The only loyal friend Hamlet has is Horatio, and this relationship is one of the only examples of true friendship and loyalty in the entire play. Everyone else, including Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Claudius, and Gertrude, are not loyal to Hamlet.
He knows enough to value what ignorance he has that can protect him from political ruin, but neither ambition nor deceit determines his loyalties. Horatio loves Hamlet so much that he would rather impale himself on his own sword than live on after Hamlet's death.
' Despite his negative treatment of her, Ophelia defends Hamlet and loves him.
Horatio is the one person Hamlet can truly rely upon in the play; he is also one of the few characters who survive until the end.
Claudius is the primary antagonist in Hamlet. He thwarts Hamlet by killing his father. And when he usurps the Danish throne, Claudius denies Hamlet the future that rightfully belongs to him.
They all have a claim to the title; however, the correct answer is Hamlet. Hamlet not only behaves villainously throughout his eponymous play, but has somehow persuaded generations of audiences and critics that he is actually its hero. That is what takes his villainy to the next level.
Laertes' love for Ophelia and duty to Polonius drive him to passionate action, while Hamlet's love for Gertrude and duty to King Hamlet drive him to passionate inaction.
Laertes voices his concern of Hamlet's true intentions towards Ophelia and advises her to be wary of Hamlet's love. Laertes impresses upon Ophelia that Hamlet is a prince who, most likely, will have an arranged marriage. Hamlet's strong love for Ophelia withers after she rejects his affinity.
Upon hearing of his father's death, Laertes, Polonius's son, begins to seek revenge for his father's killer. As the play unfolds, Hamlet and Laertes stay true to their desires of seeking revenge. They are both loyal to their fathers even upon their deaths.
As a character, Horatio is presented to us as utterly dependable, well educated, stoical, dispassionate and devout. Of all the major characters, he alone remains uncontaminated by the corruption in Elsinore, and Hamlet's election of him as the person to tell his story is thoroughly appropriate.
Hamlet is Shakespeare's absolute hero. He is heroic even in the Greek sense: he is larger than life. Though "Something [was] rotten in the state of Denmark" (I, iv, 90) at the beginning of the play, all that rottenness is dead at the end-and Hamlet's story remains.
Polonius was loyal and faithful to King Hamlet, Gertrude, and Hamlet. Polonius was King Hamlet's loyal advisor yet, he jumped bandwagons whenever he saw there was something he could gain. However, his loyalty to the King and Prince Hamlet was restricted.
Horatio is not only an honest, but a loyal friend, and the secret of Hamlet's father's ghost is the first of many secrets that Horatio will keep for Hamlet.
The thanes are loyal to Duncan because he's been a "great" king. Macbeth gives Duncan "service and loyalty" by fighting for him in act 1.
Banquo is in many ways Macbeth's opposite. He is kind and caring, loyal and trustworthy. Like Macbeth he fights bravely for King Duncan but does not involve himself with the murder plot.
Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia because he has transferred his anger at Gertrude's marriage to Claudius onto Ophelia. In fact, Hamlet's words suggest that he transfers his rage and disgust for his mother onto all women. He says to Ophelia, “God has given you one face and you make yourselves another.
Laertes must have been clued in to Ophelia's pregnancy. Polonius inadvertently admits to such a claim. Polonius's knowledge is revealed when Hamlet discloses that he knows Ophelia, his lady love might be pregnant. Check out the words that Hamlet uses when he confronts Polonious.
While she lives in the same patriarchal society that demands that she subjugate herself to her father and her brother until she is married, Ophelia has fallen in love with Prince Hamlet. There is strong evidence that she has even had sexual relations with him.
Hamlet betrays Ophelia by refusing his love for her and being the cause of her madness with words such as “I loved you not” (III. I. 119) and “get thee to a nunnery” (III.
Background: Ophelia's syndrome is the association of Hodgkin's Lymphoma and memory loss, coined by Dr. Carr in 1982, while it's most remembered for the eponym in reminiscence of Shakespeare's character, Dr.
Ophelia is Polonius' daughter and Laertes' sister. Hamlet has been in love with her for a while before the play starts and has given her several gifts during their courtship until her father warns her away from him and tells her not to see him anymore.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet explores themes of betrayal and revenge. Hamlet seeks to avenge his father's death by killing Claudius. While Claudius is the traitor, Hamlet's anger focuses on Gertrude. He is disturbed by Gertrude's remarriage even before he meets the Ghost and learns about Claudius's betrayal.
King Claudius, as seen in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, is both intelligent and well-spoken, two traits that, put together, complement his manipulative and dangerous nature. In fact though, it is his conscience that makes Claudius such a complex villain.
2) Claudius deceives Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about Hamlet's voyage to England, telling them that the lunatic Hamlet must leave Denmark in the interest of public safety.