However, today, the idea of a king is again, very different. Kingship to a modern audience means someone who sets a good example. We don not respect monarchs how the contemporary audience did. We rule by government, and not just one individual person who makes all the decisions. Our government is a democracy, and we can vote for the leader we want. Back then, it was believed that it was God’s job to do this.
Hamlet, and Fortinbras are both very similar people. For example, they both inherited their fathers names, and in both cases, the throne was passed on to their uncles, instead of them. Fortinbras was very warlike, as was his father, and was seen as very honourable. He wanted to reclaim land from Poland, and to do this, he needed to make a pathway through Denmark, the homeland of Hamlet. Both modern, and contemporary audiences can understand his reasons, and see Fortinbras as being very honourable.
Hamlet was a very intelligent man. Because of this, just killing Claudius, his uncle, was almost too simple. He took many things into account, and studied many possibilities. He felt that he had to have sufficient evidence that his uncle really was to blame for the death of his father. Although his fathers ghost told Hamlet that he was, Hamlet did not believe the ghost at first, and felt that he had to see for himself. He felt like this, because he was aware that if he killed Claudius under false circumstances, he would be sent to purgatory, and did not like the idea of that at all.
Both modern and contemporary audiences see this as very honourable. The old king Hamlet was in purgatory, and told Hamlet how it was really not a nice place to be. Hamlet is given the perfect opportunity to kill Claudius after “The Mousetrap”. The play showed Hamlet that Claudius was guilty of killing his father, because of the way that he got up and stormed out. Hamlet found Claudius praying. For him it was the best opportunity to kill Claudius, however, because of the beliefs he had about the afterlife, Hamlet was caught in two minds. One was telling him to kill Claudius and get it over with. The other told him that he should not do it while he was praying, as this would send him to purgatory, and Claudius to heaven. Wisely, Hamlet did not kill him. This was a very honourable move by Hamlet, as he understood the beliefs of purgatory, and what his father had told him, and did not kill Claudius right there and then, as he did not want Claudius to go to heaven, he wanted him to suffer. But unknown to him, Claudius was unable to pray. Had Hamlet killed him then, he would not have gone to purgatory, and Claudius would not have gone to heaven, but Hamlet was not to know this. He was trying to do the right thing.
However, during the play, Hamlet does some rather dishonourable things. For example, he treated Ophelia in a very bad way. This was cruel, and lead to Ophelia going insane, and committing suicide. He also killed Polonius when he was arguing with his mother, for no reason, other than he though that it was Claudius. Hamlet did seek forgiveness for these actions from Laertes, which is a very honourable action.
To conclude, the contemporary audience would have been very aware why Hamlet acted like he did, and took the actions he did. They would have seen that Hamlet was trying to go about the matter in the right, and honourable way. They would have been able to recognise the dilemmas, both moral, and religious, such as Hamlet going to purgatory, and Claudius going to heaven, that Hamlet was experiencing. A modern audience would not necessarily understand all of this, but would however understand his character, so it is very important to be aware of the historical context behind the play of Hamlet.
