The Ghost also known as Old Hamlet calls on Hamlet to avenge him against Claudius for his foul murder. By Hamlet accepting his fathers wishes shows just how much respect he had for him. Hamlet considered his father as a great King and when he died society changed in Elsinor, which had great effects on Hamlet mentally and physically. In this first soliloquy we find his tendency to unpack his heart with words in full spate. His wrath is turned not only against the frailty of women as shown in his mother’s marriage but against the corruption of the society that can approve it. His wish for death and threat of suicide are, to be, characteristically violent expressions of his disgust, guilt, and frustration, of the kind that violent men often express with angry shouts of "I wish I was dead!". Old Hamlets last command to Hamlet before his friends approach is significantly broad “Adieu, adieu, Hamlet: Remember me.’’ These words touch Hamlet most deeply and linger longest in his memory. But Hamlet takes his oath to ‘’Remember’’ with reference only to vengeance. He never remarks that to remember the dead in purgatory means chiefly to pray for them, especially by offering masses for their souls. If we consider Hamlet’s behaviour in Act 1, scene 5 and the following scene he says ‘‘I will go pray’’, the least likely reading of his words is that he firmly intends to pray for his father’s soul. He obviously loves his father, but he recognises no special obligation to pray for him. Yet if Hamlet loves and remembers his father while everyone else forgets him in their eagerness to get on with their lives and to pursue the devouring business of preferment, Hamlet doesn’t know how he should remember his father. He cannot swallow Claudius’s advice not to mourn the dead, except by concealing his discontent and outwardly deferring to him. Hamlet’s father also asked to pray for him yet Hamlet only seeks revenge due to his extreme anger of the changing in society and the new marriage just 6 months after the old King’s death.
I find it extremely odd when Hamlet says that he is ‘‘prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell’’, as if he is repressing the real source of his prompting. His father has asked him to seek revenge and called Claudius’s actions as ‘‘horrible’’, yet he asks his own son to imitate the same crime. Surely these obligations set by Hamlet’s father are also ‘‘horrible’’, and by asking Hamlet to commit the crime is very poor parenting on his part. He has put huge pressure on Hamlet and it could be a cause for his obvious hatred and debatable madness.
Polonius and Laertes are portrayed as opposites in character. As a reader I cannot conclude that a happy relationship exists between the two of them. Laertes is a good and trusting son, who obeys his father unconditionally. Polonius meanwhile, is a suspicious character that perceives his son as an alcoholic and a womaniser. Polonius’ distrust in his son is evident in Act 2, Scene 1, when he ordered his servant Reynaldo to spy on his son Laertes in France. He even went to the extent of making Reynaldo tell a lie by telling the Danes that Laertes has full of vices to affirm if Polonius’ suspicion is true. Laertes, a man who left in good faith that his father bids him well, is unknowingly ‘‘stabbed at his back’’ by his own father because of Polonius’ suspicious nature. Although Polonius hasn’t been a good example to his children, Laertes showed unconditional love for his father when he returned to Denmark to avenge his father’s death. In the end, both Hamlet and Laertes died, two men who sacrificed their lives to give justice to the death of their fathers. This shows the true feelings of Hamlet and Laertes, even though the obligations and responsibilities put on them by their fathers were so burdensome.
Shakespeare deliberately presents Claudius and the ghost in similar ways ‘‘o villain, villain, smiling damned villain!’’ this shows that Hamlet respects the ghost as his genuine father and that he doesn’t respect Claudius at all. Shakespeare has deliberately presented Hamlet with this threatening tone, as it emphasises his hatred and vengeance towards his uncle. Hamlet feels it is now his duty to avenge his uncle because he has sworn to his father. ‘‘I have sworn’t’’. This is similar to Laertes as he feels he has to revenge against Hamlet because Hamlet killed his father.
The relationship between Claudius and Hamlet and the ghost and Hamlet are parallel. They both avoid emphasising genuine father and son relationships, either it’s Hamlet rejecting Claudius as a father, or the ghost using Hamlet purely for revenge. This is compared with the father-son relationship between Polonius and Laertes as it is also genuine. In act 1, scene 3 Polonius bids farewell to his son as a typical father would. This relationship is presented as typical in that era as it deliberately contrasts with Hamlets relationship with Claudius. Polonius gives Laertes good, moral advice that a father would give to a son, ‘‘beware of entrance to a quarrel’’.
Fortinbras is a perfect parallel of Hamlet. He was also very crucial to the play’s ending and to bring a remedy to the corruption that has plagued Denmark. Fortinbras father, King of Norway, was killed during battle for control of “a little patch of ground”. Fortinbras’ uncle claims the throne of Norway just as Hamlet’s uncle takes the throne at Denmark. The deaths of old Hamlet and old Fortinbras directly link the common destiny of Fortinbras to that of Hamlet, to avenge the death of his father. It is because of this that the two young soldiers can be compared to each other. Fortinbras’ taking action after his reasoning is contrasting to Hamlet’s continual lackadaisical steps towards revenge.
Fortinbras would have avenged his fathers death had Old Hamlet not been poisoned fatally by his brother and Denmark’s new King Claudius. It is difficult therefore to talk about Fortinbras and old Fortinbras regarding responsibilities and obligations because of the extremely small part they play in Hamlet. Despite this, there is still an example of responsibilities and obligations placed on sons by fathers. Fortinbras did his father proud when in the concluding part of the play he receives Denmark as a gift from the dying Hamlet. Fortinbras had originally sought revenge on Denmark for his father’s death so it can therefore be presumed he either had a strong relationship with his father or he had great respect for him. It seems in Shakespeare’s time respect for parent’s was massive, especially in the father-son relationships. This is evident in all of the father-son relationships in Hamlet. Other than that of King Claudius and Hamlet for obvious reasons.
Word count: 1436
