Loyalty And Jealousy In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Throughout the story of Hamlet, competition drives a majority of the actions and behaviours exhibited by the characters. Individuals driven by their own wants end up creating tragedy and destruction. However, these desires are focused on the possessions of other people, and the selfishness drives them to act only in their own favor due to the bitterness they harbor toward another for harboring custody of that which they crave. Because of the bitterness and jealousy which motivates the characters’ actions throughout the play, envy is the cardinal sin which ends up being responsible for the tragedy that occurs in the story of Hamlet. The first example of envy which we will examine is Claudius’ desire for the life led by King Hamlet. Claudius was so desperate for the power that King Hamlet held, that he committed an unbelievable sin to obtain it. His jealousy was so strong that this good christian boy went against everything he knew so that he could be the king instead and so he could sleep with the beautiful queen. This is one of the most obvious cases of envy in Hamlet. In Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 5, the ghost of King Hamlet says,

In Act 4 Scene 4, he says, “while, to my shame, I see the imminent death of twenty thousand men, that, for a fantasy and trick of fame, go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot whereon the numbers cannot try the cause”. He is jealous of Fortinbras’ ability to inspire thousands of men to lay down their lives in battle, while he cannot even motivate himself to exact revenge on his uncle for his father’s murder. He wishes he could find the courage to do what he’s been asked to. He desires the charisma and motivation that Fortinbras has. This feeling motivates Hamlet to take more action and stop procrastinating what he needs to do. This envy of Fortinbras causes Hamlet to become more determined to kill his uncle and it encourages his