The Foils of Hamlet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Foils of Hamlet - Essay Example He has every reason to be mad, since the new King Claudius and now husband to Queen Gertrude happens to be his own brother. The new King Claudius has issues too: He has to contend with a potential war from Norway’s Prince Fortinbras and his nephew and new stepson is being a little bit of nuisance, mostly because he cannot get the fact over that his mother (Gertrude) could not wait even for the dust to settle before marrying the new King. Hamlet’s bud Horatio informs him about the ghost and thus arranges a meeting. The ghost spills it all; that it is his late father’s spirit, proving that it is Claudius who murdered his father by pouring poison in his ear while Hamlet Senior was sleeping in his garden and then orders his son to take revenge. The show is now on and Hamlet’s master plan involves acting like a madman or a clown and the next time we catch a glimpse of Prince Hamlet, his girlfriend, Ophelia claims that he has gone nuts. Polonius notifies the Kin g of this new development and they decide to spy on the youngsters to ascertain if indeed Ophelia is the source of Hamlet’s â€Å"craziness†. At the same time a reprieve comes from Danish ambassadors from Norway with the news that there isn’t going to be any war, after all. ... This is a plan of Hamlet to watch Claudius’s reaction to ascertain if really the ghost is telling the truth. Hamlet’s plan is rolling out very well and he delivers the big â€Å"to be or not to be† speech about suicide. Instead he gets all creepy and gross with Ophelia before watching Claudius get up and shout that he is guilty. Hamlet plots to murder him, but then he doesn’t, he instead ends up accidentally killing Polonius who is his girlfriend’s (Ophelia’s) dad. Claudius gets angry with Hamlet and sends him off to England in front of his mother. However on the way, Hamlet sees Prince Fortinbras of Norway marching across the land to reclaim some lost territories. This inspires him to head back to Denmark to murder his uncle Claudius. Back in Denmark and in the castle, Ophelia has cracked and her brother Laertes is meanwhile very bitter with Hamlet for killing their dad and the current state of his sister. So Claudius persuades him to stage a friendly duel and kill Hamlet by using a sharpened rather than a blunt sword, with of course some poison as backup. Before we realize it, Ophelia is dead, most probably by suicide which means that she doesn’t even get a decent send off. Big scene is created between Hamlet and Laertes when Hamlet randomly stumbles upon this burial and the Hamlet gets Horatio to hasten up on his return: on the boat to England, Hamlet however opened the letter that his companions Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were carrying and found the plot to have him killed. Obviously, Hamlet changed the letter to say â€Å"Please kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, thanks,† and escaped on a pirated ship back to his Kingdom. On the last scene, as Hamlet engage