How does obedience to children become problematic?
In Act III, obedience to parents becomes problematic by engendering a domino effect through a great revelation, catharsis, and death, The original domino is Hamlet’s burning obsession to follow his father’s orders to murder Claudius, which causes Hamlet to forsake his father’s advice to “taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive against thy mother aught” (Act I, pgs 30-31). For example, the young prince is consumed by his obsession, which results in him throwing a play, which is a spitting image of King Hamlet’s murder. The revelation is the plot and the history of the play that Hamlet puts on for the residents of the castle that transpire into subtle hints that the prince is aware of
…show more content…
Because Hamlet can see reality so clearly, the growing obsession forces Hamlet to act irrationally when he is confronting other individuals. For example, when talking to Gertrude in the castle bedroom, Hamlet can no longer control his actions, which spur from his emotions, while he refers to Gertrude’s association with Claudius as a matter of “kill[ing] a king” and while he slays Polonius, who is hiding behind a curtain (Scene 4, pg 86-87). Hamlet’s obsession with murdering his father’s killer coincides with the confirmed revelation of Claudius’ actions and Polonius’ death by demonstrating that the prince can no longer remain objective in his goal, which ironically, was his father’s advice. Despite Polonius consistently acting as the “rat” (pg. 87) that Hamlet refers to, and has been aware of, the prince cannot help but allow his irrationality to grip him tightly. As a result, Hamlet can only think in black and white, rather than consider future possibilities. Therefore, the death simply symbolizes that an order can result in horrific consequences, if the follower is