Conflict in Hamlet Essay

Hamlet is a story of a revenge tragedy. It is also a story filled with conflicts that oppose people to other people, to society, and to themselves. As many of us do experience in our everyday lives such horrific and many tragic events. The story involves each and every sin found in the world which predicts a negative outcome throughout its storyline. A life filled with sin will only lead you to live a life of sin and will slowly kill you to die a death in sin. All in which all the leading characters lived such as his uncle Claudius, his mother Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlets professed loved one Ophelia.

The main central conflict was the death of Hamlets father and the quick and yet instant remarriage of his mother Gertrude to his uncle Claudius. Hamlet had a very difficult time trying to deal with all the changes that had happened in his life. After the death of his father and his mothers remarriage he was asked to stay in Denmark and not to return to school in Wittenberg. Hamlet struggled with suicidal thoughts throughout the entirety of the play. After he sighted the apparitions of his deceased father he began to intensely question the world of the dead. He wasnt sure if he should trust that the ghost he saw that resembled his father and more so the information he learned from the ghost. The ghost of the late Hamlet told Hamlet that Claudius murdered him by placing poison in his ear. Hamlet went close to insanity after realizing that the ghost of his late father spoke the truth.

After Hamlets realization of his fathers murderer he dedicates himself to seeking revenge as his father had asked. He pretends to turn into a madman shortly after the conversation with the apparition of his father. During all this madness of Hamlets thoughts and actions Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius in thoughts that he was Claudius hiding in his mothers room behind a curtain. Hamlet didnt have any remorse towards the murder of Polonius. Hamlet regretted the fact that he didnt kill Claudius when he had a chance while Claudius was praying alone in the room. He believed that if killed Claudius while praying then he would be forgiven for his sins and then go to heaven. That didnt fit right with Hamlet he wanted to get revenge for his fathers murder and thought that Claudius belonged in no other place but hell.

With all the sin and all the actions of insanity in Denmark the kingdom is left in great danger. It seems as if evil is spreading through the life of the entire kingdom by the souls that walk upon it. The lustful power of sexual tensions that cause all the incestuous thoughts and actions among them take over the royal family. The powers the men have over the women complicate the hearts of the royal women of Denmark. They feel that without the men in their life they are worthless and have no real meaning to live. This explains the quick remarriage of Hamlets mother Gertrude to Hamlets uncle, the late King Hamlets brother. It also explains the unexpected suicide of Opelia right after the murder of her father Polonius.

Claudius turns very fearful for his life after the insanity of Hamlets actions. Little does he know that he is being eaten alive by his own guilt in knowing that he did in fact murder the late King Hamlet. In knowing that Hamlet now knew the truth and had a reason to seek revenge only drove him to his own insanity. Claudius had ordered Hamlet out of Denmark but Hamlet was forced to return to Denmark after his ship was attacked. After Hamlets arrival Claudius ordered Laertes to fight Hamlet in a dual in which Claudius poisoned Laertess tip so that Hamlet would still die if even from a scratch from the sword. Claudius plotted a second plan to insure Hamlets death if not given the first hit during the dual by poisoning a goblet that Hamlet will be offered to drink from in celebration.

As in any given time where lives are lived in the center of sin death will engulf all who stand within it. This revenge tragedy ends with Gertrude dead after drinking from the poisoned goblet that Claudius set out for the death of Hamlet. Laertes ends up somehow switching swords with Hamlet during the dual and ends up getting stabbed by his own Poisoned sword by Hamlet and dies. Claudius is forced to swallow the poison from the goblet by Hamlet. After Hamlet had finally seeked his revenge he himself died. Horatio, one of Hamlets closest friends who survived and witnessed the tragedy of the royal family was asked by Hamlets last words to tell his story and to turn the kingdom over to Fortinbras.

In a kingdom where all the sins of the world were present such as murder, suicide, lust, incest, deception, and betrayal there was now a new beginning with the arrival of Fortinbras. The kingdom of Denmark would now be able to bury the souls of the royal family and will now be able to walk in the foot steps of their spirits. I choose the murder of King Hamlet and the remarriage of Gertrude to Hamlets brother to be the main central conflict of this story because I personally feel that such an action is immoral. It was wrong for Claudius to murder the late King Hamlet to begin with and steal the throne from Hamlet by marrying his mother Gertrude. It was also wrong for his mother to not only marry her late husbands brother but to marry shortly after her husbands death. Where there is betrayal and deception their will be death. In this story of Hamlet the deaths, suicides, and murders showed all their readers a good example of it and the tragic outcomes that will come with them.