An Individual's Response to Injustice: Hamlet Essay Revision

My first essay from this semester. 
This essay was a good introduction into what would be expected of us in future projects in ELA 30-1. I received 66% on the original copy of this essay, forcing me to go back and see what I did wrong and improve my writing to meet the outcomes of the course. This essay helped me with managing my ideas and information because the majority of the points I made required quotes to back them up. With Hamlet being written in the Elizabethan era, some of the language used made it difficult to select quotes that were appropriate for the point I was trying to make. I think I had some good points and  information and once I fixed the grammatical and format errors, this turned into one of my favorite critical responses from the semester. This essay covers the outcome of exploring thoughts, ideas feelings and experiences by questioning Hamlet's behavior. It demonstrates my ability to comprehend literature and other texts in print form, because I am discussing a play. This essay shows I can manage ideas and information by using quotes, and it demonstrates I am able to create print text to enhance the clarity of my communication with an audience.

An Individual’s Response to Injustice

Marcus Ramsay

            The play Hamlet is full of different examples of how certain types of individuals respond to things they consider unjust, and the way the go about seeking revenge. The main character, Hamlet, is seeking revenge for the murder of his father by his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet holds a great deal of respect for his late father and having Claudius attempt to replace his father does not make Hamlet Sr.’s passing any easier. When Claudius calls Hamlet his son, he replies with “Not so, my lord; I am too much I’ the sun.” (Act 1, Scene 2, Line 67), a metaphorical expression meaning he does not want to be Claudius’s son. After a late night encounter with the ghost of his father, Hamlet says “Adieu, Adieu! Remember me. I have sworn’t,” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 112), and swears to kill Claudius. Laertes, son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia, also seeks revenge for his father, and makes plans to kill Hamlet. Both characters are planning to respond to acts of injustice by similar means, and are excellent examples of how Shakespeare likes to portray me: arrogant, violent and impulsive. The characters that Shakespeare has developed in Hamlet show us how impulsive men with a great deal of self respect will ten to react to acts of injustice.

            Claudius feels that Hamlet is a potential threat to the throne, and begins to plan for his murder. Claudius is much more cunning and deceitful than Hamlet, as demonstrated when he says to Laertes “And where the offence is let the great axe fall,” (Act 4, Scene 5, Line 215). He is attempting to convince Laertes that it is necessary for them to kill Hamlet in order for Laertes to have revenge. Laertes is beginning to believe Claudius when he says “Stood challenger on mount of all the age for he perfections: but my revenge will come,” (Act 4, Scene 7, Line 29). Claudius is able to think about the consequences of his actions more than Hamlet does, and although he realizes Hamlet dislikes him Claudius still tries his best to be civil with Hamlets for the majority of the play, calling him “my cousin Hamlet, and my son,” ( Act 1, Scene 2, Line 64), and attempts to defend him by saying “Love! His affections do not that way tend; nor what he spake,” (Act 3, Scene 1, Line 164). Claudius comes up with a number of plans to have Hamlet killed, but unfortunately for him none of them go quite as planned. Shakespeare is portraying Claudius as a smarter and less impulsive version of Hamlet, but their similar goals also give them a common dislike for each other. Claudius is embarrassed by the way Hamlet is acting in public, saying “Hazard so dangerous as doth hourly grow out of his lunacies,” (Act 3, Scene 3, Line 6). Claudius and Hamlet both react to the injustice in their lives in the same ways (murder), however Claudius tens to be much more thorough and doesn’t let his pride get in the way of his plans.

            In Shakespeare’s Elizabethan era, it seemed that the solution to everybody’s problems was to kill the person that was causing them. Laertes is another character set on the act of murder, and develops a cunning plan with the king to go through with it. Laertes had never taken a liking to Hamlet, and says “Let this be so; His means of death, his obscure burial,” (Act 4, Scene 5, Line 209) when he finds out his father has been killed. Between that and the constant manipulation from Claudius, Laertes is completely willing to go through with the King’s plan to “Requite him for your father,” (Act 4, Scene 7, Line 139). Like Hamlet, Laertes thinks to quickly and does not consider his actions first, often letting his lust for revenge take control of his mind, which eventually gets him killed.

            The character of Hamlet is a young man who has become disturbed by the pressure of three heavy weights that lay upon him: the death of his father, the separation of him and his lover and the obligation he feels to kill his uncle. All the confusion he feels has driven him into a state of madness, and he thinks of himself as “pigeon-liver’d,” (Act 2, Scene 2, Line 574) and “Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,” (Act 2, Scene 2, Line 564). Even his own mother is convinced of his madness, and is sure of it when he murders Polonius, Ophelia’s father. However, Hamlet’s disrespect towards his mother has some reasoning, as she had been sleeping with Claudius before Hamlet’s father had even passed away, as revealed when the Ghost says “And to those thorns that bosom lodge, To prick and sting her.” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 88). The ghost of Hamlet Sr. does not want Hamlet to kill his mother, but would rather have her live with the pain of knowing she had cheated on the king and had let “the royal bed of Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest.” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 84). The character of Hamlet tends to be irrational and self centered, meaning he does not think things through and needs things to go exactly as he wants, as demonstrated in his attacks at Ophelia and his mother, saying rude things to them.

            Shakespeare uses many different character structures in Hamlet to show how different personalities will react to what they think is wrong. Although there are examples all throughout the play, the most significant responses are the ones played by the main characters. When the mind of Hamlet begins to go, his behaviour becomes erratic and passionate and he becomes very defensive over what he believes in. Hamlet is a smart man, but as Claudius said, “Madness in great ones must not unwatch’d go,” (Act 3, Scene 1, Line 190). Claudius’s behaviour is not quite as unpredictable as Hamlet’s, however his corruption eventually gets the best of him. Laertes’ behaviour is similar to that of Hamlet, and both of them die a similar death. The personalities Shakespeare develops throughout the play are similar to those in many men in modern times, although it seems like murder is less common than it was during Elizabethan times. Although Hamlet ends in a tragedy, it can teach us to think of the consequences of our actions before our pride lets us make the wrong decision when defending something we believe in.