Sunday, January 9, 2011

Death and more Death in Hamlet

Throughout the entirety of Hamlet, the reader is constantly confronted with murder and death, both violently and by choice (Ophelia).  In my way of thinking, all of the further murders and deaths that occur beyond the initial killing of Hamlet's father is done as a sort of retribution for evil and ill-thinking.  Basically, Polonius dies because Hamlet aggressively seeks out the new King to kill, thus letting his evil thoughts run rampant in his mind and allowing an innocent to fall victim to fate's retribution.  Additionally, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are killed because of the evil plotting with the new King, which led them to betray Hamlet, their friend.  Lastly, Laertes dies from his own poisoned sword, after planning with the King to brutally slay Hamlet in a supposed friendly match... this is Karma's way of saying, Nope, all this evil is not getting off easy this time.  Thus, if you think in this manner, it becomes apparent that death repays death and evil.

Do you think that fate's retribution played a hand in the consecutive murders that followed Hamlet's father?  Are they all related to the new King's evil plotting and planning??