My first impression of these acts was that Claudius is a coward. He does whatever he can to find someone else to kill Hamlet. This makes me think that he is suffering a great amount of quilt from killing the king that he can not kill again. During these acts Hamlet fights till the very end to make sure that Claudius is killed while committing a sin. Hamlet ultimately succeeds in his plan but ends up dieing from the poisonous sword he was hit with.
The character that stood out to me the most during these acts was Claudius. I believe that he was very conniving. First of all he had Gertrude convinced that he was a good person even though he killed her husband. Second of all he had everyone convinced that it was Hamlet that needed to die even though he was the villain. Everyone thought that Hamlet was mad but really he was the only one that believed in the truth. Claudius was also very fast to pass of the task of killing Hamlet to anyone who would take it. He can not carry out the task on his own maybe because of the quilt he still has after killing the king.
The literary element that stood out to me the most was the climax. These acts were definitely the climax where Hamlet and Claudius’s finally settle there debt. Throughout these acts we finally see how Hamlet and Claudius are going to deal with each other. Claudius is trying to get everyone to kill Hamlet. He then comes up with the plan to have a duel. He is sure Hamlet will die then because he has the poisonous sword that will kill him if he is hit by it and he has the cup full of poison for him to drink if he wins. Claudius does not intend that Gertrude will drink the poison and die. Hamlet sees this and kills Claudius. He dies shortly after from a cut he received from the poisonous sword.
My only question is why can’t Claudius kill Hamlet his self? Is it because of guilt he has from killing the King or can he not do it because it is his step son or any other reason?
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That is a good question. He could kill his own brother to gain a kingdom and wife. He didn't have anything to gain by killing Hamlet, but he would have much to lose.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your journal! I never thought about Claudius that way... but you are right in regards to him being a coward. Saying that, I just answered your question. Claudius couldn't kill Hamlet, because he was spineless, and cowardly. I'm surprised that he was even able to pull off killing Hamlet's Father..... but, he didn't really get away with it, now did he.
ReplyDeleteI think that if he had murdered Hamlet he would have lost complete trust of the Kingdom. It was already a suspicious marriage that he had to begin with, and keeping Hamlet alive kept him from going under to much scrutiny. Gertrude also loved her son too much and I think if Claudius had harmed Hamlet in anyway she never would have forgiven him.
ReplyDeleteI think that because of his position as king he feels that he cannot kill Hamlet. Earlier in the play Claudius says that the people of Denmark love Hamlet. This is why Claudius cannot kill Hamlet himself. If he were to do so then the people might turn on Claudius.
ReplyDeleteLike Amber says the people of Denmark loved Hamlet and the old King Hamlet. He was able to poison the old king secretly but if Hamlet had suddenly dropped dead or was actually killed another way there would be an uprising probably led by Gertrude herself.
ReplyDeleteHamlet is cherished by the Denmark people, had Claudius killed him his self, he would've fallen under the persecution of the people he was trying to rule over.
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