Hamlet causes the deaths of many people by the end of Act 5. To what extent does Shakespeare cause us to have sympathy for this Tragic Hero?

Introduction

Why is it enormous crime? (Killing of Claudius) issues faced by Hamlet. (e.g. delayed revenge of his fathers murder?)

One of the central aspects within the play is a dilemma he is forced to face. This dilemma is whether or not he should murder his uncle to revenge his father's death.
Hamlet was the reason for Claudius death; however this does not make the audience loose sympathy for Hamlet as in his case things can be seen from a different alternative.
Hamlet had many opportunities to kill his uncle Claudius but by using common sense as a man of words, he waited until he found out all the details to his fathers murder so he could get the perfect revenge at a later time in the play.
Therefore if we take a look at it from Shakespeare’s view Hamlet had to delay the murder of Claudius because he would not be fulfilling his role as a ‘tragic hero’.
If Hamlet had killed Claudius when he had the chance, an example being in Act III scene III, the play would have been two acts shorter; thus this will be not satisfying its Elizabethan audience as a 'tragedy'.

Topic 1

The impossibility of Hamlets dilemma causes the audience to have sympathy for Hamlet.

We have sympathy for Hamlet because…

He is disgusted at his mother’s remarriage and sexual depravity to Claudius when revealed by the ghost. (Claudius marriage to Gertude in the Elizabethan times would be known as incestuous and unlawful.)
The audience at this point have sympathy for Hamlet, because Claudius is Hamlets worst enemy, and now to find out he is married to one of the most important women in his life he will have to think carefully before he avenges his father’s death.
In his first soliloquy that begins "O that this too too sullied flesh would melt…." suggests Hamlet is alone with his thoughts, depressed to the point of talk of suicide. Hamlet tries desperately to make sense of the events that have recently taken place, but remains confused and pessimistic. He feels restricted by the physical world that he calls unbearable; wanting his "too too solid flesh" to "...melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew” We have sympathy for Hamlet because He appears to be trying to get away, to become innocent once again. There was a time when he didn't have many responsibilities to deal with, and that's what he wants to go back to. However, he has obligations to fulfill. Since Hamlet has been raised and living as a noble person, not fulfilling his tasks is an impossible act, as is having his "flesh…melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew". The journey of a solid turning into dew relates similarly to how difficult it is for Hamlet to live in the world, needing to be free to deal with himself only.
Hamlet is being told/commanded by the ghost to avenge his father’s death and decease the throne of the pollution of “incest.”
Shakespeare deliberately uses the word “commandment” to draw attention to the moral dilemma hamlet finds himself in.
Imagines mother and uncle in bed together – “Oh most wicked speed to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets.” Absolutely disgusted with the sexual passion.
As Claudius address the court in Act 1 scene 2 Hamlet is dressed all in black which suggest he is very different to everyone else and is made to stand out by the director so the audience can fell sympathy for the character as he is very lonely. Significantly no one at the court but Hamlet is wearing a mourning dress; in Shakespeare’s time it would be worn for at least a year following the death of the king.

Topic 2

Hamlets position as a misplaced tragic hero causes the audience to have sympathy for him.

Man of theatre no a man of the sword. - Uses a play within a play so we can see Claudius bring out his guilt.
Hamlet is ‘self aware’ he knows he is in a tragedy.
As a tragic hero he knows his ‘fate’ is death because a tragic hero always dies, helpless and distressed.
Warns his friends that it is possible that he will pretend he is mad, he will put on ‘an ...

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Topic 2

Hamlets position as a misplaced tragic hero causes the audience to have sympathy for him.

Man of theatre no a man of the sword. - Uses a play within a play so we can see Claudius bring out his guilt.
Hamlet is ‘self aware’ he knows he is in a tragedy.
As a tragic hero he knows his ‘fate’ is death because a tragic hero always dies, helpless and distressed.
Warns his friends that it is possible that he will pretend he is mad, he will put on ‘an antic dispositon’ to help him carry out the Ghosts instructions.
Hamlet seems to be doing what a revenge/tragic hero often does- trying to persuade his intended victim that he is harmless madman, so he will find it easier to carry out his task.
Hamlet at this point should be dressed oddly not simply in black as he is mad.
His behaviour must be more than bitterly melancholic (morose, moody) so the audience can understand the king’s new anxiety.
Delays his revenge: because he has doubts about the ghost, he is scared it is not in his nature to kill.
The perfect time for Hamlet to have killed Claudius was when Claudius was kneeling on his knees praying.
When hamlet says ' Now might I do it pat, now a is a-praying’. this suggest that whilst he sees Claudius praying, he knows he cannot kill Claudius because if he did Claudius would have gone to heaven and Hamlet did not want that.
The audience at this stage may think Hamlet is a coward however other people may think that it is quite wise Hamlet is sticking to the Christian beliefs. Shakespeare’s audience tend to be more knowledgeable than the modern audience and also believe that going against God was a great sin. Therefore the modern audience of today tend to be less bothered about breaking Christian laws as half of them tend to break the laws anyway.

Topic 3

Hamlets virtue in contrast to the rest of Denmark causes us to have sympathy for him.

We have sympathy for Hamlet when, unlike Denmark, he has genuine religious convictions. The people of Denmark work on Sabbath day. Other people might see this as wrong because people believe that Sabbath day is a day for peace.
This again is established by the Danish people working on a Sunday, which is considered a day of peace in the Christian Bible, and as Denmark is a Christian country, they should not be working. This relates to Hamlet who is portrayed as a holy man. The evidence of "something rotten in this state of Denmark", suggests that this word ‘rotten’ is a symbol for monarchy and that Hamlet maybe suggesting that Claudius is the one who is ‘rotten’ after he murdered of Hamlets father.

Topic 4

However we lose sympathy for Hamlet when we see the way he mistreats Ophelia and Gertude.

Hamlets loss of faith in women, expressed in the disgust of sex.
Nunnery scene- the audience are forced to construct imaginary idealised romance between the two.
Hamlet treatment of Opheila is ‘cruel.’
Lines 153-163 are a touching testament to Hamlet’s qualities of mind and body.
Hamlets speech is disjointed and the use of “nunnery in the dual sense of “convent” and slang for “brothel” can be disconcerting, as can the several false exits where he bids Ophelia farewell the returns to the insults, but the king is right this does not resemble madness.
Hamlet’s disgust with her becomes, as focused with his mothers, upon sexual depravity.
He sees Ophelia as a whore, as frailty personified rather than as a particular woman- “I have heard of your paintings- you jig…, you amble… and you make your wantonness your ignorance” This suggest that Ophelia is putting on a false face by lying and she is pretending that she does not know what she is up to.
Hamlet asks her if she is ‘honest’ and comments on how easily beauty makes good people bad. That’s why he tells her to go and lie in a ‘nunnery.’
She tells him a direct lie, and Hamlet explodes with fury, which is not only directed at her but also directed at the spies (Claudius and Polonius).

Therefore we can have sympathy for Hamlet because he describes Ophelia as ‘fair’ kind and true. He describes the qualities/appearance and character of someone he loves, admires and trusts. It is not Hamlet who sets out to attack her it is Ophelia use of words which makes Hamlet feel as is she is treating him as if he was somebody else. She changes her manner because she knows Claudius and Polonius are listening so therefore Hamlet is not totally to blame for his cruelty to Ophelia.

Closet scene- Gertude- Hamlet accuses her of gross sexual misconduct.
Hamlet's opinion of his mother worsens as the play progresses because his father, who appears as a ghost, tells him of his mother's adulterous behavior and his uncle’s shrewd and unconscionable murder.
He forces her too look at two pictures, one of he god- like King Hamlet and another of Claudius- whom Hamlet compares him to a mildewed ear of corn.- This suggest although ht this image may be Biblical and the ear is an ear of mildewed wheat which corrupts a healthy one it is difficult to hear this line and not recall the ghost description if a hideous death.
He deliberately mocks the rhythm and the words of Gertrude reprimands, turning her finger of accusation from his own to behaviour of his mother.
"Frailty, thy name is woman”- Hamlet appears to believe all women act in the same manner as his mother. The first time the audience meets Hamlet, he is angry and upset at Queen Gertrude, his mother, for remarrying his uncle so soon after the death of his father.
Hamlet curses his mother for being responsible for his inability to love Ophelia.
Hamlet yells at his mother for destroying his ability to love. He accuses her of such an act That blurs the grace and blush of modesty, Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose From the fair forehead of an innocent love And sets a blister

Topic 5

We loose sympathy for Hamlet when he kills Polonius.

We see Hamlet, in a room with just himself and his mother have a private conversation. Hamlet finds out he has been spied upon and taken as a fool throughout the last few weeks and he has had enough.
Hamlet, unaware of Polonius's presence, realizes that once again he is being spied on. There was someone behind the curtain in the room. Hamlet has now threatened his mother and demanded her to sit down.
Gertrude, now very being very scared shouts out for help "Though wilt no murder me? Help help ho!" She shouts for help because she thinks she is about to be murdered by her own son. A voice behind the curtain replies for her help. Hamlet being annoyed of being spied on moves in for the kill. He stabbed the person in the curtain; later to realize it is was Polonius, Ophelia's farther which he didn't realize at the time.
The audience starts to loose sympathy for Hamlet as there are unsure of Hamlets actions. They may be quite afraid as Hamlet murdered out of ‘antic disposition’’ and are quite afraid of what he may do next.
He doesn’t react in any way like he’s committed a murder therefore he may have done this to prove too his mother that he is capable of killing.

Topic 6

We loose sympathy for Hamlet as he takes revenge into his own hands.

Hamlets actions lead to many peoples death.
Chooses to honor his father over God which betrays religion. Therefore in the Elizabethan times this was known as a great sin and the audience would loose sympathy as they re compelled by law to go to church.
Hamlet kills so many innocent people and the audience loose sympathy for him as he shows no remorse for his actions.
Hamlet is a traditional revenge hero, he wants to make sure that Claudius goes to hell. The a audience loose sympathy for him because this shows how malicious his character can be.
Gertude was guilty for adultery however she did not know that her husband was murdered by Claudius she only found out during the closet scene.
But as Hamlets mother she takes Hamlets side and dies.
Ophelia dies as she goes into a stage of mental depression maybe due to the horrid words of Hamlet
However we could still have sympathy for him as he didn’t know that Polonius was behind

Hamlet contrasts with Laertes

Hamlet contrasts with Laertes the tragic revenge hero as Hamlet and Laertes both display strong reactions when they find out there fathers have been murdered.
When Hamlet finds out that his dad was murdered, he decides to put on his ‘antic position’.
When Laertes finds out that his dad is dead (maybe murdered - he's not sure yet), he gathers a crowd and rushes the palace to confront Claudius (at swordpoint!).
Hamlet and Laertes share a different but bottomless concern for Ophelia. Before Laertes's departure for France, Laertes provides advice to Ophelia telling her to end her relationship with Hamlet.
Hamlet is a traditional revenge hero a man of words and he does not know how to deal with the situation whereas Laertes who is a man of action shows the audience how it is really done. This causes sympathy because Hamlet is put in the wrong situation deliberately by Shakespeare to prove he is traditional revenge hero and how he does not know how to deal with it.

How does Hamlets characterisation affect our sympathy?

Hamlets characterisation affects our sympathy because in every tragedy there is a tragic hero. He must have many good traits such as loyalty and bravery, but one bad one such as pride. The audience must have sympathy for the tragic hero, or it wouldn't seem so tragic. Hamlet is a perfect example of a tragic hero. He was brave, loyal, and intelligent, but he couldn't move on past one thing, which led to his death. He had a choice of how he would deal with Claudius, and like other tragic hero's made a decision. Also, the audience was able to feel sympathy for the position Hamlet was in. These attributes made Hamlet the perfect example of a tragic hero. But Hamlet like all other tragic hero's had a flaw. He couldn't get around to doing anything, because he couldn't move on, it took him a long time to stop grieving about his father, because he didn't want to move past that part of his life. And after he finally did, Hamlet couldn't get around to killing Claudius. He kept pretending he was insane even after he was sure that Claudius killed his father.

Conclusion

To some extent we have sympathy for Hamlet because of the many moral and religious dilemmas he is faced in. For example the murder of his father, and then his mother's marriage to the murderer of his father.
However, to some extent we do loose sympathy for Hamlet because of his sexist nature towards women for example when he demands Ophelia to go to a ‘nunnery’, and also all the murders he commits, even some, which may have been were innocent, for example the murder of Polonius.
I surely think sympathy deserves to lie with Hamlet who although a murderer and debatably mad has been put through the up most physiological torment and destruction in the course of the play. Everyone he comes in to contact with betrays him and he is driven to the ends which he takes him to his death too.

Hamlet causes the deaths of many people by the end of Act 5. To what extent does Shakespeare cause us to have sympathy for this Tragic Hero?

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