Hamlet : Who Fears Who?

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Who Fears Who? In William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, Hamlet tries to have justice served with the death of his father. Claudius –Hamlet’s uncle—killed his brother in order to obtain the crown. Hamlet is put in a position where he needs to decide of killing his evil uncle is worth it, and Shakespeare makes a biblical argument. In Matthew10:29 it says “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Comparatively, Hamlet is not afraid of his Uncle Claudius, but he is afraid of God. It is evident that Hamlet knows that God is the one “who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” And some characters like Claudius fear both man and God. And others like Laertes dear neither, man nor God. God is feared through the lives of some characters and not feared through the lives of others. Hamlet is not afraid of those who kill the body. He is not afraid to confront his uncle Claudius, who had slain Hamlet’s father – the king of Denmark. In Matthew it states “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,’” and Claudius was successful in killing the body of Hamlet’s father, but not successful in killing his soul. This is apparent through the appearance of his father. The apparition claims that “I am thy [Hamlet’s] father’s spirit” (I.v.14). This shows that the king’s physical body is dead but not his soul. But the king admits that he had done some bad things in his life therefore he is “doomed for a certain term to walk the night” (I.v.15). As hamlet figures it out that the husband of his mother is a murderer—Uncle Claudius—he realizes that his mother is at fault. However the ghost says do not worry about your mother for she is naïve. But then in Act III Hamlet tells his mother not go until “I set you up a glass Where you may see the {inmost} part

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