Essay on Hamlet - The Struggle Between Mother and Son

William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet relays Hamlet’s quest to avenge the murder of his father, the king of Denmark. The late King Hamlet was murdered by his brother, Claudius, who took the throne and Hamlet’s mother Gertrude for himself. Hamlet is beseeched by the ghost of his father to take vengeance upon Claudius; while he swears to do so, the prince inexplicably delays killing Claudius for months on end. Hamlet’s feeble attempt to first confirm his uncle’s guilt with a play that recounts the murder and his botched excuses for not killing Claudius when the opportunity arises serve as testimony to Hamlet’s true self. Hamlet is riddled with doubt towards the validity of the ghost and his own ability to carry out the act necessary to

Hamlet realizes that he is dying and that he now has the excuse to kill Claudius

          By the beginning of Act III, Hamlet is almost ready to kill Claudius, but he still needs more proof that Claudius killed his father, and he also wants to put off the murder because he is a bit of a coward.  Claudius is beginning to lose his composure.  Hamlet decides to set a trap for him in the form of a play.  The subject of the play is the murder of a king by his brother who, in turn, marries the king's wife.  The plot of the play is strikingly similar to the circumstances of King Hamlet's murder, which strikes a disharmonious chord in the conscience of Claudius.  In the middle of the play during the murder scene, Claudius gets up and begs for the play to stop so that he can get some air.  Hamlet is very angered by this because it confirms that Claudius did kill his father.  Later that night, Claudius prays to god to forgive him for his

Critics have attempted to explain Hamlet’s delay in avenging his father for centuries and the most relevant scene to illustrate Hamlet’s hesitation is in Act Three when Hamlet has the opportunity to kill Claudius but doesn’t. Hamlet says at the time that he does

is what Hamlet says to Horatio and Marcellus after he talks to the ghost of Old Hamlet. Hamlet is telling them not to mention that he is just pretending to be mad to anybody, which hints that Hamlet does have a plan to put on an antic disposition to fool Claudius and the courtiers. Later on in the play, Hamlet asks the traveling player to put on a show of the play The Murder of Gonzago, which is quite similar to the current situation with Claudius and Old Hamlet. Hamlet says, "We'll ha't to-morrow night. You could for a need study a / speech of some dozen or sixteen lines which I would set down and / insert in't, could you not?" (II, ii, 506-508), when he asks the players if he could add a speech into their performance. This speech makes the plot virtually parallel to the occurrences between Claudius and Hamlet, and Hamlet will see Claudius' reaction to the play in order to determine his guilt. Claudius'

In the light of your critical study, does this statement resonate with your own interpretation of Hamlet?

     Hamlet's father, Old King Hamlet who he looked up to was recently killed, and his mother married his uncle within a month. He receives a visit from the ghost of his father which urges him to "revenge [Claudius'] foul and most unnatural murder" (I, v, 32) of Old Hamlet. It is only logical that under these circumstances, Hamlet would be under great duress, and it would not be abnormal for him to express grief. Fortnibra and Laertes also have to deal with the avenging their fathers' death.

Hamlet fascinates many readers and the first thing to point out about him is that he is mysterious. Shakespeare's work demonstrates Hamlet's dilemma as the role of revenger showing a man of thought forced to be a man of action. Hamlet is extremely philosophical and introspective. He is particularly drawn to difficult questions or questions that cannot be answered with any certainty. Faced with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, Hamlet becomes obsessed with proving his uncle's guilt before trying to act. He is equally overwhelmed with questions about the afterlife, about the wisdom of suicide, and about what happens to bodies after they die.

Throughout William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet with the same types of behaviors and frustrations in humans that Sigmund Freud saw at a much later date. When the relationship between Hamlet and his mother is analyzed Freud's oedipal complex theory comes to mind. The oedipal complex is a theory created by Freud that states that "The child takes both of its parents, and more particularly one of them, as the object of its erotic wishes."(51) Because of this desire to be with the parent of the opposite sex, a rivalry is formed with the parent of the same sex. In the play, Hamlet shows great hostility toward his uncle Claudius because his mother's remarriage to him. Hamlet sees his mother's remarriage as disgusting

The role parents play in a child’s development is critical. They are the people who have the most influence on them, effecting most aspects of even their adult life. When too controlling, the role of a parent can have lasting negative consequences for the child. In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the author shows that loss of an authoritative parent leaves people trying to replace the loss of that control in unhealthy ways that destroy the person. This can be seen in the lives of Ophelia, Hamlet and Laertes, who all loose a controlling father.

Since the death of his father, King Hamlet, Hamlet his son is eluded between his thoughts and his emotions. The real struggle begins when a ghost, namely the ghost of King Hamlet, his father, accuses Hamlet’s uncle Claudius for his murder. When the ghost tells Hamlet about the reason for the murder Hamlet expresses his thoughts and feelings with passion, “The serpent that sting thy father’s life/Now wears his crown” (Shakespeare). The passion from his anger is also evident at the end of the soliloquy when he calls his uncle “damned villain” (Shakespeare). Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude is also accused by the ghost of King Hamlet for being sexually involved with Claudius and hamlet passionately with rage and anger calls his mother “O most precious women” (Shakespeare) at the end of his soliloquy. This situation put Hamlet in a sensitive and fierce battle between what’s truth and what’s right. His thoughts do not run in parallel with his emotions, Hamlet being caught up in this internal confusion keeps on delaying his actions. Furthermore Hamlet’s reason to kill Claudius comes from his passion, but his intelligence gives him reasons not to kill his uncle Claudius. He keeps

He is seen again delaying his revenge due to over thinking when refusing to kill Claudius in a moment of weakness. The prince’s reluctance to murder the praying king and thus sending him directly to heaven is ironic due to the fact that Claudius is unable to confess his sins and ask for God’s forgiveness. The readers once again observe Hamlet’s failure to execute his responsibility due to his overwhelming desire to perform the perfect revenge.

Hamlet is seen as one of the most complex literary character of all time. The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude can be interpreted in many ways. Hamlet’s motivation for killing Claudius is not to avenge his father’s death, but because of his love for his mother Gertrude. This is where the Oedipus complex comes into play in Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

Hamlet uses the play-within-a-play strategy to expose Claudius for the murder of the King. Hamlet is still unsure of Claudius being his father’s murderer so he plans a play, The Murder of Gonzago. Using this strategy, Shakespeare exposes the audience to how determined Hamlet was to find out the truth and how he manipulates the human mind to “give up” a reaction. Shakespeare adds this “inner” play to bring Claudius face-to-face with his actions, and provides commentary, because the proof of evidence gives Hamlet what he needs to proceed in his revenge, and also announces the turning point in which his thoughts and theories are confirmed and turn to actions.

During a visit with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern news of an approaching theatre troop reaches the ear of Hamlet. Hamlet welcomes the players with open arms and concocts a plan to have them perform a play that he once saw. The Murder of Gonzago is the play that is asked to be performed and Hamlet inquires if a new section of text could be included in hopes that he could target Claudius specifically. The wish to “play something like the murder of [his] father” and “observe [Claudius’s] looks” gives Hamlet the set up for what he hopes to be the big reveal of whether or not his uncle killed his father (2.2.624-625). Hamlet intends to keep performing with his antic disposition through the entirety of the play while he and his close friend, Horatio,