After reading the story of Hamlet, it was hard for me to not immediately question who is to blame for the death of basically every character in the play. I mean, it is only human nature to investigate the source or sources of one persons death (take CSI for example), not to mention a case where almost every single person's dies within days of each other. Can it be called murder? And if so, can these murders be traced back to only one person, or are multiple people responsible. In this blog, I will do my best at answering these questions.
Now, of course the answer to whether or not the deaths of so many were more than one person's responsibility is yes; however in my opinion they all have the same single origin: Hamlet's father's ghost. Yes, it is true that Hamlet did stab Polonius by mistake and the king could have let the queen know that she was drinking poison, but in the end none of these events would have taken place if Hamlet's father's ghost had not placed such a burden to put an end to his own unfinished business on his son.
I think that because such a large burden was placed on Hamlet, (seeking revenge for his dead father's ghost) he ended up starting a chain reaction of deaths. Hamlet was not even sure that helping his father seek revenge was a task he morally agreed with, but he went along with it anyway because he is a loyal character and takes the importance of family very seriously. In turn, because he did not fully agree with what he was doing himself, he made the mistake of killing the wrong person because he was so nervous and busy concentrating on minor details of his plan such as the right time for murder. Polonius's death then leads to Ophelia's death. In addition, I believe that Laetes and the Queen would not have died if it wasn't for Hamlet's father's ghost because the King would not have had such a reason to want to murder Hamlet and start a fencing duel and consequently the accidental deaths would also not have occurred.
Although I am aware that the story of Hamlet is a tragic one and death is a crucial part to any tragedy, I think that many fictional lives could have been saved if it were not for the ghost of Hamlet's father.
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6 comments:
I really enjoyed your creative take on the climax of the play. I never would have personally connected the deaths to the ghost, but your blog convinced me of the truth behind the atrocities. It is always interesting to explore the forces behind the accused murderer: such as Dexter's watching his mother test in the best TV show ever, Dexter. Overall great job! Very Janey!
xx
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Hmmm you bring up some interesting points. Unlike Isabel, I am not totally convinced, but you seem to be sure of yourself, so I guess I'll go with that. I just think that Hamlet's father's ghost would not have appeared if he hadn't been murdered by the king, and isn't murder a more egregious crime than telling your own son to avenge your death? It is certainly a chicken-or-the-egg question, and I'm sure Shakespeare doesn't intend for us to answer it. So that should give you some closure.
Fascinating analysis of the path that led up to the mass death that occurred in Act V. It was very intelligent.
Good job.
Ms. Zitomer,
I am inclined to agree with you about all the death being the ghosts fault.
But are ghosts real?
I'm inclined to think not, so really, maybe it was all Fortinbras in a white sheet just trying to get everyone to kill each other.
Just some food for thought.
Peace,
Da Prince of Belair
If this blog is an indication of what you speech will be like we am very excited. We liked you use of the (parenthases), and the retorical question throughout your blog. Although my opinion about the ghost differs a little bit from yours, I see the validity of your respectable argument.
good work
Aleen--(did I spell that right?)--I like the way you connect the events of the play to create a chain of causality and responsibility and then trace it all the way back to the appearance of the ghost. It's one more reason to make me think that Shakespeare, whether he fully intended to or not, ended up writing a play that questions all possible justifications for vengeance.
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