Family In Hamlet Essay

The Role of Family in Hamlet’s Success in Hamlet

Family plays an important role in one’s success. Hamlet by William Shakespeare investigates this idea. This play, published in 1603, tells the story of a prince -- whose father has recently passed away -- who endures several conflicts. Dysfunction that occurs within a family can implicate a character’s success, as explored in Hamlet. This is exhibited through several conflicts with various characters with different family ties. Hamlet’s success is directly impacted by the conflicts he has with Claudius and Laertes that all lead to moral corruption which ultimately leads to his downfall. Firstly, the conflict between Hamlet and his stepfather, Claudius, shows how their family is flawed causing

He is Hamlet’s love interest’s brother who implicates Hamlet’s success through conflict. Hamlet sparks the rivalry between the two families by killing some of the family members. By executing Laertes father and Polonius, this causes Polonius’ son, Laertes, to seek vengeance for his father. Consequently, Hamlet’s family goes against him and his love, Ophelia, kills herself. This demonstrates that family ties, even if not blood related, have serious impacts on Hamlet’s life which causes misery to overwhelm his life; this misery prohibits his success. During Ophelia’s funeral, the drama between Hamlet and Laertes magnifies which causes more hate between their families. Laertes provokes Hamlet into fighting him by Ophelia’s grave, with their families there to witness, by saying “[t]he devil take thy soul” (V, i, 243). Following this mishap, Laertes is informed by Claudius of a strategy to end Hamlet’s life in the near future. This immoral conflict being conducted in a place that already is commemorating death displays that they are inclined to cause more people to die. This plot to kill Hamlet is not beneficial to Hamlet’s success and only weakens his personal plot to kill Claudius. Then, Laertes chooses to become a participant in the killing of Hamlet. As aforementioned, this plan for death is a success, but causes many other deaths along with Hamlet to fail.