Free Hamlet Essays: Teaching Deception and Selfishness in Hamlet :: GCSE Coursework Shakespeare Hamlet

Teaching Deception and Selfishness in village The Tragedy of Hamlet, by William Shakespe are, illustrates the rebellion ofnot only a family but a society. In a play riddled with greed, manipulation and dish wholenesssty,the end result is the demise of whole the main characters. ?It is clear that the theme ofvengeance is merely a fomite used by Shakespeare in order to articulate...themes centralto humanity relationships betwixt father and son, mother and son, and Hamlet and hisfriends...youth and age? (Introduction to Hamlet). The children are not at fault for theirparents? mistakes. Since youth learn often through observation of the adults just about them,society today is hyper-aware of the ?example? that it sets for the future generation inDenmark during Hamlet?s time period, there was little consideration for the moral grammatical construction of the future leaders of the country. Through the conceit of the adults in Hamlet,there are moral repercussions for themselves and the youth of Elsinore, who are unable tobear the burden of the adults? mistakes.The adults at the forefront of the play are Claudius, Hamlet?s uncle/stepfatherGertrude, his mother and Claudius? tender wife and Polonius, counsel to the fairy and fatherof Ophelia and Laertes. Claudius is smug at the outpouring of the play because he appears to have gotten awaywith killing King Hamlet, Gertrude?s late husband and Hamlet?s father, in order to find oneself the King?s title and woo Gertrude. He has committed egoistic and murderous actsthat, in the belief of the time, would damn his soul. In fact, in one soliloquy in Act III,scene III, he admits to himself that he feels no remorse for what he has done, saying, ?But,O, what form of prayer can serve my turn...I am still possessed of those effects for which Idid the murder _ my cr sustain, mine own ambition, and my queen? (lines 54-58). Thedeception that Claudius has commited puts the responsibility of avenging his father?s deathon young Ha mlet, something that he proves unable to accomplish until the very end of theplay, disrespect several attempts to muster the courage. Claudius also turns Hamlet?s ownfriends against him by attempting to utilize Guildenstern and Rosencrantz as spies. Polonius, counsel to the King, is a manipulative character design on winning theKing?s approval. His solutions to the problems surrounding the royal family assume spyingand lying as means to achieve an end. This is evident in Act III, scene I, lines 49-51, whenPolonius instructs Ophelia on how to behave while he and the King are spying on Hamlet.