James Bantugan

Mrs. Bradley

AP English 12

27 February 2017

Hamlet Climax Essay

In every great work by William Shakespeare, a conflict is presented to the protagonist in

Act I which is supposed to be resolved in Act III. In Act I of the story of Hamlet, Prince Hamlet

discovers the death of his father, his uncles hasty claim to the throne and his mothers marriage

with the new king in just two months. The initial perceived conflict may have been that Hamlet

was cheated of his deserved coronation following his fathers death. However, at the end of the

act, Hamlet meets a ghost that claims to be the spirit of his deceased father commanding him to

avenge his death by killing Claudius. With this information, the main conflict is presented to

Hamlet which is when, and how he should kill his uncle in order to avenge his father. Bearing the

anxiety of experiencing such unprecedented events in his life, Hamlet was indecisive of his next

few actions which is apparent in the next two acts. Following the events after Act I, Hamlet

resolves his conflict in Act III when he discovers that Claudius truly is the murderer of King

Hamlet and will take the chance to have his revenge when the time is right.

In Act I, Hamlet returns from college to discover the tragic events that happened to his

family. His father was mysteriously murdered without any trace of the murderer, his uncle

became king a few days after the death and his mother married Claudius and participated in

immoral and incestuous discourse. To Hamlet, these suspicious events logically placed Claudius

behind his fathers death which gave him the urge to avenge his father. Furthermore, his

assumptions were verified by his conversation with the ghost. Thus was I, sleeping, by a
brothers hand of life, of crown, of queen and once dispatched, cut off, even in the blossoms of

my sin (I, v, 81-83). As a result of this encounter, Hamlet was presented the conflict of when

and how he should kill his uncle when the ghost mandated him to Let not the royal bed of

Denmark be A couch for luxury and damnd incest (I, v, 89-90). Hamlet knows that the death of

the newly coronated king might bring instability to the country and a poor reputation for being a

murderer. However, he desperately wants revenge for his fathers unjust and painful death.

In Act III, Hamlet resolves his conflict that was presented in Act I. Following the events

of Scene ii which contained the play within a play, Hamlet finally confirmed his suspicion that

his uncle was his fathers killer. In Scene iii as Hamlet was walking to speak with his mother, he

witnesses Claudius alone and praying. Seeing that he had the perfect opportunity to murder the

king, he refrained from doing so because he wanted a revenge that would damn Claudius soul to

Hell. In a soliloquy, Hamlet resolves the conflict by having the determination to murder the king

When he is drunk asleep, or in rage, or in the incestuous please of his bed, at game, a-swearing,

or about some act that has no relish of salvation int then trip him, that his heels may kick at

heaven, and that his soul may be damned and black as hell (III, iv, 94-100). After making his

own resolution, Hamlet would take any possible opportunity to kill the king at the best

convenient moment. This is evident in the closet scene in which Hamlet carelessly murdered

Polonius assuming him to be the king.

After Act III, the consequences of the climax began to influence the progression of the

story in Act IV. After Hamlet openly demonstrated his determination to murder the king,

Claudius viewed him as a serious threat to his life. Since the Danish people and the military

supported Hamlet, there was the possibility that his rule could be threatened by a coup. A perfect

example of this is in Scene v where a mob barged into the castle, somehow bypassing the Danish
guards, and demanded Laertes to be the new king. Claudius couldnt even trust the Danish troops

sworn to protect him so he had to hire Swiss mercenaries to be his new loyal bodyguards. In

order to preserve his sovereignty, Claudius ordered Hamlet to go to England to be secretly

executed by the English when he would arrive.

Throughout the play, Hamlets main objective was to kill Claudius for the murder of King

Hamlet and the marriage with Gertrude. In the beginning act, Hamlet was indecisive about the

perfect moment in which to kill the King. Later in Act III, he resolves his conflicted thoughts by

planning to murder Claudius when he was sinning so that he would go to Hell in order to have, in

Hamlets mind, a just revenge. In Act IV, the effects of Hamlets decision influenced the actions

of Claudius to plot Hamlets assassination in order to protect his reign.