Passion And Responsibility In Shakespeare's Hamlet

A recurring theme in Hamlet by William Shakespeare is the classic war between a passion and a responsibility. In Hamlet’s case, his passion is his desire to avenge his father’s death. His responsibility, which he seems to almost ignore and forget, is to be a Christian man and not sin. These are seen to combat each other throughout the work, with Hamlet’s thoughts restricting him from completing the act of avenging his father, which went hand in hand with him being Christian and not wanting to sin. The conflict for Hamlet is whether or not to carry out this vendetta, which is what causes the tragedy.

Throughout the duration of Hamlet, he is seen making plans to get his revenge on his uncle, who murdered Hamlet’s father. The idea of revenge poisons Hamlet and while he says he is only pretending to be mad, it appears that he

His father was sent to Hell because he did not get a chance to repent his sins. Hamlet believes religion has an influence on what happens to people, and where they end up. Claudius is shown to be religious, yet he commits these sins, such as killing Hamlet’s father, then getting married to Gertrude. Hamlet is religious as well, but is not exactly a good Christian, becasue he desires revenge against Claudius, and later murders both Claudius and Laretes, damning his soul to Hell. Hamlet’s desire for revenge created a conflict for not only himself, but those around him. This clouded his judgement as well as his responsibilities, which led to a tragic ending, because everyone died. The conflicts he created for others included: Claudius becoming suspicious of Hamlet and enlisting the help of Guildenstern, Rosencrantz, as well as Polonius to spy on Hamlet, Gertrude was worried for him since he was acting mad, Ophelia went mad since Hamlet kill her father, and Laertes was fueled with rage for the same reason Ophelia went