There are many examples of betrayal in the play Hamlet, and in these examples betrayal leads to the destruction of relationships. Claudius is the king of Denmark and he will do anything to stay that way. His wife Gertrude loves her son Hamlet and Claudius knows that, in order to stay king he must please Gertrude, therefore he pretends to love Hamlet in front of Gertrude but behind her back, he plots to murder Hamlet. “I will work him to an exploit, now ripe in my device, under the which he shall not chose but fall. And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe”1. Claudius betrays Gertrude’s trust at that moment because Gertrude believes that Claudius loves Hamlet, when in fact, he despises him and wishes death upon him. Claudius is not the only character that betrays, in the play Hamlet. Hamlets makes Ophelia believe that he loves her for a long time, until one day he tells her things that break her heart. Because Hamlet suspects that someone is listening to his conversation with Ophelia, he acts like a mad man and says cruel things to Ophelia. “Virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not.”(III, i, 118-120) All the promises he had made to her before that day are now broken; he has betrayed her trust. Hamlet and Claudius betrayed someone that they where supposed to love. Because of this betrayal, the relationships they had ended in a sad tragedy. From Hamlet days to nowadays, betrayal is a big part of life and it goes on all around us. Betrayal is constantly breaking up relationships, between friends and lovers. Whether it is cheating, lying or even talking behind their back, these things will never change. It happened in the 1400’s and hasn’t changed a bit since then. Betrayal is like a sin and is a big part of human civilization, although betrayal hurts people in many ways, we continue to betray the people that we are closest to. If it’s been happening for this long, who’s to stay betrayal is ever going to come to an end.
Although trust is a major part of a relationship, selfishness is an even more important part of a relationship, particularly in the case of Hamlet. Claudius and Hamlet are both very selfish men. Claudius wants to be the king of Denmark and he does not care about anything else, not even Gertrude. Claudius killed Gertrude’s husband because he wanted to merry Gertrude and have the throne for himself. “Anon comes in a fellow, takes off his crown, kisses it, and pours poison in the King’s ears, and exit.” (III, ii, 126). Hamlet is also a very selfish man. He has a great hatred for Claudius and the only thing he thinks about is killing Claudius to get revenge for the murder of his father. “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge.” (I, v, 29-31). Because the only thing on Hamlet’s mind is the murder of Claudius, he does not consider Ophelia’s feelings and treats her very poorly. Selfishness plays a key factor from the 1400’s to the 2000’s. Selfishness hasn’t changed a bit. There are many people like Hamlet and Claudius among us, who put themselves in front of everybody else in the world, thinking that they are the top priority. When it comes to good friends or even relationships, some people will always be selfish and put themselves on top. If their not getting what they need out of the relationship, then they will turn and go somewhere else to fit their needs. Although they might ask too much of someone like in Hamlets case. They won’t realize what they have lost until it’s too late and they’ve got nothing.
Although relationships, betrayal and selfishness aren’t the only themes in Hamlet, they play important roles. These are three big issues that surround Hamlet and the rest of human civilization. As the saying goes, some things never change. Just because it happened in the 1400’s, doesn’t mean that they can’t still happen and human civilization have proven that theory by being as corrupt as they are and not taking people’s feelings into consideration. As long as humans dominate the world, these corrupt qualities will still go on and as much as we hate to admit it, many of us are guilty of these negative traits.