Free Hamlet Essays: Opportunity Missed :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Hamlet’s Excellent Opportunity Missed  Ã‚   Futures are not as malleable as most people would hope.   Hamlet’s hubris is not that of his inability to act but unfortunate circumstances that prevent him from doing the job and getting away alive. The first of which occurred when Hamlet chose not to kill Claudius because Claudius was praying at the time. This was unfortunate timing on Hamlet’s part. Next, Hamlet inadvertently killed Polonius thinking that he is Claudius. Finally, Hamlet does kill the king, but it was already too late. Usually circumstances allow for a hero to overcome all obstacles and defeat the enemy. In Hamlet, the circumstances oppose the hero from his goal. Hamlet encounters a dilemma when an excellent opportunity to avenge his late father offers itself. He finds Claudius knelt down and has the appearance to be praying; however he is not praying. Observing this, he restrains his murderous intentions because he believes Claudius is absolving his sins. Hamlet: A took my father grossly, full of bread, with all his crimes broad blown, /†¦But in our circumstance and course of thought, ‘tis heavy with him, and am I then revenged, to take him in the purging of his soul, When he is fit and seasoned to take passage? No. (III, iii 80-87) Hamlet could have killed the king but the circumstances did not make it feasible. Claudius had killed Hamlet’s father while Old Hamlet was still carrying his sin; thus Hamlet did not want to send the man who had sent his father into purgatory, to heaven. Ghost: Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. †¦/ The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown. (I, v, 25, 38-39) Hamlet is provided with another chance to kill Claudius when Hamlet catches him spying behind the arras. Hamlet thinks he cathcs Claudius in a sinful act of spying so he kills him; however, it is not Claudius behind the arras but Polonius. Hamlet- " How Now? a rat? Dead for ducat, dead! Polonius- "O, I am slain?" Hamlet- "Is it the king?" (Sees Polonius) "I took the for they better." (III, iv, 25-33) Hamlet was again foiled, but this time because the right people were not in the right place. Finally, favorable geometry comes together and Hamlet does kill Claudius; however, at this point his death is imminent.