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Hamlet
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare two of the character's
fathers are brutishly murdered. The first murdered character is King
Hamlet who is supposed to be revenge by his son prince Hamlet. The
second murder is Polonius who is supposed to be revenged by his son
Laertes. Both Prince Hamlet and Laertes go to seek revenge for the
death of 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. King Hamlet's ghost reveals to his son, his murder by his
brother Claudius. Hamlet is informed by his father that he needs to be
avenged by the death of his brother Claudius. By this time Claudius has
already ascended the throne, and married Hamlet's mother Queen
Gertrude. Hamlet decides to take a passive approach to avenge his
father. Hamlet first decides to act abnormal which does not accomplish
much besides warning his uncle that he might know he killed his father.
Later in the play a troop of actors come to act out a play, and Hamlet
has them reenact the murder of is father in front of his uncle
Claudius. The actors murder scene also make Hamlet question himself
about the fact that he has done nothing yet to avenge his father. Hamlet
says " But am I Pigeon-livered and lack gall / To make oppression
bitter, or ere this / I should ha' fatted all the region kites / With
this slave's offal. Bloody, bawdy villain! ( Act II scene 2 page 84
line 577- 580 ). During the play Hamlet watches is uncle Claudius to
see his reaction when the actors perform the murder scene. Hamlet plan
works his uncle throws a fit and runs out the room, where Hamlet goes
after him. When Hamlet catches up to his uncle his uncle is kneeling
down praying, and Hamlet pulls out his sword and gets ready to kill
him. But all the sudden Hamlet 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. The next
confrontation does not happen till the end of the book when Hamlet
escapes from his uncle's ill murder attempt on his life. Hamlet later
sword fences with Laertes. All of the sudden Hamlet's mother Queen
Gertrude drinks a poison glass intended for Hamlet. When Hamlet is not
looking Laertes stabs him with a poison sword then Hamlet takes hold of
the poisoned sword, and stabs Laertes with it. As this happens Queen
Gertrude dies from the poison drink. As Laertes lays down dying he
reveals to Hamlet that his uncle, King Claudius, was behind it all, the
poisoned sword and drink that has just killed his mother. Hamlet then in
a fit of rage runs his uncle through with the poison sword. Hamlet has
now finally revenged his father through much time then after his task is
completed he finally collapses from the poison on the sword.
Polonius is murdered by Hamlet when Polonius his discovered listening
to Hamlet, and his mother's Queen Gertrude conversation. Hamlet
unknowing of who the person behind the tapestry is, kills Polonius from
where he was spying. When news of his fathers death reaches Polonius's
son Laertes, he comes back with an entourage to seek revenge for his
fathers death. In this conversation Laertes believes Hamlets uncle King
Claudius is responsible for his fathers death. " How came he dead?
I'll not be juggled with. / To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest
devil! / Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! / I dare
damnation. To this point I stand, / That both the worlds I give to
negligence, / Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged / Most
thoroughly for my father. ( Act IV scene 5 page 134 line 133-139 )
Laertes takes a more aggressive stand point than Hamlet Laertes is
ready to kill the king right away thinking that he murdered his father.
But king Claudius tells Laertes that Hamlet is the one who killed his
father. King Claudius also finds out that Hamlet has escape the trap
that he setup to get him murdered. So King Claudius sets up another
plan with Laertes. This plan calls for Hamlet and Laertes to have a
mock sword fight, but Laertes will be using a real poisoned sword.
Laertes agrees with this, ready to claim Hamlets life for his father's
vile murder. When the sword fight begins Hamlet is winning, but Laertes
gets frustrated and stabs Hamlet when he is not looking with the
poisoned sword. After Laertes stabs Hamlet, Hamlet then turns around
and manages to take the sword from Laertes and stabs Laertes with it.
Although Laertes dies first he accomplishes his purpose because Hamlet
will die shortly from the poison on the sword.
In this play Hamlet by William Shakespeare these two characters Hamlet
and Laertes both seek to revenged their slayed fathers. Hamlet with is
passive and scheming approach manages to kill his father's murder his
uncle Claudius. Laertes with his direct, and forceful dedication slays
his fathers killer Prince Hamlet. Altough Laertes took a much more
direct approach than Hamlet wasting no time, they both however
accomplished their goal but at the ultimate price of both their lives!
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