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What does Claudius do that makes Hamlet hesitate in killing him?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Claudius did not choose to punish Hamlet for his crimes for two reasons. One he loved Gertrude, Hamlets mother too much and two, the people loved Hamlet and Claudius feared punishing him would cause a revolt.
Wiki User
∙ 9y ago
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoHe sees Claudius praying. This is ironic because Hamlet believes that killing Claudius at this time will only send him to heaven--without his sins being known. Claudius, on the other hand does not believe he is going to heaven, "words without thoughts never to heaven go".
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoI think it should be 'Hamlet's' and 'Claudius' for the question to make sense.
Answer:
Hamlet has been informed of his father's murder by a ghost. Now he needs to make sure he's not being misguided by some evil spirit. That's what he tells himself. However he himself says somewhere that he suspected Claudius even before the ghost had revealed the secret to him. He keeps putting off the execution of the murder on one pretext or the other. Once having an easy opportunity at hand he spares the king's life just because he's in prayer. Then he devices this big scheme of confirming the king's guilt by staging a play mimicking the murder of King Hamlet. Even that proves the ghost's accusation. Still he isn't successful in bringing himself to avenge his father's murder. He keeps thinking, confirming and planning but does nothing. In the end he is told that the king has had Laertes poison the sword that he had wounded Hamlet with. This incites him to kill Claudius. It is only in the face of certain death that he finally acts. However, the fact that he knew Claudius had planned his murder, we can still not say that he finally avenged his father's death.
There could be many possible reasons for his inaction:
One- Hamlet is a procrastinator who would evade a final action as long as possible.
Two- His father's death hasn't caused him as much pain as his mother's incestuous relationship with Claudius. Remember he goes into a fit of passion while confronting his mother and kills Polonius in his rage mistaking him for the king.
Three- he does not have it in him to take a calculated revenge just for the sake of his father's ghost. The murders he commits are either to seek revenge for harm intended to his life (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) or done impetuously (Polonius). Following this trend Hamlet could not have killed Claudius had he not been pushed into a situation where he had no more time to think. He had to act and not for anyone else but for himself.
Conclusion: Since Hamlet himself does not exactly know what his problem is, he keeps deluding himself with all kinds of excuses. This makes it very difficult to pinpoint exactly why Hamlet is the way he is and why he does not do what he does not do.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoIf you mean in the scene when Ham finds him alone, praying for forgiveness for his crimes, it is because he doesn't want to be responsible for his uncle dying with a clean conscience/ soul. He wants to catch him still sinning, so as to send him Hellward in death.
Also, Hamlet is better at thinking than doing and (most importantly) Shakespeare was hoping to draw the audience along in an increasingly complicated story until the conclusion in Act V.
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoWiki User
∙ 13y ago1. Claudius says, "He is my wife's son"
2. His popularity means that the people would still be on his side.
Wiki User
∙ 6y agoHamlet is popular with the people (Hard to know why, since he's such a snob) and he is also much beloved of Gertrude, and Claudius would never do anything to offend Gertrude.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoHe is kneeling and trying to pray.
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What is Claudius' relationship to Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare's play?
Gertrude's first husband was King Hamlet. King Hamlet was the brother of Claudius. This makes Claudius and Gertrude in-laws. After Claudius murders King Hamlet, he marries Gertrude, so they are then husband and wife.
What initiates the rising action in hamlet?
The Inciting Incident is when the Ghost makes Hamlet swear to get revenge on Claudius for murdering him.
Who interrupts Hamlet as he confronts his mother in her room?
Mostly it's not so much of a discussion as Hamlet berating her. She thinks that she is going to give him heck for disturbing Claudius, but it soon becomes apparent that the shoe is on the other foot. He goes off into a long rant in which he abuses Claudius to her, and blames her for having anything to do with him. But she does not get angry with him, probably because she is digesting his remark "Almost as bad, dear mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother." At first she demands to know what he is talking about, but from his abuse of Claudius, she figures it out, and makes the connection with the Mousetrap play. She begins to suspect that Hamlet may be right about Claudius murdering Hamlet Senior. Then the ghost of his father appears to Hamlet, and Hamlet's rant is interrupted. Thereafter it is more like a discussion than a dressing down. The following topics are discussed: 1. Whether Hamlet is crazy. 2. Whether Gertrude should suspend conjugal relations with Claudius. 3. Hamlet's imminent trip to England. 4. What Hamlet is going to do with the corpse of Polonius.
What does the king tell Hamlet after he sends cornelius and voltimand to Norway?
Claudius deals with Laertes first, before turning to Hamlet. He asks why he is still depressed. Hamlet, after a discussion with the Queen, makes a speech about how genuine his grief is. Claudius then tells him that he is mourning too much and should stop, that he is the heir to the throne, and that he won't be leaving Denmark to go back to university.
Who killed Gertrude in Hamlet?
Technically, King Cladius Kills Gertrude in Hamlet, but not intentionally. King Cladius poisons the wine for Hamlet to drink but he refuses it to keep fencing Laertes but when hamlet makes the second strike the Queen wants to drink to him and when she does she drinks from the poisoned cup and dies.
What is Claudius' relationship to Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare's play?
Gertrude's first husband was King Hamlet. King Hamlet was the brother of Claudius. This makes Claudius and Gertrude in-laws. After Claudius murders King Hamlet, he marries Gertrude, so they are then husband and wife.
What initiates the rising action in hamlet?
The Inciting Incident is when the Ghost makes Hamlet swear to get revenge on Claudius for murdering him.
Who interrupts Hamlet as he confronts his mother in her room?
Mostly it's not so much of a discussion as Hamlet berating her. She thinks that she is going to give him heck for disturbing Claudius, but it soon becomes apparent that the shoe is on the other foot. He goes off into a long rant in which he abuses Claudius to her, and blames her for having anything to do with him. But she does not get angry with him, probably because she is digesting his remark "Almost as bad, dear mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother." At first she demands to know what he is talking about, but from his abuse of Claudius, she figures it out, and makes the connection with the Mousetrap play. She begins to suspect that Hamlet may be right about Claudius murdering Hamlet Senior. Then the ghost of his father appears to Hamlet, and Hamlet's rant is interrupted. Thereafter it is more like a discussion than a dressing down. The following topics are discussed: 1. Whether Hamlet is crazy. 2. Whether Gertrude should suspend conjugal relations with Claudius. 3. Hamlet's imminent trip to England. 4. What Hamlet is going to do with the corpse of Polonius.
Was Hamlet in position of power?
Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark so that does come with its own power. But Claudius is the one with the most power. However Hamlet is loved by all the people so it essentially makes Hamlet unkillable because if Claudius kills him the people will turn against him. In the eyes of the people Hamlet can do no wrong, so in a way he is in a position of power.
What is the revenge in Hamlet?
Revenge is what drives the majority of the action of the play. It is the obligation Hamlet is given by the ghost of his father early on in the play and shapes most of the interactions between characters from that moment on. The complicated morality of revenge is a large part of Hamlet's torment. The revenge motive is what makes Hamlet "feign" madness and establishes the chain of events that leads to Ophelia's madness and death, as well as the enormous body count that amasses by the end of the play.
Did Hamlet like his uncle before he married his mother?
It's hard to say, since we never see Hamlet at this time, but it is plausible that he never liked Claudius and the marriage only makes it worse.
What does the king tell Hamlet after he sends cornelius and voltimand to Norway?
Claudius deals with Laertes first, before turning to Hamlet. He asks why he is still depressed. Hamlet, after a discussion with the Queen, makes a speech about how genuine his grief is. Claudius then tells him that he is mourning too much and should stop, that he is the heir to the throne, and that he won't be leaving Denmark to go back to university.
What major event in the play happens just before the conclusion of act 3 in hamlet?
The last scene in Act III is the closet scene in which Hamlet kills Polonius, Gertrude recognizes that Claudius may have murdered Hamlet Senior and the Ghost makes a reappearance telling Hamlet to get on with it.
What is the signficance of claudius' denying Hamlet permission to go to wittenberg?
There are a number of possibilities:1. Claudius is grooming Hamlet as a successor. He has named him as the heir, and wants to involve him in the affairs of state. Hamlet is thirty years old, and it's time he left school.2. Claudius is giving in to Gertrude, who is the apple of his eye. Gertrude wants Hamlet around because she loves him, and Claudius is happy to oblige. You notice that he says "it is most retrograde to our desire" and that Gertrude adds her words to his.3. Claudius wants Hamlet where he can see him. In this view, Claudius already suspects Hamlet of being a danger to his throne, and does not trust him to leave the country. It virtually puts Hamlet in "house arrest"None of the above considerations apply to Laertes, which is why permission for Laertes to go to Paris is freely given.The fact that the heir must plot his revenge from within the court is one of the special features which makes Hamlet different from other "revenge of the heir" stories such as Macbeth, Richard III, Richard II and the Lion King.
What examples of indecision does Hamlet?
wether or not he's giong to kill himself. "To be or not to be, that is the question" Hamlet also has to debate whether or not he will go through with the revenge he is seeking for his father's death, which is to kill Claudius. This is what the whole play is about, revenge. In Act 3, Scene 2, Hamlet makes the players put on a play mimicking what had happened in Denmark (i.e. a murder puts poison in its victim's ear). Hamlet asks Horatio to watch Claudius' expression during the play, and Horatio confirms that Claudius seems uneasy and feels the guilt, as he brings the play to the end. Claudius' reaction confirms Hamlet's decision, and Hamlet knows that he is making the right decision by seeking revenge on Claudius for killing his father.
In Hamlet who is getting revenge?
First, when Hamlet sees the ghost who claims to be the Ghost of his father, the ghost tells him that Claudius Killed hamlet. He is unsure about that, but around act three scene 2 or three, Hamlet assembles this play for the king and the queen, and, seeing how Claudius responded to it, Hamlet seemed to be sure that he did indeed kill his Father
Why do you think Hamlet seems so angry with Ophelia?
In Act 3, Scene 1, Claudius and Polonius try to get Hamlet to reveal his private thoughts by setting up a meeting with his erstwhile girlfriend Ophelia. When Hamlet arrives, he probably knows full well that Claudius is lurking somewhere around but does not appear to be sure that Ophelia is party to the trap. Eventually, however, he figures out that Ophelia knows all about it and it makes him very angry.
