Hamlet and King Lear Topical Analysis

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Sheila D Chappell GCU – Maria Mahon Course ENG 450 7 Month 2012 Topic Analysis “Hamlet and King Lear” Shakespeare’s ability to grasp the reader and hold him at bay in a sphere of deep thought has shone through twice in the tragedy plays of Hamlet and King Lear. Once again he weighs in on morality to build an aire of suspense, curiosity and controversy. Hamlet opens with the death of Hamlet’s father at the hands of Claudius, his father’s brother. Claudius killed his brother so that he could marry his brother’s wife who was Hamlet’s mother. As an act of revenge for the calculated and careless murder of his father Hamlet fakes insanity or madness and plots to kill him. Hamlet is enraged by this and therefore sets into an action that produces questions throughout centuries that have yet to be fully answered as to whether or not he was really insane. Shakespeare seemed to have written Hamlet after the death of his son. Within the tragedies of Hamlet and King Lear one has to wonder if feelings of grief threatened to overwhelm the writer. In his effort to deal with his grief an outpour of tragic plays came forth. Acting out of revenge Hamlet begins his so-called madness by acknowledging a pretense to be insane. His anger at the thought of his father’s death leads him to induce a visit from his father’s ghost. This ghost further builds upon his anger by revealing to him how he was killed so treacherously by Claudius. What began as anger mounts to insanity as the plot thickens and one person’s madness spreads abroad to several tragedies within this tragic play. Hamlet kills Claudius. Laertes with the help of Claudius conspires to kill Hamlet after he is driven to madness. In act 4, scene 7, lines 141-149, Laertes tells Claudius of his plan. The madness of Laertes leads to a further plot of murder by poison designed by Claudius and the end result is the death of

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