By letting revenge be their top priority, Hamlet and Laertes were blinded by their emotions. Fortinbras, who remains calm throughout the play, is the only one to truly succeed. At the beginning of Hamlet, Hamlet mourns the death of his father and tries to understand why his mother married so quickly, especially with his uncle. He is so disgusted with the immoral state of Denmark that he wishes to die. He even contemplates suicide but his rational mind stops him from doing so.
In my opinion, Hamlet is a young man that deeply loves his father and is severely affected by his death. Even though Hamlet has learned the truth of his father’s death by his uncle, he is indecisive. He hesitates and cannot bring himself to kill Claudius. At the right moment in which Hamlet could have murdered Claudius he becomes doubtful. It is because Claudius is speaking his prayers to God and Hamlet is unsure if he should strike in fear that he will be sent to hell.
This option seems prime to many, yet when Hamlet dies he will be stuck in purgatory for not avenging his father. In Hamlet’s monologue, purgatory is referred to as “The undiscovered country from whose bourn/ No traveler returns.” This choice that Hamlet has to make is fated either way to be castigated in the two worlds of reality and the afterlife. Hamlet’s actions do not only affect him, but everyone surrounding him. Ophelia is the most shaken up by Hamlet’s choices. She ends up losing everything that is important
Laertes unlike Hamlet and Fortinbras is dangerously upfront about his revenge and will stop at nothing until he deems his judgement given. At one point Laertes even states he’d be willing “To cut [Hamlet’s] throat i' th’ church” (Act IV, scene vii, line 140)This quote shows how Laertes will stop at nothing to avenge his father even if it means making himself damned for eternity, along with the culprit, However this quote serves another purpose it defining how very different Laertes and Hamlet are. Since it is the direct opposite of what Hamlet does when he sees Claudius praying (Hamlet refuses to kill Claudius). Simply put, Laertes moves quickly and acts rashly in his anger, choosing to act first and apologize later. Which he admits to, when he speaks “I am justly killed with mine own treachery.” (Act V, Scene ii, line 323) Second of the men is the prince of Norway, young Fortinbras.
Hamlet, the young prince of Denmark, is considerably successful in keeping his promise to the ghost of his father. While he manages to purge Denmark of its corruption and avenge his father’s death by killing Claudius, the commandment does not live “all alone…within the book and volume” of Hamlets brain, he is not indecisive, but morally astute. Hamlet finds himself trapped between two moral imperatives, whether to obey his filial duty to his father or commit a mortal sin by killing another man. Ultimately, Hamlet overcomes his moral complication and fulfils the ghost’s wishes. From the outset of the play, and the first appearance of the ghost, Hamlet knows what he must do; however, his moral obligations get in the way.
To throw them off as he performs his own inquiry? Two months pass and he accomplishes nothing, and when he finally does try to prove Claudius’ guilt, he makes it obvious that he knows of his uncle’s sins. The answer is much simpler. While Hamlet cries that he cannot “weep for [Hecuba]” (2.2.587) and how he cannot act or have the passion like the player, he has actually deceived himself, for he has played the part of the mad man so well, that he does not even recognize his own slip into madness. It immediately needs to be pointed out that Hamlet is a man of a very high education.
At the start of the play, Shakespeare introduces Claudius as a wise and confidant ruler with no apparent flaw. He portrays himself to be mourning for the recent loss of his brother the prior king. As the play goes on, Hamlet learns of his father’s murder which causes him to act unusually. Claudius, sensing Hamlet’s change in character, employs his servants to spy on his nephew. His suspicion of Hamlet is only minor until he watches the play written by Hamlet.
This is rather noticeable in the conversation at the end of the play with Biff and Willy. Biff tells his father that they are both “a dime a dozen” and that neither of them is “a leader of men.” Biff essentially admits that him and his father are both failures and are worth nothing. Although Biff does believe that someday he may be someone. “When all I want is out there waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!” Biff knows as long as he does not follow the advice from Willy he may be someone. As Biff understands how destructive his father’s lifetime of denial has been for both of them.
This is also shown with Polonius’s un-trust worthiness for Hamlet. As to with Laertes who feels the exact same way as his father. Paolo Feliciano Mr. McCarthy A.P. Lit Examination Act 2 Open Ended Questions 1. After the slow transition from Hamlet’s mournful state, to his ever growing state of madness, does his madness itself become his primary mode of communication with the other characters?
40-43). He should think the ghost is right because of the unusual events with his father’s passing and his mother’s hasty remarriage to his uncle; accused of killing his father, the king, by the ghost. Yet he questions that it may be a demon coming with intentions of wicked proportions. Prioritizing his love for Ophelia, Hamlet did not show his love to Ophelia until she was just a cold, dead corpse being put 6 feet under. Throughout the play Hamlet has not shown any affection or true love towards Ophelia and has put her off.