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Effects Of Pride In Hamlet

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Pride. To be able to take great satisfaction in one’s life or achievements. Pride can be the cause for people to do great things so they can have a good reputation or be respectable; however, pride can be the beginning to hatred, evil, and of course, one’s downfall. Pride is known to be the worst sin there was and also the sin in which all other sins arise from. In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet this negative effect of pride is shown perfectly throughout the whole play. Pride is the main cause for all of the tragedies in Hamlet. In this play every character portrays the sin of pride. One character in particular is Claudius. Every mean, selfish, evil thing he does has to do with the worst sin of all, pride. In the first act of the play Claudius proves to us that pride was a reason for the very first tragedy. “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown” (Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 40-41). Claudius wanted to be more important (the king) so he took his own brothers life just …show more content…

Another character that really shoes pride is Laertes. “My lord, I will be ruled, the rather if you could devise it so that I might be the organ” (Act 4, Scene 7, Lines 70-73). Laertes and Claudius are plotting to kill Hamlet. Instead of stopping Claudius, Laertes wants to be the one who kills Hamlet. With a fencing match and a poison tipped sword he believes he will be able to kill him. In act five Ophelia gives us another reason to believe that pride is the cause for the tragedies. “...If I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act, and an act hath three branches-it is to act, to do, to perform. Argal, she drowned herself wittingly” (Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 10-13). Everyone thought Ophelia drowned on an accident but, she actually killed herself. After her father’s death she went crazy. She couldn’t take the pain anymore. Committing suicide was one of the worst things someone could do and that goes along with pride. Pride was the worst sin of

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