Blog Five For the Love of a Father

Hamlet is very disturbed and upset when he came to know about the death of his father. He is filled with grief and is overwhelmed with feelings of anger for his mother and his uncle. His anger is felt even more when his mother remarries only a short time after the King’s death. It seems to Hamlet that his mother never mourned her late husband’s death and didn’t care about him. Hamlet’s mother remarries Claudius, and Hamlet feels that this is a sign of disrespect to his father and fills him with rage. His mother’s statement greatly troubles Hamlet, “Good Hamlet cast thy knighted colour off” (1.2.68). His mother is trying to urge Hamlet to move on from the tragic events and no longer mourn the death of his father. When Hamlet speaks with the ghost it further fuels his desire for revenge. The ghost explains to him “I am thy father’s spirit doomed for certain term to walk the night and for the day confined to fast in fires” (1.5.10). The ghost of Hamlet’s father is destined to suffer, and this fills Hamlet with rage and sadness. The ghost also urges Hamlet to “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1.5.25) It is at this moment that it is revealed to Hamlet that his father was murdered. The ghost also reveals to Hamlet who his killer is “Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole with juice of cursed hebona in a vial, and in the porches of my ears did pour.” The ghost has revealed to Hamlet that it is his uncle Claudius who is responsible for the death of his father. Hamlet already disapproves of his mother and uncle’s incestuous marriage, and now that he realizes that his uncle is at fault for the death of his father he is determined to seek revenge.