Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Three Term Paper

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Of course, Hamlet would then likely assume the throne, but Hamlet seems to have little interest in ruling, as he scoffs when Guildenstern and Rosencrantz say that it is his frustrated ambition that makes him melancholic. Hamlet is a rational and philosophical individual, hence his constant self-searching about the nature of the ghost, about the possibility of an afterlife that no traveler may return (if the ghost is a devil), but he also emotionally wants to avenge his father's death, as he does believe his father has been murdered. Hamlet's emotions and intelligence are often in conflict, which makes him a less effective 'adventure hero' than the ruthless and cold Fortinbras.

In contrast to Fortinbras, Hamlet has much more sympathy with Laertes' quest to avenge a murdered father, even though he is the cause of the other young man's outrage. Hamlet accidently kills Laertes' father Polonius while Polonius is spying upon Hamlet and Gertrude as they argue in Gertrude's closet. If Fortinbras is presented to the audience as a stereotypical, almost barbarian and pre-Christian avenger, taking land and allowing his men to be killed without compunction, Laertes functions as a more active avenging figure than Hamlet, but more sympathetic in his quest than Fortinbras. He is also much more emotional than Fortinbras in his behavior and in his motivations, which also makes him like Hamlet.

Laertes hates Hamlet as much as Hamlet hates Claudius because blames Hamlet for driving his sister Ophelia to madness and suicide. Because of Hamlet he has lost the two people in the world he loves. Laertes is so distraught at her death that he leaps into her grave to embrace Ophelia as she buried one last time. But he play does not approve of Laertes, anymore than it entirely approves of Fortinbras. Laertes' intense emotionality and lack of intelligent philosophical reflection and ability to view the world with balance and reason makes him easily manipulated by Claudius.

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He unwittingly serves the king's self-serving purposes. The king arranges the 'fixed' duel to kill Hamlet without incurring blame from the queen or the common populace who love Hamlet.

Hamlet, however, is not easily manipulated, even by the ghost of his own father. Of course he wants to believe the ghost's word. But he also knows that the devil has a power to assume a pleasing shape to melancholic individuals in mourning, and possesses enough reason and discipline to construct a test of Claudius' guilt, and even to feel compunction about killing Claudius in an accidental ambush, while Claudius is at prayer.

Perhaps the saddest, wisest, and most sympathetic statement by Hamlet is when he notes: "But I am very sorry, good Horatio, / That to Laertes I forgot myself; /

For, by the image of my cause, I see/the portraiture of his" (V.2). Both Hamlet and Laertes seek revenge for a beloved father's death, Hamlet realizes. Ironically both of their quests result in their own demise, and little good is done through the emotional, primitive impulse of revenge, however lovingly undertaken by the son. What is accomplished is the audience's questioning of what drives people to act or to think in questionable ways. Ambition (in the case of Claudius and Fortinbras) and overly intense love of the dead that can serve no purpose (Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes) both result in tragedy. The only questioning of these impulses is exhibited by Hamlet, and this is what makes his character superior, if not his obsession with revenge. Hamlet's forestalling thought is not a weakness, as he perceives it at times, but a lesson to the audience.

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