Hero Hamlet And His Jumbling Journey - 1527 Words

Demetre Tsirigotis Mrs. Thompson English IV Honors 3rd 26 February 2015 Hero Hamlet and his Jumbling Journey In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Prince Hamlet takes on the typical Archetypal hero s journey but throughout its course he causes the death of multiple characters. Hamlet receives supernatural aid from his deceased father, answers but chooses to delay his call to action, suffers in the belly of the whale, and leaves behind a legacy of truth and justice to restore peace to the kingdom of Denmark. Prince Hamlet arrives home from college only to learn that his father, King Hamlet, had died from an apparent serpent s sting and that the king s brother Claudius ascends to the Danish throne by marrying Queen Gertrude, Hamlet s mother. Upon learning this information, Hamlet decides to take matters into his own hands and begins his journey as an archetypal hero. In Act I, Scene i of the play, a supernatural being assuming the shape of the late king is seen by Marcellus, Bernardo and Horatio. They tell Hamlet of their peculiar sighting and in Act I, scene iv of the play the ghost reappears to Hamlet and reveals Claudius s sinful secret. Claudius heinously murders his own brother by pouring a poisonous liquid into the king s ear during his nap in the orchard. This toxin curdles the blood of the king causing a short but painful death. This information sets vengeance in the mind of Hamlet to murder his uncle and bestow tranquility among his family.