A Rhetorical Analysis Essay On Hamlet

Words: 515
Pages: 3

In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” the character Hamlet is driven and controlled by his desire for revenge. Hamlet’s intense want to avenge Claudius comes from his reaction to the death of his father. When Hamlet is faced with death, he is more upset about what happened than what comes next, which ignites his uncontrollable desire for revenge. Revenge is extremely dangerous, and even the smartest characters, like Hamlet, let it deceive them.
In “Hamlet,” we don’t see Hamlet's relationship with his father since he has already died when the play begins. This makes it difficult to tell if they were close, however it is assumed that they had a good relationship considering the way Hamlet is constantly grieving over his death while no one else is. Shakespeare rhetorically asks his audience
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Hamlet’s first signs of bitterness appear in Act 1 Scene 2 when Claudius refers to Hamlet as his cousin and son. Hamlet responds with, “A little more than kin, and less than kind,” complaining about there being too many family ties in Claudius’s address. His resentment towards Claudius grows, he agonizes over his disgust towards his mother and Claudius’s incestuous marriage. Hamlet refers to Claudius as “No more like my father than I to Hercules (Act 1, Scene 2),” using Ad Hominem to attack Claudius's character, saying that he is half the man his father was. As more time passes, Hamlet's suspicion and hatred towards Claudius grows. During Hamlet's soliloquy in Act 2, he creates a master plan to make a play mimicking his father's murder to watch Claudius’s reaction. Most people would find this a painful and strange thing to do after your father is murdered, however the response he seeks from Claudius is much more important than his sanity. Hamlet needs clarity from Claudius’ reaction, to justify his revenge, “the play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king,” (Act 2, Scene