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What Was Hamlet's Goal

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In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet’s main goal throughout the play is to kill Claudius; this also happened to be the main problem Hamlet fought the play. Hamlet kept hesitating to kill Claudius, he would always say now is not the time. Hamlet knew if he wanted revenge he had to kill Claudius; while he was sinning so Claudius would not have time to be forgiven for his sins; just like Hamlet’s father. Taking revenge and killing Claudius is a difficult task for Hamlet to accomplish, Hamlet questions everything before acting upon his goal. Hamlet’s father King Hamlet got murdered by Claudius by pouring poison in King Hamlet’s ear while he was asleep. Because of this King Hamlet never got the chance to be forgiven for all his sins; …show more content…

Hamlet was ready, he approached Claudius, took his sword and had it right next to Claudius’s head. Except before Hamlet could act he noticed Claudius was praying. Hamlet decides he can’t kill Claudius because he will die while his sins were being forgiven. Hamlet slowly moves the sword away from Claudius and puts it away and walks away. Hamlet goes on and on saying to himself that he needs to do it “When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, Or in the’ incestuous pleasure of his bed, At game, a-swearing, or about some act That has no relish of salvation in ’t—“ (3.3,95-97). So Claudius has no time to be forgiven, because Hamlet believes that Claudius should not be forgiven for his sins, and Hamlet wants Claudius's Sole to be “damned and black”. Although Hamlet strongly believes that, it also is making himself keep delaying. Except one day when Hamlet was talking to Ophelia Hamlet hears a noise and asks ophelia where her father is. Ophelia explains how he is home and Hamlet without hesitating stabs the curtain. Hamlet notices he killed someone and was hoping it was Claudius, turns out it was not it was Polonius, Ophelia’s father. Hamlet doesn’t delay or hesitate in stabbing the curtain but when it came to killing Claudius Hamlet delays

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While hamlet waits, resolving to kill claudius when the king

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Hamlet, also, could not get over the death of his father. He found out when his father’s ghost came back that his brother, and Hamlet’s uncle, murdered him. He then was willing to do anything possible to get revenge on Claudius, his uncle. Both of

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During Hamlet’s soliloquy throughout the play, Hamlet builds up his courage to kill Claudius and take his place as king but he ended up not proceeding to act due to overthinking which lead him to misses a opportunity to take action which shows that he is a coward when it comes to action. However, it does show that Hamlet did put this proposal into consideration and that he did act by arrange a play just to gather information to confirm that Claudius was guilty of the murder. In the progression of the play, Hamlet constantly examine the consequences of killing an individual as he would be committing a crime and would be a sinner afterwards. In one of Hamlet's soliloquy, Hamlet also debated on committing suicide in order to end all of his complications and heartache so that he does not have to deal with all of the tragedy. However, he realized that even though he is asleep, there is a possibility of him having a pleasant or dreadful dream which does not put him at peace entirely.

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Hamlet was given the prime opportunity to kill Claudius when he found him on his knees begging for forgiveness. Hamlet negated not to kill him right then and there because he wanted Claudius to go to hell, not heaven. Hamlet’s lack of sanity, or his tragic flaw, in the play is definitely what caused his inability to

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Hamlet's uncle claudius killed king hamlet out of envy. It was envy for the throne and for the power to be the king of denmark. In act three scene three he clearly states that he murdered king hamlet for his own ambition, for the crown and for the queen of denmark, Gertrude. A lot of the deadly sin envy goes around throughout the story of hamlet. A lot of people want something someone else has.

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There was a moment where Claudius was praying and hamlet was about to strike at Claudius, but alas Hamlet hesitated and wanted to wait until “he [was] drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed, at game a-swearing, or about some act That has no relish of salvation in ’t— Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, And that his soul may be as damned and black As hell, whereto it goes” (III. iii. 89). Hamlet explains how he wants to wait until Claudius is in the act of sin to strike because if he were to do so during prayer Claudius would go to heaven and not hell. This

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hamlet swears that he will kill the king and let his father's spirit rest in peace. The critique Phillip Edwards says “The idea that Hamlet's problem is somehow to punish Claudius and yet transcend the sheer human violence and vindictiveness which such punishment entails goes back to 1839 and the once famous but now forgotten 'conscience' theory of Hermann Ulrici. ' It cannot,' he said, 'be an entirely innocent and heavenly spirit that would wander on earth to demand a son to avenge his death.'” This helps us understand his anger towards the king and the violence hamlet has within

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However, Hamlet’s goes through a journey of different feelings towards this motivation. Hamlet is initially ardent to kill Claudius, driven by his anger and hate towards him. For example, Hamlet describes his hate for Claudius when he exclaims, “O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!... At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark (1.5.107–110). His description of Claudius as the villain shows that Hamlet seeks to commit justice for the corruption that Claudius has brought about.

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As Claudius repents, Hamlet feels as though it's the best time to kill him until he says: And so ’a goes to Heaven; And so am I revenged. That would be scanned. A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his son, do this same villain send To heaven (3.3.73-78) Essentially, Hamlet wanted to murder Claudius because he was the Old King’s murderer.

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This behavior caused disrespect and cruelness. While the king is sleeping like he is in heaven Claudius took that from him and sent him into purgatory. This made Hamlet feel even more angry against his uncle and wants to put him to an end. As a result,Hamlet wants to destroy Claudius for every wrong deed he did. Canales 3 Hamlet is severely motivated into killing for his actions.

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Hamlet's overthinking and inaction led to several unnecessary murders. Hamlet knew that Claudius is guilty, yet he still wants to make sure, therefore Hamlet made a play that played out the exact way that Claudius had killed King Hamlet. Hamlet had done this in order to watch how Claudius reacts to make sure that Claudius is the one who murdered his father, “I’ll observe his looks, if he do blench, I know my course” (Ham.2.2.583-585) “Now might I do it pat, now’a is a-praying. And now I’ll do’t” ( Ham.

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Claudius had arranged an execution for Hamlet, to get rid of him permanently. Behind these acts of deception, we can see Claudius had wanted power, and would do anything to achieve it. This makes

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He sought to avenge the death of his father, thus giving his father justice. However, Hamlet’s quest for vengeance did not allow him to remain a righteous character, but instead turned him into a villain. Claudius who is seen as the villain is only responsible for the death of one person, while Hamlet is responsible for numerous. He kills three himself, causes Ophelia to commit suicide, arranges the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, forces Claudius to drink poison even though he is already dying from a poisoned sword wound. So while Hamlet is justified in wanting to extract revenge for the death of his father he was not justified in the amount of deaths that he caused either directly or indirectly.

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1218 Words | 5 Pages

Upon seeing Claudius in prayer, Hamlet is fully prepared to murder him immediately. Claudius is alone and his guards are not around to protect him, providing Hamlet with a seemingly opportune time to quickly and efficiently enact his revenge, and Hamlet can barely contain his anticipation. In his sudden excitement, Hamlet loses his composure for an instant. The beginning of Hamlet’s soliloquy is characterized by choppy syntax and breaks from scansion that demonstrate his momentary loss of self-control as he exclaims, “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;/ And now I’ll do’t-

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That would be scann’d” (III.III.79). It is believed that if a person confesses their sins before they die that they will go to heaven, so Hamlet believed that if he were to kill Claudius right then and there that he would go to heaven and not have any punishment for what he did to Hamlet’s father. At the end of the play this idea can be seen again when Laertes is getting ready to die: “Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet” (V.II.126). Because people believed they would have repercussions if they didn’t confess before death, Laertes makes sure to confess and make nice with Hamlet before he leaves the

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