what do you think hamlet was like...?

Question

What do you think Hamlet was like before his father died?
How do you think Claudius treats Young Hamlet?
How do you think Fortinbras treats Young Hamlet?
What do you brought about Hamlet's downfall?

Answer 1

This is very interesting since I am teaching Hamlet to my students right now.

a) I believe that Hamlet had or assumed he had a stable life. No one would mourn for their father or feel so betrayed by their mother if the childhood was disruptive. You see the great connection between father and son when he and the ghost are talking and even leading into that considering how he pulls away from Horatio and Marcellus.

b) I believe Claudius treated him well enough but only so far as that until he got the throne. After the throne I believe Claudius (as seen in the play) grows in suspicion and jealousy throughout the play. Act 4 shows the audience that when Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are sent to England with Hamlet carrying a death warrent for the prince. 5. also shows that when the king and Laertes are plotting against Hamlet and making the duel. All these actions that Claudius takes are because he realized that Hamlet knew about his father's death and what caused it.

c) Since Fortinbras and Hamlet never meet the true feelings that would normally come to surface during such a meeting are simply not found here. Hence, the reader only sees a great respect and an almost sympathy since their lives, for all intents and pruposes were parallel.

d) A number of things can be listed as something that contributed to Hamlet's downfall but nothing stands out from the rest. If his mother had requested that he stay and not go back to Wittenburg none of this would have happened. If he had not met or talked to the ghost, if his friends did not spy, if Polonius had not been so gullible, if Fortinbras had shown up earlier, if Gertrude did not have such a sexual appetite. Any combination of these contributed but several others but no one things stands out. I would say maybe the question about going back to school. If he had gone, the play would not have happened.

Answer 2

I think Hamlet is like all of us.
Sarah

Answer 3

He was a wimp. He was treated like one by everyone who knew him (except by his best friend, Horatio), and he died the way he did because his attempts at avenging his Father's death came too little, too late.

Answer 4

Read it and do your own homework.