Have you ever felt the desire to poison your brother? Murder a nephew? Marry a sister? Welcome to Hamlet, a classic tragedy written by Shakespeare where the significance of family in one’s sanity and reasoning logic is explored in dramaticized detail. Shakespeare makes his viewpoint overwhelmingly clear that he believes a strong family bond is crucial to keep a family sane through the examples of the Polonius and Hamlet families. Throughout the play, one can see Shakespeare develop a pattern of children who possess such a deep love of their family that they are willing to commit horrible acts, such as slaughter others, as the result of someone harming the image of their family.
Shakespeare puts forth the idea that when a family image is disturbed or broken, it leads to the breakdown of the family members; which, in-turn, sparks a chain of events impacting the lives of all those around. The most prime example of a disturbed family image is, of course, that set forth by Claudius and Gertrude; one who killed their brother, and one who married the killer with little grief for the death of their husband. Stemming from the events of his parents is Hamlet’s innate desire to “Revenge his [father’s] foul and most unnatural murder” (26, line 25) after
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Polonius’s death did not only affect Ophelia, but it also caused Laertes to go mad with revenge, desiring “To cut his [Hamlet’s] throat i’ the church” (109, line 124). Not only does Laertes go mad with a murderous craving for retribution, he also shows mental deterioration of logic in his planning for Hamlet’s demise. Laertes is so obsessed by creating many ways to kill hamlet (with a sword, poison on a sword, poison on a cup, slitting his throat in a church) that he accidentally causes the fatality of Hamlet, himself, Claudius, and