Free Hamlet Essays: Father and Son in Hamlet :: The Tragedy of Hamlet Essays

Father and Son in Hamlet   Although they may exhi sting both(prenominal) similar traits, all fathers and sons are individuals. They are, or will become, their own man. This development is based on life experience, which is never the same for any two people. In the case of King and Prince Hamlet, this also holds true.   King Hamlet must have been a good father for his son to be so devoted and unwavering to him. It almost seems that the Prince made an idol of his father. In Prince Hamlets first soliloquy he described his father as an excellent king, a god-like figure and a lovely husband. It is strange that the Prince did not convey information about being a loving father. It is left for us to infer that t present must have been a special bond between father and son for the Prince to be so willing to carry out retribution against his fathers murderer. Hamlet describes his father in this right smart   See, what a grace was seated on his brow/ Hyperions curls, the fron t of Jove himself,/ An eye like Mars, to threaten or command/ A station like the announce Mercury (Act III,scene IV,55-59)   Prince Hamlet feels a great obligation to carry out the direction of the ghost of his father to avenge his fathers death. Here we see a bit of his conflict. Since there doesnt seem to be much description of interaction of King and Prince, it is left to us to decide if Hamlet loved his father or he has agreed to avenge the death of his father due to a sense of filial duty.   After the Prince has killed Polonius, the spirit of King Hamlet re progresss for the 2nd time to the Prince when he is condemning his mother for her misdeeds. It almost seems like the ghost is acting just like most fathers. He seems to be prodding a too boring child. The ghost reminds Hamlet that he has promised to get revenge for the Kings death.   Prince Hamlet does seem to feel conflict in carrying out the charge. When and how to act and how fast are questions that appea r in his mind. What was Prince Hamlet like? In Act III scene 1 (158-162) Ophelia describes him, before his fathers death, as an accomplished man.   O, what a noble mind is here oerthrown/ The courtiers, soldiers scholars eye, tongue, sword/ The expectancy and rose of the fair state,/ The glass of fashion and the mold of form,/ The observd of all observers, quite, quite down