... was skeptical at first but then the ghost suddenly appears and then disappears without saying a word. Heratio acknowledged that the ghost figure did resemble the deceased King Hamlet. ACT 1 SCENE 2 Characters: King, Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, Voltimana, Cornelius, Heratio, Bernardo, Marcellus, Lord, Attendant Setting: A public state room in the castle. Summary: The next morning, after Heratio and the ... Claudius was in the act of praying, a time where he is asking for forgiveness. Hamlet decides to kill Claudius only when he is sinning. ACT 3 SCENE 4 Characters: Polonius, Hamlet,...

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• Grade Level: High School

... is honorable towards the king. Polonius is a "suck-up" toward the King and feels that if he has close relations with the King then he will do well in life. Little does he know that his relations with the King actually gets him killed. In the last scene (Act 5, Scene 2) Hamlet's need for revenge finally is fulfilled. Hamlet kills King Claudius. But at that ... point, Hamlet is now avenging his mothers death along with his fathers. Line 304 "O villainy! Ho! Let the door be locked: Treachery! Seek it out!" shows ... that this is the last straw for Hamlet. His mothers death is too much and...

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• Grade Level: High School

... a fit of rage, stabs his uncle with the poisoned sword. Hamlet has now finally revenged his father's death, though much time has passed. He finally dies from the poisoned sword. Laertes" father, Polonius, is murdered by Hamlet when Polonius is discovered listening to Hamlet and his mother's conversation. Hamlet unknowingly kills Polonius from where he was spying. Actually Hamlet thinks it's Claudious he has killed. When news of his ... fathers" death reaches Polonius's son Laertes, he comes back to seek revenge for his fathers death. At first ... ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... , and many things have fallen apart because of the poisoning act on the part of Claudius. At this time Hamlet starts acting mad, likely as a result of the tumultuous events occurring around him. While Hamlet is mad, he kills his love interest Ophelia's father, Polonius. The death of her father causes Ophelia to commit suicide (or so it seems). At the end of it ... all, Hamlet duels a rival of his, and ends up dying along with most all of the other characters in the story ... it would send him to heaven. After, he goes to Gertrude's room and confronts her. As he starts lashing out, he de...

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• Grade Level: High School

... in Queen Gertrude's closet at the request of Claudius to listen in on her discussion with Hamlet. When Polonius thinks that Hamlet intends to murder the Queen, he cries out for help. Hamlet, thinking it's King Claudius, thrusts his sword into the place where the voice comes from. Hamlet doesn't even take the time to see who is in the closet; his state of mind ... it. Meanwhile, the Queen inadvertently drinks from the poisoned cup. So now Queen Gertrude and Laertes die from poison intended for Hamlet. When Hamlet learns he is poisoned, he kills the King, both with the poisoned sword and ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... or not. Many readers have spent a great deal of time pondering this matter; it's interesting though that no one seems to have gotten anywhere. I believe Hamlet is not mad, I am in no doubt that he has full control over his mind, although sometimes he takes it too far without thinking ahead of the ... his friend Horatio of this, and makes him promise never to tell a soul why he is acting with such weird behavior. It begins when Polonius forbids Ophelia to see Hamlet. Hamlet is on to this, so the next time he meets her he dresses as if something is terribly wrong with him. His clothes are ...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... been thouroughly engulfed in the deluge of blood and bad feelings he let loose by killing Polonius. Before the fighting starts we get an interesting contradiction from Hamlet. On one hand he feels almost giddy about sending Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths. On the other hand ... Earth was to help a friend in need should net him some credit. Hamlet's main flaw is his reckless vengeance which resulted in his killing of Polonius and really opened the gates that held back the blood. Hamlet isn't corrupt at all at least not in the same sense you would ... and the ghost goaded h...

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... that if a person was killed while praying, they will go to heaven. While cursing Gertrude for marrying Claudius, Hamlet hears a noise behind the curtain and without a second thought, he runs through the curtain, mistakenly stabbing and killing Polonius. Up until this point he has not shown this level of rashness and would have been more careful before acting in such a ... way that could produce serious consequences, in this case murder. Polonius' death is seen by many as part of the reason Ophelia commits suicide. Since Hamlet kills Polonius (among doing many other things to toil with O...

• Word Count: 728
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of the murder to avenge his father. The next delay was the accidental killing of Polonius, which created a whole new problem (ERH). This left Hamlet somewhat distracted. Laertes then wanted Hamlet dead for the murder of Polonius. Thus, Hamlet was sent off and the murder of Claudius was yet again postponed. Hamlet returned from his trip to England within a few weeks. He then proceeded with his ... plans to kill the King. In Act V, Scene II, Hamlet finally accomplishes this feat. He kills the King with poison. Yet ... in the act of murder, he kills also the Queen, Laertes ... ...

• Word Count: 828
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• Grade Level: High School

... knows that nothing can be done to harm him because he is a prince. He uses this when he kills Polonius. There is also another more concrete hidden there. While in the chamber with his mother, Hamlet here's a rustling behind the arras. He thinks nothing but to plunge his rapier into the flowing fabric. He ... kills Polonius who is obscured by the curtain. Then I thought of an interesting point. The only reason he was able ... to kill him was because he was behind the drapery. Hamlet could have murdered before this but never did. I think the veil ... to the figure though, he is alone. H...

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• Grade Level: High School

... him is a hard choice. "Time is out of joint o, caused spite that even I was how to set it right"(act1) however, his decision brings bad results because other people die. Hamlet kills Polonius who is hided by an arras. His thought the guy behind the arras was Claudius. Ophelia has a mental problem and finally she commit suicide ... . Polonius' son, Laertes comes back from England and joins Claudius. They attempt revenge upon Hamlet. Hamlet has had another enemy. Claudius puts poison ¼Ö »Õ wine and tries to give it to Hamlet. But Queen Gertrude snatches the wine and she drinks; it kill...

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• Grade Level: High School

... it may be directed by divine will or by chance. A complex personality at the play's start, Hamlet is all the more fascinating because he undergoes dramatic character development. Claudius: A usurping villain who kills his own brother, Claudius is clearly the source of the rottenness that pervades Denmark. He is a ... toward Gertrude, Claudius is not completely beyond redemption. Gertrude: Just how deeply Gertrude is involved in her second husband's plot to kill Old Hamlet is unclear; by the final scene, it seems that the Queen was ignorant of the crime. Nevertheless, she marries her brot...

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• Grade Level: High School

... his father's death and rashly makes his way back to Denmark being followed by an angry mob. He makes no hesitation in taking action to get his revenge. Once King Hamlet kills Fortinbras" father, Fortinbras begins getting his army ready to attack Denmark. He is prepared to take action, but does not go about things rashly as Laertes did. He is able ... at the appropriate times. He also realizes that he will go to hell for what he is going to do, and therefore has no reason to rush his plans. When Polonius dies, Laertes sees it as a personal offense to himself. Instead of being concerned o...

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... emotions that further provide fuel to his plans of taking revenge. All of Shakespeare's plays comment on certain inevitable factions of the society. In Hamlet, Shakespeare shows that when greed takes over, man does not know what he is doing. He loses all his common senses and also the ... ability to think correctly in order to be able to differentiate the right from the wrong. In Hamlet, it is Claudius who succumbs to his greed and eventually kills his own brother and then marries his sister-in-law, all in order to achieve and maintain the crown. ... of the play, but instead enhance th...

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• Has Bibliography

... of the main characters father's are viciously murdered. The first father to be murdered is King Hamlet, who's son Prince Hamlet is supposed to avenge the death of his father. Also in the play Laertes father, Polonius, was stabbed to death, like Hamlet, it is Laertes job to see that the man who murdered his father shall have the same done to him. Although ... drank by Gertrude and she dies. Then when Hamlet sees his mom die Laertes stabs him with a poison sword which Hamlet eventually stabs Laertes with also. As Laertes is dieing, he tells Hamlet that he is right and that Claudius did mu...

• Word Count: 951
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• Grade Level: High School

... one of someone who has been loosed from hell to speak of horrors. Hamlet's uncharted madness leads Hamlet to tell Ophelia, his dear love, he has never loved her. Hamlet's statement, "Get thee to a nunnery" was very cruel and cold. Hamlets madness doesn't stop with words. Unknowingly he lashes out and kills Polonius hoping that it was King Claudius. This is an irrational action. The ... shedding of innocent blood with no remorse prove to be enough evidence for insanity. As Polonius lay motionless on the floor , his ... murderer proves to the queen that he is insane. The ghostly figure a...

• Word Count: 650
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• Grade Level: High School

... asks his mother to change her ways, which she agrees to and asks for his advice, showing that she has submitted herself to her son. Hamlet does not really show much respect for his mother while reproving her and forcing her to sit down but he does love her. Some critics believe ... After the closet scene Gertrude keeps faith to her son and lies to her husband Claudius for Hamlet saying he killed Polonius in his madness: `And in his brainish apprehension Kills the unseen good old man' Then when Hamlet returns back to Elsinore and is arguing with Laertes, Gertrude seems worried about the co...

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... seems incapable of deliberate action, and is only hurried into extremities on the spur of the occasion, when he has no time to reflect, as in the scene where he kills Polonius, and again, where he alters the letters which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are taking with them to England, purporting his death. At other times, when he is most bound to act ... more affecting or beautiful than the Queen's apostrophe to Ophelia on throwing the flowers into the grave. ""Sweets to the sweet, farewell. I hop'd thou should'st have been my Hamlet's wife: I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet m...

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... degree of reality by Claudius' reaction. At times its almost as if Hamlet's appearance of madness has become reality. When King begins to suspect that Hamlet knows about the murder, Hamlet is cautious and nervous about what he should do. When at last he decides to punish Claudius, but he accidentally kills Polonius, and instead of being upset, he just does not care. Claudius fears ... for his safety, so he decided to send Hamlet to England to die. The duel, in Act V, Scene II appears to be an innocent competition between two opponents; but in ... to rise again. Thy mother's poisoned. I...

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... his father's death, " So uncle, there you are. Now to my word| It is "adieu, adieu! Remember me.| I have sworn't" (111-113). Hamlet's decision to avenge his father's death illustrates his impulsiveness. Later on in Act 3 scene 1 he is unsure of what the ghost represents "May be devil, and ... his indecisiveness and foreshadows his contemplative attitude. Laertes is the son of Polonius and a soldier. He spends most of his time in France. Laertes" persona illustrates Hamlet's need to complete the task at hand (revenge) as well as Hamlet's impulsiveness. Like Hamlet, Laertes is a good warr...

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... is not all that swift, tells us that he is prone to ponder things from various angles before acting. Hamlet's impulsive actions lead him to act irrationally. He killed Polonius and set up Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to be murdered without showing any remorse for his actions. He doesn't hesitate ... 3 Scene 3, but as Hamlet enters the room, Claudius kneels to ask for forgiveness. Hamlet lets this opportunity pass when he gets the idea that Claudius may go to heaven if he is killed while praying. "And so am I reveng'd. That would be scann'd: A villain kills my father, and for that ... ...

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... was able to distract those around him and concentrate on finding out whether or not Claudius murdered his father. He convinced his mother (Gertrude) and Polonius that he was mad toward the fair Ophelia, mad for her love. While Rosencrantz and Guildenstern don't know what to make of his mental state ... has spoken with the players about adapting a few of his own lines to the play of, The Murder of Gonzago. So Hamlet can determine whether Claudius is guilty of King Hamlet's death, by creating "The Mousetrap" for Claudius to see what reaction he will have once the play is performed. During ...

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... is crazy, crazy for love. His plan shows the audience that he is the most intelligent character in the play because of his perfect use of indirection. Though Polonius uses it often, Hamlet uses it with full command. Hamlet acts crazy because it allows his to more leeway in investigating the accusations of the ghost. His investigation of the ghost's story shows that ... , but at second examination it can be seen that Hamlet is aware he can not kill the King now for many reasons. Firstly he is at prayer and murdering the king during this would allow him to go to Heaven, which is not the pr...

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... re-enactment of his father's death with the players, the reaction of Claudius during the poisoning scene ensures Hamlet that Claudius did, indeed, murder his father and that now was the time to seek revenge. "A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his soul son, do this same villain send to heaven."(3.3.76) ... It is during this scene when Claudius is in confession praying, that Hamlet has his first chance to seek out his revenge. Since Claudius is praying Hamlet knows that he would be ... sword that had slain him. This was a successful way of revenge and therefore sent the ghost to ...

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... to the conclusion that Hamlet is "mad". The major male characters on the other hand, such as Polonius for example in Act II notices that there is "method in Hamlet's madness"; that his insanity seems to be a mask to hide something deeper. Hamlet's abnormal behavior since the ... death of his father and his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle seems to be somewhat understandable. The others see that he is naturally gloomy and withdrawn from these traumatic events. Yet Hamlet ... dead father, is in fact sane. But then on the other hand, in his treatment of Ophelia, his former lover, Hamlet...

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