Hamlet | EssayIvy.com

Hamlet

Individuals are raised to follow orders. They are taught to obey and receive punishment if

they do not. People are shown the rewarding benefits of a well-paying job, success and happiness

that accompany loyalty or sheep-like adherence to the rules set by the teachers, parents and those

in superior positions, but individuals are not shown the effects of too much obedience. In

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Obedience and loyalty have a significant impact on the way the

plot unfolds and reversal on the true nature of people. Characters try to be as obedient as

possible, and this affects them in many ways. It is through the words spoken by characters and

their actions that the audience discovers their loyalty and disloyalty. Hamlet, Horatio, Laertes

and Fortinbras and some of the characters who came out as overly loyal. Although their loyalty

is considered positive, it brings them several damages. Being loyal also cause breakdown of

characters. Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Gertrude are examples of disloyal characters. Critical

engagement with Hamlet raises several issues regarding loyalty and authority. This loyalty

comes in various forms such as family obligation and power as well as positive and negative

loyalty.

The protagonists, Hamlet, displays a high level of loyalty. After the murder of his father

who was the king of Denmark, he wants to revenge. Too much loyalty he had towards his father

and the entire family leads to madness to the extent of wanting to slain Claudius. When the

Ghosts comes to tell of his murder, he starts his second soliloquy where he seeks revenge and

says “So, uncle, there you are; now to my word; It is “Adieu, adieu! Remember me.” I have

sworn’t” (I.V.110-112). Because of his loyalty towards the father, he wants to revenge his death

by killing Claudius. In the end, everything leads to the play’s downfall, and Hamlet ends up as

one of the Shakespearean tragedy.

In the same way as Hamlet, Fortinbras maintains loyalty to the father after the murder.

He wants to seek revenge and goes on to form an army to attack the country. when Claudius

discovers it, he use Cornelius and Voltimand to deliver a message to Fortinbras’s uncle with the

warning: “his nephew’s purpose, to suppress his further gait herein, in that the levies, the lists

and full proportions, are all made out of his subject” (I.II.30-33). Consequently, Fortinbras

loyalty creates a false prediction, and the audience is deceived to believe that he will revenge the

death of his father by attacking Denmark.

It is easy for the audience to discover that the loyalty between Hamlet and Horatio is a

contrast to that between Guildenstern and Rosencrantz and Hamlet. Horatio shows loyalty

towards Hamlet, and in turn, Hamlet trusts him a lot. Hamlet explains to him that he is acting

mad to show his loyalty. When Hamlet discovers that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are

disloyal, he becomes really angered. He is intensely irritated when he discovers a letter in their

room saying “no, not to stay the grinding of the axe, my head should be struck off” (V.II.23-24).

Hamlet had falsely believed that Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are his longtime friends, but he is

pained when he discovers that they are loyal to his enemy, Claudius. The turn of events makes

Hamlet act mad. Amidst all these, Horatio remains a loyal friend who can be trusted, unlike

Guildenstern and Rosencrantz who decide to side with the king.

The desire to seek revenge seems to be a sign of loyalty, and this is further seen when

Laertes wants to avenge the death of Polonius. Laertes wants and is ready to murder Hamlet for

the death of Polonius, and he plans to “accidentally” eliminate him in a battle. He goes on with

the plan and stabs him in a fencing battle and says “No medicine in the world can do thee good,

in thee, there is not half an hour’s life; the treacherous instrument is in thy hand” (V.II.304-306).

Laertes kills several characters in his revenge mission. In the end Claudius, Laertes and Gertrude

are all murdered.

The downfall in the play is also caused by Gertrude’s disloyalty towards her first

husband. Hamlet is angered when she marries Claudius, and this is because of the “o’er hasty

marriage” (II.II.57). Mostly, anger is what gives him the ambition and motivation to Kill

Claudius, but instead, he kills Polonius. All this time Gertrude remains loyal to Claudius by

telling him all the conversations she had with Hamlet. Her loyalty towards Claudius is what

keeps him in power for long as the king of Denmark and in the end, causes downfall. The

mixture of loyalty and disloyalty and how individuals respond to them contributes towards

dramatic tension witnessed in the play, making Hamlet one of the best of Shakespearean tragedy.

Various language techniques are used in the play to help the reader understand the plot

and flow. A variety of language also adds deeper meaning and understanding. Wordplay,

soliloquies, figurative language, and symbols are used to enhance the play. Shakespeare used

imagery of decay, poison, and disease to represent corruption, illness, and rottenness. Language

is used to link loyalty and authority to other themes such as revenge, death, grief, and suicide.

Soliloquies are used to reveal to the audience the inner thoughts of the characters. They

significantly contribute toward the revelation of various themes and actions in the play to the

audience. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet has suicidal thoughts but remains apprehensive

since he knows it is against the will of God, and he is afraid of being condemned by Him for his

actions. He says “Or that the everlasting had not fixed/ His canon ‘against self-slaughter! O,

God! O God!” (Act I. ii, 131-2). The theme of suicide is mentioned later but more

philosophically when he wonders “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer…” (Act III.i.57).

Soliloquy is used to reveal to the audience his conflicting thoughts on the worthiness of suicide.

Further, soliloquy is used to reveal to the audience that Hamlet is disillusioned with the world.

He says “Sullied flesh would melt”, and “self-slaughter”, to show the confusion of his mind.

Nature image, through soliloquy, is used to show his internal view of life amidst various loyalty

and disloyalty actions. He says “tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed.” The garden

represents the World with Denmark being compared to an unweeded garden with no fruits.

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