Example Of Betrayal In Hamlet

When betrayed, one usually has negative emotions towards the people who have betrayed them. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare this idea is well illustrated, it is shown that betrayal affects the actions of Hamlet towards his friends and family, which indicates that the pursuit of vengeance often can cause one to forget the value of life. The betrayals that Hamlet suffered at the hands of his close friends and family, revealed important parts of Hamlet’s character, such as his intelligence, he is a very meticulous thinker that looks at situations from all angles, he is cunning, he has the ability to manipulate everyone into believing that he is insane, and he is skeptical, he does not believe any information until he finds it out for

The betrayals that Hamlet suffered were done to him by people who were very close to him. The biggest betrayal Hamlet suffered was done to him by his uncle, Claudius, which then caused the betrayal of his mother, Gertrude, who then convinced Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to betray Hamlet as well. The betrayal by Claudius is the reason that Hamlet began his quest for vengeance, Claudius murdered Hamlet’s father, Claudius’ own brother, in order to get the throne and his brother’s wife, Gertrude, Hamlet found out about Claudius’ betrayal from the ghost of King Hamlet who said “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life / Now wears his crown.” [Shakespeare I,ii,38-39] the serpent that the ghost referred to is obviously Claudius, as he now wears the king’s crown. This is a betrayal against Hamlet because he was extremely loyal to his father, and thought very highly of him. Gertrude’s betrayal of her son was caused by Claudius, as he comforted her after her husband’s unfortunate demise, and later married her, this was betrayal to Hamlet because he had a very high opinion of his father and thought very little of his uncle, Hamlet said “-married with my uncle, / My father’s brother, but no more like my father / Then I to Hercules; within a month” [I, ii, 151-153] showing that he believes that his mother betrayed him and his father’s memory by marrying his uncle, it also

Hamlet’s intelligence is shown when he does not blindly listen to what the ghost said “Hamlet is aware of the unreliability of otherworldly apparitions and consequently reluctant to heed the ghost’s injunction to perform an action that to him seems objectively evil.” [Foster 2], and instead makes his own plan to see if Claudius is truly guilty of murder because. Hamlet plans to “...have these players / Play something like the murder of my father / Before mine uncle. I’ll observe his looks” [Shakespeare II, ii, 596-598], and see how his uncle reacts to the play , which is like the murder of King Hamlet because “Hamlet believes that he must have greater certitude of Claudius’s guilt if he is to take action.” [Foster 2] he does not rush into anything without analyzing the facts that he has, and checking to see if they are true. Hamlet shows a great deal of cunning, as he convinced everyone he knew that he was insane, even though he was not really, Hamlet said that he will “put an antic disposition on” [Shakespeare I, v, 171], so no one would suspect that he knows anything and check that the people who betrayed him were truly guilty, before he has his vengeance. Hamlet shows his skepticism of all information that is given to him, in case he was being fed false information or trying to trick him, Hamlet is very skeptical of Rosencrantz and