Hamlet

3 Pages 846 Words

Hamlet

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, two of the character's fathers are murdered. The first murdered character is King Hamlet whose murder is supposed to be revenged by his son, Prince Hamlet. The second murder is Polonius whose murder is supposed to be revenged by his son Laertes. Both Prince Hamlet and Laertes go to seek revenge for the death of their fathers, however they will each use different methods to accomplish their deeds.
Prince Hamlet has a meeting with the dead ghost of his father King Hamlet. The Ghost reveals to his son that his brother Claudius murdered him. Hamlet is told by the ghost that he needs to avenge his death by murdering his uncle Claudius. By this time Claudius has already taken the throne and married Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude. Hamlet decides to take a passive approach to avenge his father’s murder.
Hamlet first decides to act “mad” which does not accomplish
much besides warning his uncle that he might know that he killed his father.
Later in the play actors come to the castle to perform a play, and Hamlet has them reenact the murder of is father in front of his uncle Claudius. The actors’ murder scene also makes Hamlet question himself about the fact that he has done nothing yet to avenge his father. During the play Hamlet watches his uncle Claudius to see his reaction when the actors perform the murder scene. Hamlet’s plan works. His uncle throws a fit and runs out the room, and Hamlet goes after him. When Hamlet catches up to his uncle, Claudius is kneeling down praying, and Hamlet pulls out his sword and gets ready to kill him. Hamlet then changes his mind because if he kills his uncle while he's praying he will go to heaven, and Hamlet wants him to
go to hell. So Hamlet postpones the execution of his uncle, again.
The next confrontation between Hamlet and Claudius does not happen until the end of the play when Hamlet escapes fr...