Hamlet: Moral Order :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

hamlet Moral Order          In Shakespeares crossroads, a very pass moral order is established asthe protagonist, Hamlet, completes his journey through the phases which specialise a Shakespearean tragedy.  The play begins with Hamlet encounteringhis fathers ghost, at which point he learns his father had in f fiddle been off by his own brother, Claudius.  It is Hamlets give care to avenge hisfather that causes all other moral dilemmas in the play, and this is whatdefines the plays crabby moral order  As the play progresses, thegravity and seriousness of Claudius sins lessen, and Hamlets grow,although neer reaching the moral plateau on which Claudius rests.  In thebeginning of the play, Hamlet is morally in the right, always takingprecautions to ensure this stay so.  Claudius, on the other hand, notonly murders Hamlets father, but then plots to do away with Hamlet as soonas he feels threatened.  As the play progresses, Hamlet continuesattempting to right the original wrong, but only succeeds at the finish,with Claudius death. Hamlets words in Act III, Scene IV -- thus naughtybegins, and worse remains behind illustrate the moral order swell theactions against him were wrong, but, to a lesser extent, so was his revenge.          Near the start of the play, The Ghost tells Hamlet of the nuisancecommitted by Claudius.  When Hamlet finds kayoed his father was murdered byhis own brother, who then stole his wife and crown, he immediately commitshimself to avenging the murder Haste me to knowt, that I, with wings asswift/As meditation or the thoughts of love/May sweep to my revenge.  Atthis point, Hamlet is on the whole justified in his feelings, and most wouldagree that his revenge is morally right.  Although the act of murder itselfis wrong, an eye for an eye almost wholly justifies it.  The gravity ofClaudius crime grows when one considers that all the deaths throughout theplay would not have keep an eye on if it were not the murder.  The crime itself is,in a sense, worse because of the circumstances not a simple murder, butthe murder of ones brother wholly for individualized gain, his crown and queen.It is this which balances out any morally wrong actions Hamlet whitethorn take.         Hamlet, on the other hand, begins the play as a very keen-witted andintelligent man.  Although it is shown he can be impulsive and rash, hisrationality wins out - at least in the beginning of the play.  When seeinghis fathers ghost, he in spades accepts all he hears as truth, butdoesnt act on it until he can verify it in some way.