Responsibility In Hamlet

Duty, responsibility, and revenge are common themes in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. Additionally, who the most morally superior characters are by the end of the final scene is a frequent argument among readers. People argue both for or against almost all the characters in the play and have solid proof to support their argument. Even though the characters, young Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all have very different approaches to duty, responsibility, and revenge, especially when it comes to their fathers, Hamlet concludes the play being the most morally superior. Many of his thoughts and decisions back this fact up and it is difficult to argue against that. To begin, young Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all have an incredibly strong sense

Young Fortinbras can be seen as an incredibly irresponsible man, especially in the eyes of his uncle, the King of Norway. Young Fortinbras plans to attack and invade Denmark, without his sick uncle’s knowledge, to gain back the land and honour that they lost. This goes against his responsibilities to protect Norway and if his uncle does not stop him, he would fail them and put his country in danger. When Claudius writes to Old Fortinbras, to make him aware of what is going on, he gets upset and angry with his nephew. “He sends out arrests / On Fortinbras” and makes him vow not to invade Denmark, but Poland instead (Shakespeare. 2.2.67-68). Old Fortinbras may see young Fortinbras as responsible before this event, but he definitely does not anymore. He trusts him to make good decisions while he is sick, but he does not; he makes ones that could destroy their country and put their people in danger. Meanwhile, Laertes does not have obvious responsibilities to his country, but he does, as an older brother, have responsibilities to Ophelia. He is responsible for her, especially after their father’s death, and it is his job to protect her. Laertes fails his responsibilities because he is so busy focusing on Polonius’ death, he does not see what is going on with Ophelia. Even when she is showing clear signs of madness and potential

This is due to the fact that all their fathers are murdered. Arguably, the one with the least amount of revenge running through his veins is young Fortinbras. It is obvious that he does not necessarily want revenge against Denmark for his father’s death, he wants the land they lost back. He truly just wants honour, respect, and land. When he becomes king, he wants to be able to rule as many people and areas as he can. In the end of the play, Hamlet declares young Fortinbras the new king of Denmark. He gets what he always wants, honour, respect, and land, but he does not always maintain good morals to get there. On the contrary, Laertes desperately wants to get revenge for his father’s death. He jumps straight into accusing Claudius of murdering his father. He barges in and the first thing he says to him is: “O thou vile king, / Give me my father!” (Shakespeare. 4.5.114-115). He does not give Claudius a chance to speak, or ask questions, he just assumes. The king convinces Laertes to back down because Hamlet did it and not him. This cause Laertes to want revenge on Hamlet. Before he has a chance to get revenge, Ophelia dies. He blames her death on him too, even though there is no way Hamlet could have anything to do with it. This results in the two of them fighting in her grave. Claudius and Laertes devise a plan to get revenge for Polonius’ death.