Why Does Hamlet Look Down On His Father

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character Hamlet is clearly characterized through his thoughts about his father’s death and his mother’s remarrying. Throughout Hamlet’s first soliloquy he expresses his disgust with his mother’s new marriage to his uncle, making it clear to the reader just how painful it is for him to think about it. Hamlet clearly shows his love for his father and his disgust with his uncle, which makes the reader question why Hamlet seems to look down on his uncle when compared to his father. As the power of king and father is transferred to Claudius, it is too much for Hamlet to bear. Unknowingly Hamlet shows suspicion of his uncle, even before he is approached by his father’s ghost, as he is unhappy with his uncle trying to take the roles of his father.
Hamlet would rather die than be forced into a life dictated by his uncle as the new king. As Hamlet thinks about his mother’s new marriage he wishes, “Oh that this too, too sallied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew” (1.2. 129-130), because he knows that his mother married too hastily, to a man who is nothing compared to his father.

Hamlet regards the world around him as, “an unweeded garden that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature” (1.2. 135-136), as everything is in chaos. Hamlet knows that his uncle is an unfit king even before he discovers the murderous path he took to get there. Hamlet thinks to himself, “it is not, nor cannot come to good” (1.2. 158), when he reflects on his mother’s new marriage because he is aware that Claudius is not a worthy predecessor to his father. Hamlet wants to exclaim how he feels about Claudius but states, “break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue” (1.2. 159), because he knows that he can not change what has already