Hamlet sees the ghostOld Hamlet is the previous King of Denmark and Hamlet's father. He has recently died but visits Hamlet as a ghost during the play. Polonius is a counsellor to the new king and queen. He is Ophelia and Laertes' father.https://www.rsc.org.uk › hamlet › character › whoswho
Hamlet is appalled at the revelation that his father has been murdered, and the ghost tells him that as he slept in his garden, a villain poured poison into his ear—the very villain who now wears his crown, Claudius.
In Hamlet the main character Hamlet is seeking revenge on his uncle for the death of his father. Claudius killed Hamlet 's father because he was jealous of him having the throne and all the power.
The ghost tells Hamlet that he is, in fact, the ghost of his dead father. And there's more: the ghost claims that Claudius killed him, taking his throne and his wife in the process. He wants Hamlet to kill Claudius in revenge. Shocked, Hamlet agrees and vows to avenge his father's death.
Old Hamlet, the King of Denmark, is poisoned by his brother, Claudius. Claudius uses the poison for his own selfish ambition and marries Old Hamlet's widow, Gertrude, making him the new King of Denmark.
Claudius is the primary antagonist in Hamlet. He thwarts Hamlet by killing his father. And when he usurps the Danish throne, Claudius denies Hamlet the future that rightfully belongs to him.
Hamlet sees the ghost of his father. The ghost tells him that it was his brother Claudius, the new king, who killed him and commands Hamlet to get revenge. Hamlet has been behaving strangely and Claudius asks Hamlet's childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to find out why.
Because Hamlet no longer has to repress his desire, his strength returns, thus enabling him to kill Claudius not just once, but twice. Hamlet first cuts Claudius with his rapier, then forces him to drink from the poisoned cup. Each of Claudius' “deaths” represents different things to Hamlet.
In the end, Claudius dies because of the poison he makes. This is the most ironic part of this story because he calculates everything, but the future doesn't process the way he predicts. For example, he expects the King of England will finish Hamlet, but the pirates ruin his plans.
Role in the play
In the next act, Gertrude tells Claudius of Polonius' murder, convinced that Hamlet is truly mad. She also shows genuine compassion and affection as she watches along with others as Ophelia sings and acts in absolute madness.
Laertes must have been clued in to Ophelia's pregnancy. Polonius inadvertently admits to such a claim. Polonius's knowledge is revealed when Hamlet discloses that he knows Ophelia, his lady love might be pregnant. Check out the words that Hamlet uses when he confronts Polonious.
Some see Ophelia's death as an accident; others see it as a suicide resulting from the accumulation of a series of unfortunate events: her rejection by her boyfriend, her father's murder, and her possible pregnancy.
Therefore, marrying Claudius was possibly the only way for Gertrude to keep the crown in the same family and give Hamlet a chance to be a king but also delay his ascension to the throne. This scheme works only with the assumption that Gertrude loves her son.
Ophelia kills herself because the fate of Denmark is placed on her shoulders when she is asked to more or less spy on Hamlet, her father has been murdered (by her former lover no less), from the confusion created by her father and brother with regard to the meaning of love, and her suicide is even an act of revenge.
It is likely that Hamlet really was in love with Ophelia. Readers know Hamlet wrote love letters to Ophelia because she shows them to Polonius. In addition, Hamlet tells Ophelia, “I did love you once” (3.1.
She wilfully disobeys Claudius by drinking the poisoned wine. She dies with cries of 'the drink! the drink! I am poisoned' (5.2. 264), and in so doing identifies Claudius as her killer.
In the beginning of his soliloquy he says, “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent” (III. iii. 44), showing that he regrets murdering his brother, Page 2 2 and would have rather he had not done it despite what he has gained.
According to Seneca, a roman writer and satirist, Claudius soiled himself and moaned, “oh dear, oh dear, I think I have made a mess.” This can be interpreted two ways: one way is literally that Claudius soiled himself, or alternatively, it was because his reign had ended in a bit of a mess.
Hamlet finally kills Claudius but only after realizing that he is poisoned. His procrastination, his tragic flaw, leads him to his doom along with that of the other characters he targets.
Ophelia's Death
Perhaps the most tragic death in "Hamlet" is one the audience doesn't witness. Ophelia's death is reported by Gertrude: Hamlet's would-be bride falls from a tree and drowns in a brook. Whether or not her death was a suicide is the subject of much debate among Shakespearean scholars.
In Laurence Olivier's film adaptation of Hamlet, Gertrude drinks knowingly, presumably to save her son from certain death. If she drinks on purpose, then she's the self-sacrificing mother Hamlet has always wanted her to be.
Rejected by Hamlet, Ophelia is now desolate at the loss of her father. She goes mad and drowns.
Shakespeare ensures that Hamlet does avenge his father in the end.
''The rest is silence'' are the last words of Hamlet in William Shakespeare's play by the same name. The poignant phrase has gained a life far beyond the play, often being used to comment on the conclusion of dramatic or tragic events. In context, they respond to Hamlet's--and the play's--preoccupation with death.
Hamlet shows throughout the play that he is really in love with Ophelia. One piece of evidence showing that Hamlet really did love Ophelia is when he tells her, “I did love you” (Act 3 scene 1 line 126). Hamlet confesses that he truly loved her, but then goes back on his word and says he never loved.