Amy Cardona

Mrs. Hohl
Literature in Modern Media
21 December 2014

Hamlet

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the characters are in need of power;
however, their actions of their power can lead to certain situations. Throughout the play, Hamlet
uses his power for madness to avenge his fathers death. Claudius on the other hand, takes the
throne by killing Old Hamlet. As for Ophelia she believes the only power she has is taking her
own life away. The play starts when Hamlets father has died and the instant remarriage of his
mother with his uncle, Claudius. Although the emotions of a united commitment balances the
loss of a loved one, suspicious assumptions roam through the mind of everyone.

Hamlet uses his power as madness to cover up his actions to get his revenge on Claudius.
Hamlet first found out about his fathers murder by a ghost, claiming to be his fathers spirit. The
ghost came to Hamlet to avenge his death, a foul and most unnatural murder(I.v.25). Hamlet
was astonished by what the ghost has revealed to him, that his father was murdered. The ghost
then tells him ...sleeping in my garden, a snake bit me: so everyone in Denmark is vilely misled

by a lying account of my death. Know this noble youth: the serpent that stung your fathers life
away now wears his crown(I.v.40-45)! The ghost urges Hamlet to take action right away
because Claudius has corrupted Denmark and Gertrude. One thing the ghost ask for Hamlet is to
leave [Gertrude] to heaven and to the stings of her own conscience(I.v.91-93). Before the ghost
disappeared at dawn, Hamlet swears to obey the ghost. When Horatio and Marcellus approach
Hamlet, he tells them to swear upon his sword to not reveal what they have seen. Hamlet also
tells them that hes going to pretend to be a madman, and makes them swear not give anyone
what his motives are. Before Hamlet makes his move on Claudius, he first sets a trap for him.
Hamlet has heard that guilty people who attend plays are affected by the performance. Hamlet
hopes with a play, Claudius may confess his own crime.Ill get these actors to perform
something that resembles the murder of my father, with my uncle present(II.ii.583-585). While
the play is being performed, Hamlet will be observing Claudius the entire time. If he reacts any
sort of way, hell immediately know that Claudius is guilty. Although Hamlets used his madness
to cover up his lies, no one expected what his motives were until Claudius figured it himself
when he say the play.
Claudius gets the throne by killing Old Hamlet, having all the power he always hope for.
He hopes by marrying Gertrude, he can obtain a greater amount of power than he already has.
However, once he saw Hamlets play, he realized that Hamlet had found out his secret. A secret,
that one day can ruin him and his precious power that he always valued. Immediately he
demanded Turn on the lights. Lets go(III.ii.260)! After Hamlets play, Claudius tells
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Ill issue your commission at once, and he must go to England
with you. As King, I cant tolerate the dangers that his threatening looks increasingly
imply(III.iii.5-7). Claudius makes a complete lie by using Hamlets madness as an excuse to

send him away. In reality he wanted the King of England to execute him before he reveals his
secret to everyone. However, when Claudius receives a letter from Hamlet saying Your high
and mighty Majesty, This is to tell you that I am back in your kingdom, stripped of all my
belongings. Tomorrow I beg leave to appear before you(IV.vii.45-47). When Laertes hears
Hamlet's return he is pleased, because he's going to get his revenge on him. The devious king
agrees with Laertes strongly, that he deserves to be punished and he encourages Laertes to kill
Hamlet. Claudius starts playing mind tricks with Laertes by saying that Hamlet has been jealous
in the past of Laertes prowess with a sword. Then Claudius comes up with a plan that Laertes
will challenge him to a dual. Laertes says Ill do it. And for that propose Ill put poison on my
sword to kill Hamlet in battle(IV.iviii.154-155). So, as Claudius gains more and more of his
power, he only abuses his power when he feels threaten by Hamlet.
Ophelia had no control of her life whatsoever, but one thing she did have was the power
to take her own life away. When Ophelia tells her father that shes been seeing Hamlet, hes not
to happy about it. Polonius tells her in plain words, from now on I dont want you to misuses
your leisure time by talking to the Lord Hamlet. Those are my orders: do as I say(I.iii.137141).Without any consent, innocent Ophelia obeyed her father. Ophelia is also hurt and
mistreated by Hamlet, when Polonius had set a trap to see if his love for Ophelia was causing his
madness, which was not. As a result, Ophelia obeyed her fathers orders as always. When
Ophelia approaches Hamlet she wishes him to have the love of affection for her again. Hamlet
denies that he never loved her, showed her affection, nor did he say she was beautiful. He urges
Ophelia to become a nun rather than becoming a breeder of sinners(III.i.130-131). Ophelia
was hurt by his words,and she was done with her life. She was tired of everyone who bossed her
around and who didnt give her enough respect as a woman. She decided to express her madness

by singing while handing out flowers. Each flower had a meaning. Rosemary symbolizes
remembrance. Pansies are for thoughts. Fennel for unfaithfulness. Daisy symbolizing unrequited
love. Violets for faithfulness. Showing everyone that she wasnt this unintellegent young lady
that everyone though, but reality who knew what was going around everyones life. Her last
words were and on all Christian souls. May God be with you before she committed
suicide(IV.v.212). Ophelia drowned, when she was playing in the branches of a willow by the
water when she fell in. When she fell in, Ophelia seemed ignorant of danger and went to her
death slowly while singing songs. Ophelia believed taking her own life away was the only power
she had.
Throughout the play, the characters actions lead to their own consequences by not making
the right decisions with their power. In order to hide his avenge for Claudius, Hamlet uses
madness as his cover up. But one thing Hamlet doesn't think of is how its affecting the people
around him. Claudius had always cherished power but wanted to gain more by killing Old
Hamlet and taking the throne. One thing he never thought in a million years was protecting his
powers from his nephew. Although Ophelia wanted to prove not only to yourself but to everyone,
that she had some power of herself by making the decision to take her own life away. In the end,
powers were expressed differently by the individual characters in the play.

Work Cited
Shakespeare, William, and Alan Durband. Hamlet. Woodbury, NY: Barron's, 1986. Print.