His organization of the players’ performance of “The Murder of Gonzago” shows this well only after seeing Claudius’ reaction to the play does he prepare to act on the Ghost’s plea for revenge. When seeing his father’s ghost, he unquestionably accepts all he hears as truth, but doesn’t act on it until he can verify it in some way. Although it is shown he can be impulsive and rash, his rationality wins out – at least in the beginning of the play. Hamlet, on the other hand, begins the play as a very rational and intelligent man. It is this which balances out any morally wrong actions Hamlet may take. The crime itself is, in a sense, worse because of the circumstances not a simple murder, but the murder of one’s brother wholly for personal gain, his crown and queen. The gravity of Claudius’ crime grows when one considers that all the deaths throughout the play would not have come if it were not the murder. Although the act of murder itself is wrong, an “eye for an eye” almost wholly justifies it. When Hamlet finds out his father was murdered by his own brother, who then stole his wife and crown, he immediately commits himself to avenge the murder “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift/As meditation or the thoughts of love/May sweep to my revenge.”Īt this point, Hamlet is completely justified in his feelings, and most would agree that his revenge is morally right. Near the start of the play, The Ghost tells Hamlet of the crime committed by Claudius. Hamlet’s words in Act III, Scene IV - “thus bad begins, and worse remains behind” illustrate the moral order well the actions against him were wrong, but, to a lesser extent, so was his revenge. Claudius, on the other hand, not only murders Hamlet’s father but then plots to do away with Hamlet as soon as he feels threatened.Īs the play progresses, Hamlet continues attempting to right the original wrong, but only succeeds at the finish, with Claudius’ death. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet is morally “in the right”, always taking precautions to ensure this remains so.
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