Essay, Research Paper: Hamlet's Moral Stance

Aaron Williams
Eng 202
November, 19,1999




Hamlet's Moral Stance


In the story, "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," Hamlet's moral stance is that he will get revenge no matter what it takes. He is also indecisive in whether or not he wants to kill his uncle. By getting revenge he will avenge his father death. He will not let someone get away with murder.
Hamlet is commanded to avenge the murder of his father by his father's ghost. The murderer is his uncle, Claudius, who has recently married Hamlet's mother. Hamlet pretends to be mad, to prove his uncle's guilt and to reform his mother. He succeeds in murdering the wrong person, alerting Claudius to what's going on, and sending the girl he loves insane. Hamlet is sent to England. Avoiding an attempt at being executed, Hamlet returns to Denmark. Claudius hatches a plot to have Hamlet poisoned in a rigged fencing match. As he dies, Hamlet finally manages to take his revenge.
There are numerous decisions that Hamlet made that affected his life. The first decision was to stand watch outside with Marcelles and Horatio to see the spirit of his dead father. Hamlet decides to follow him to see what the sprit wants. Hamlet learns how his Claudias poisoned his father. Hamlet swears to the ghost that he will avenge his father death. The next decision Hamlet made was that he forced Horatio and Marcellus to promise that they will not tell what they saw that night. The next decision that Hamlet made was to convince the town's people that he has gone crazy. While trying to convince the town's people that he was mad, he was disgracing Ophelia and driving her to become insane. Hamlet writes a play about his father death. The performance of the play offended the king and the king stopped the play and left. Hamlet was summoned to his mother's chambers. One the way to his mother, he sees the king begging for forgiveness. Hamlet decides not to kill the king because the king might go to heaven, Hamlet does not want the king to go to heaven, he wants Claudias to burn in hell. When Hamlet meets his mother in her chambers, he questions her about his father's death. Hamlet hears a noise and, in a violent rage, he stabs the tapestry with his sword, killing Polonius hoping it was the king. The king told Hamlet that he had to leave because he killed Polonius and this was his punishment. Hamlet proclaims his loves for Ophelia at her funeral. Later on at the funeral, Latertes, son of Polonius, challenges Hamlet to a fencing match. Hamlet accepts the challenge to prove that his fencing skill is great. Hamlet kills Latertes and the king.
The consequences of Hamlet's decisions are death to everyone. Hamlet and Horatio were standing watch, the ghost told the whole story of Hamlet's father's death. When the sprit of Hamlet's father tells the story to Hamlet, he has to become involved to avenge his father's death. He distanced himself from everyone including Ophlia, which led to her insanity and eventually to her death. The consequence of Hamlet having the play is the death of Polonius, because he was summoned to his mother's chambers. When Hamlet leaves for England, Ophelia goes insane and dies. The consequences of Hamlet going to the funeral of Ophelia is that Laertes, the king, and Hamlet lose there lives. When Hamlet dies, Horatio tells the whole of story of how the uncle killed Hamlet's father.
I base my moral and ethical decision on the standards my mom provided upon me as I grew up. You should do anything for your family, stand up for them and protect them. Your family members should be the most important people in your life. You always know your family will be there for you. Hamlet was there for his father when his father wanted to get the story out about his death. He wanted to make sure that Hamlet avenged Claudias. I think that anyone would want to do that now. People today do this a little different. Some people want to find out the real killer and make sure that they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.