Hamlet Turning Point

Shakespeare often kills most of the important characters in his plays. Hamlet, is no exception. Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark. Before the play begins, Hamlet’s father (the King of Denmark) is assassinated by his own brother, Claudius. Before the play even begins, people relevant have already died. The reader expects that Denmark will be a location of lots of action. Hamlet has an effect on Denmark. If Hamlet did not exist, all of the characters in the play would not be dead. Obviously not everyone that took part in the play died, but many of them dead in the final act of play. This will be further explained later. Hamlet is a very fragile character. He is not confident to carry actions out that he is expected to do. Hamlet meets his father's
ghost early in the play. His father tells him how Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius murdered him. Hamlet is instructed to avenge his father's death. The premus during the story is that if one’s father is murdered, his son is to avenge his death by killing the killer. This leads to the domino effect because people kept avenging each other. Hamlet's father (in ghost form) has a conversation with Hamlet one evening stating that Hamlet must, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1. 5 . 31). This is the first that Hamlet has heard his father was murdered. Therefore, this is the first time Hamlet has heard his Uncle Claudius killed his father. Hamlet’s father tells Hamlet he must avenge his father’s death and now Hamlet starts to go a little crazy. Hamlet has to murder someone!? Hamlet begins to be indecisive because he knows he wants to make his father proud and avenge his death but, he does not like the idea of murder. The word is very distasteful to him. Hamlet really needs to make sure Claudius murdered his father before he kills him. He tests Claudius and finds out that he in fact did kill his father. Hamlet holds onto this fact and takes no action. One night when Hamlet is talking to his mother, he thinks Claudius is behind a curtain but is not.
It turns out to be Polonius, Ophelia’s father. Ophelia is Hamlet’s love. Hamlet kills Polonius and does not even think about how he killed the wrong person. Hamlet basically shrugs and walks away. With Polonius dead, Ophelia begins to act crazy and now Hamlet’s life is starting to change. This is a turning point for Hamlet. Until this point, Hamlet has been scared of murder, and now he just murdered Polonius not thinking about it. Does this mean there is a dark side to Hamlet? It is hard to tell because at this point in the play, Hamlet has been acting crazy on purpose. He is trying to murder Claudius and by acting crazy, there will be a better excuse for the murder other than that he just murdered him. Denmark starts to become a crazy place now. Polonius is dead which means that his son must avenge him. Ophelia has gone crazy. Hamlet is acting crazy and is trying to kill his uncle. Claudius is hoping his secret will not be revealed. The only one way for this all to be solved is for everyone to die, and this is exactly what Shakespeare does. It is Hamlet’s fault for everyone being
dead. If Hamlet was not in the play, the play would not exist. Not because of the title, but because revenge would not have been fulfilled. The king would die and no child would be there to kill the killer. If Hamlet had not existed, Polonius would not have been murdered, Ophelia would not have died, and Laertes would not have fought Hamlet, the queen would not have drinking poison, and Claudius would not have been killed by Hamlet. That is a lot of information. Hamlet only kills 3 people in the play. But more than double that number die as a result of Hamlet’s existence. Those deaths are not on Hamlet because he simply existed and they died. Hamlet’s objective in this play was one thing.
Hamlet needed to avenge his father's death and to do this he had to murder Claudius. Hamlet gets a little side-tracked during his mission. Accidentally killing Polonius certain put a bump in the road because now he killed the father of the women he loved. He has ruined his relationship with her family and now has murdered someone. Hamlet has basically given up on his appearance now. He is acting like he is crazy and seeks deep revenge on his uncle. The final scene of the play is very important because this is when Hamlet dies. Claudius wants Hamlet dead. He arranges for a sword match between Laertes and Hamlet and Hamlet’s sword has poison. Claudius knows Hamlet wants to kill him and he (Claudius) will do anything to hold his position as king. He offers Hamlet a drink with poison in it which ultimately, Claudius's wife (Hamlet’s mother) drinks. Hamlet did not kill his mother, but if Hamlet hadn’t existed, Claudius would never have poisoned wine out. In the end, Hamlet kills Laertes and Claudius. Yet, many people died because of Claudius. Hamlet’s effect on Denmark was not a good one. The King and Queen are dead, and many friends of Hamlet’s. It is for sure Hamlet saved the kingdom from a non-righteous king, but the death of many civilians, is
non-excusable.