Hamlet- character analysis - Essay Example

Hamlet-Character Analysis The play of Hamlet is a tragic story which revolves around the life of the Prince of Denmark and his kingdom. It is a play which depicts themes of grief and treachery. Prince of Denmark that is Hamlet is the son of King Hamlet. The King is killed by his brother Claudius who takes over the throne and then marries the widow of King Hamlet, Queen Gertrude. Prince Hamlet falls into a complex situation and is extremely grieved by all these occurrences. Hamlet acts in a very unpredictable way and shows signs of depression and sadness because of the death of his father followed by the abrupt marriage of his mother to Claudius.

Hamlet was very close to his father and he considered him to a very graceful and honorable man. He loved him a lot and at his death, he became a changed man. He remembered his father and this is seen in Act One when he says, “So excellent a king, that was to this, Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother, That he might not beteem the winds of heaven .Visit her face too roughly; heaven and earth, Must I remember?” His father’s death accompanied by his dislike for Claudius makes him even more sad and disturbed.

He does not find Claudius to be of any match to his father. Furthermore, the marriage of his mother Queen Gertrude to Claudius within a very short time of his father’s death shatters him even more. He considers this to be an act of betrayal and it makes him believe that females are not to be trusted and loved as they do not truly love anyone. It is for this reason that his attitude and behavior towards his love Ophelia totally changes. It can be considered that he thinks that he might be abandoned and betrayed by Ophelia like his mother immediately chose to marry following his father’s death.

His trust from the institution of marriage is risen which can be proved when he asks Ophelia to become a nun and never marry. Ophelia suffers due to the lack of sensitivity in Hamlet’s behavior. Hamlet truly loses interest in his life and he feels that death is better than all the things that he sees in the world. In Act three he mentions that he is not very happy about his life and says, “To die; to sleep, No more, and by a sleep to say we end, The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks.

” But he gains a ray of hope when he feels that Claudius is the one who killed his father. The revenge of his father’s death makes him live and starts to confirm the fact that Claudius was responsible for his father’s death and then to plot for killing him. Hamlet lives a life of losses and he becomes even more grieved when he finds out about the death of Ophelia. He then realizes about her loss and declares that he truly loved her. Hamlet is a character who portrays goodness as well. He does not want to kill Claudius without ensuring that he was truly responsible for his father’s death.

All the acts that he performs throughout the play are due to the sadness that shadowed his life after the death of his father.