The ghost informed Hamlet that he had been killed by Sir King Claudius and that Claudius was, in fact, Hamlet's uncle. From there, the ghost only asked for one thing and one thing only, and all the deceased king requested was revenge from his son. Taking in all this information, wanting to avenge his father's death, and wanting to do as his father asks causes Hamlet to do many crazy things, including pretending to have lost his sanity. This causes many deaths in the story during Hamlet's journey to revenge. One of which was Polonious, who was stabbed by Hamlet during Hamlets rant to his mother.
Hamlet also knew that he could not go around telling people that Claudius killed his father just because a ghost told him so. Therefore, instead Hamlet masterminded a plan that made the King, Claudius, show his guilt and then he would have proof that Claudius did in fact kill his father. Hamlet's obsession with his mother's remarriage to his uncle contributes to his insanity. In numerous occasions, Hamlet will make a comment about the little time that it took for his mother to move into his uncle's bed. Sarcastically, Hamlet states, "What should a man do but be merry?
Everyone pities Laertes as his father and sister die; however Claudius uses this as an advantage to have Laertes kill Hamlet. Hamlet comes back to Denmark, much to Laertes’ advantage, with no knowledge of his upcoming demise. Gertrude feels sorry for Laertes and comes back with Ophelia’s death in scene vii. Laertes is mad at Hamlet and wants to kill him. Laertes is a foil of
Hamlet starts to act as a madman to avenge the death of his father by his uncle. Ophelia on the other hand, goes mad after the death of her father. Shakespeare uses both these characters to affect the main plot in the play and their relationships with other characters. Many people debate whether Hamlet’s madness is real or fake. Shakespeare incorporated the theme of madness to serve a motive for Hamlet in order to deceive others.
Hamlet has been instructed by the ghost of his late father to avenge his death by killing King Claudius. This is what brings mistrust and eavesdropping into the picture. Claudius has suspensions about Hamlet’s peculiar behavior, and has summoned his school chums, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, to spy on him. Before they even start their expedition of eavesdropping, the King and Polonious have already made plans to hide being a wall hanging during Hamlet and Ophelia’s exchange of love gifts. King Claudius is determined to discover an alternative motive to Hamlet’s madness besides depression.
He only obtained the throne after killing his brother and marrying his brother’s widow. King Claudius appears to the audience as a civil, diplomatic ruler and it is only until the ghost first appears to Hamlet that is revealed he killed his brother with poison. The betrayal of his mother marrying King Claudius within a month after his King Hamlet’s death leaves Prince Hamlet feeling angry, bitter and revengeful towards his mother. Also the fact that she married her brother-in-law was considered to be incestuous and sinful in that era. When Prince Hamlet hires travelling actors to perform an act to the King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, they notice the plot to be similar to the murder of King Hamlet.
Soon after, the young prince is visited by a ghost that resembled the appearance of his dead past father. To increase confusion on Hamlet’s situation even more, the ghost gives details about the truth of King Hamlet’s death; the King was murdered by Claudius while asleep. Because of this and other similar factors, like betrayal, Hamlet began to fall down into a sense of insanity. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, indication of Prince Hamlet’s true madness is seen in his feelings of abandonment and betrayal from the relationships he has with his family and friends, the unstable emotions and thoughts of avenging his father’s “unnatural” murder, and the unbelievable appearance and meeting of the presumably ghost of former king of Denmark Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet. The character of Hamlet has
Hamlet pursues his failures by holding off his intentions to kill Claudius, unsuccessfully claiming his love for Ophelia, and the accidental murder of Polonius. All the aforementioned events ultimately lead to the tragic events in the play. King Hamlet’s questionable death results in Claudius’s reign over the Kingdom. Through the appearances of the former ruler's Ghost, the accountability of King Hamlet’s death, Claudius becomes the main suspect of the King’s death. Hamlet decides to kill Claudius to seek revenge over his father’s death.
Hamlet’s father tells him that he must get revenge on his uncle for him; he wants Hamlet to kill Claudius. Hamlet promises his beloved father that he will do whatever it takes to make sure Claudius lives no more, but as he will find out it is not as easy as it seems. Many philosophers have come up with different reasons to why they think that the main character, Hamlet, delays in killing Claudius. S. T. Coleridge came up with the solution that Hamlet was incapable of killing Claudius because he thought about the action too much (Coleridge). Hamlet over analyzed everything he did from the time he first saw his father’s ghost, until the time he had finally got around to doing he deed he promised his father.
Hamlet also expresses the possibilities that the ghost could have been the devil. Although hamlet gets upset with himself he believes that the play he arranged would display Claudius’ guilt and then he will know for sure he killed his father. This reveals to the audience that Hamlet is a procrastinator and he is a coward. In Hamlet’s fifth soliloquy he contemplates the idea of suicide, he suggests that maybe the only reason we choose life is because we know so little about death other than it Is final. After contemplation Hamlet decides not to take his own life.