and wants to protect him however she can. This can be seen in the play, many times even up to when Gertrude is about to die. She tries to save Hamlet from drinking the poison himself. She also decided not to tell Claudius that Hamlet knows what Claudius has done.

After killing Polonius, Hamlet feel no guilt at all, he acts indifferently. The audience can evidence how appearances and reality come back into play when Queen Gertrude cries out, “O, what a rash and bloody deed is this” (Act 3, scene 4, page 106). Hamlet, responds without repentance, “A bloody deed – almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king, and marry with his brother.” (Act 3, scene 4, page 106). After this statement made by Hamlet, there is a twist in the scene. Instead of the scene being centered towards the death of Polonius, it becomes centered towards Hamlet’s obsession and hatred towards his mother for betraying him and his father by the rapid and opportune marriage to