Avenging your loved one

[franicaza95]

We've all heard of people say that spirits come back when they have unfinished business to take care of. Well, in Hamlet we see that King Claudious's spirit keeps on coming back to Hamlet. Now, my question is do you think that the king as a parent wanted his son Hamlet to avenge him? As a parent would you want your children to go through that? If that wasnt the kings intention, then why bother going to his son and tell him that it was his own brother who murdered him?

Honestly, i think that if i were a parent i wouldnt want my children to suffer their whole life trying to avenge my death. Also, the fact that Hamlet as a son who loved his father shows that he loves him, i wouldnt want my children to be remembered or known for killing more people, or that they went down to that person's level just to avenge me.

[RegXD]

I think it depends on situation whether he wants the kid to avenge him or not. Because there are many people who are ruthless to say and some that just wanted to be innocent, and some just wanted what they think is moral or correct.

[juliekim]

I thought it was messed up for Hamlet's father to make Hamlet avenge his death. What kind of parent would want his kid to suffer through that kind of moral dilemma? He knows that Hamlet's not going to let go of this, that he's going to struggle a lot inside, so why make him go through that? If that were really Hamlet's father's ghost, that guy isn't as great and perfect as Hamlet thinks he is. He's just a messed up, weird dad.

[joannekim]

Well, in this play, it seems like the king came to tell the truth and make Hamlet avenge his death. I do not see any other reason the king has. I do not think Hamlet is hallucinating, and it seems like the dead king is really angry and bitter to make his son take revenge. However, I would definitely not make my children take revenge on the person who killed me. I would not want my children to kill someone like my murderer. Taking revenge is too tiring and has devastating impact on my children as well. Instead, I would want my children to have happier life than me.

[jessicashim2013]

I also agree that the King came back as a ghost to tell Hamlet and people about his death. He probably was so angry to just go without telling the truth. He wanted Hamlet to know and revenge for him. I understand how he feels, but I would have rather gone to my wife instead. I would my wife to know so she wouldn't marry Claudius. That's better than making my child suffer.

[hannahs]

I wouldn't want my kid to avenge my death. I wouldn't want to stress out my children and tell them to murder someone. But I don't think the ghost is the King himself. Even though the spirit might have belonged to him, he doesn't seem to talk like he is Hamlet's father. He doesn't refer to Hamlet as his son. He just seems to be a messenger type of thing.

[seongrae]

I will not let my son to avenge someone who killed me if I became a ghost. It is very risky and stressful job to let my son to go through that hardship. I might not tell the reason why I was dead because if I tell my son the reason of my death, then my son will definitely try to revenge him. But I might tell my son if I died in mystery to not be depressed for long time. In addition, I think his father did not have intention to let his son to revenge the uncle.

[sujeonggg]

To me, it seems like the king's ghost came back to his son just to tell the truth. Maybe he couldn't close his eyes with all those false stories going around with his son. So I don't necessarily think that the king's ghost came on purpose to tell Hamlet to avenge for him. But if I was the king, I wouldn't let my son finds the truth, since it only will make his life worse. Of course it would be good for me if my son takes revenge for my death, but as a parent, I shouldn't cause more pain for my kid. I think the king was kinda thoughtless.

[jessicak016]

I also think that Hamlet's father was so angry about his brother's murder that he wants his son, Hamlet, to avenge for his death. Since Claudius is not punished for his murder and his lying, it seems like that Hamlet's father is a kind of person, who hates injustice so much, that he needs his son to bring justice to the palace and the country.
However, if I was Hamlet's father, I would not make Hamlet murder Claudius, since Hamlet is going through a lot of things and I would not want to make Hamlet suffer more by telling to avenge my death.

[ginayang]

If I was Hamlet's father, I wouldn't want my son to avenge my death. As a parent, I don't even want to imagine my child go through pain because of me. I would actually wish to hide the secret behind my death because it would bring so much more hate and confusion to young Hamlet. And as a person who does not support revenge, I would never teach my son to revenge. Furthermore, it is not clear if that ghost is really his father. Thus, we are not sure whether Claudius truly killed King Hamlet.

[cathysjun]

I think the king wanted Hamlet to avenge him. However if I were the king, I wouldn't do that to my son. I think it was naive of the king to make his son avenge him because the king didn't think of the sufferings that Hamlet would get from his request.

[sageda]

Maybe there is something deeper. Maybe it isn't just about avenging his death. Maybe Claudius being king could set off a huge chain reaction of awful things. He might be a bad leader, bad husband, or bad father. King Hamlet knows the read Claudius. He may be trying to prevent something horrible. If that is the case, then the ending is very ironic.

[cesar]

You have to consider that back then culture and society was a lot more different then today. Death was something a lot more common and honor was something a lot more present, not to mention the will to honor a fathers or fathers name is even greater. It's not that the king wants Hamlet to suffer but he wants him to do something for the honor of his name and his families name. Hamlet is left with little choice not to mention he already had a lot more hatred towards his uncle, and growing anger for his mother. The ghost simply directed him in a path he was inevitably going to fall upon sooner or later.

[michellelee]

If I were a father, I wouldn't want my child to avenge someone for me risking his life. I wouldn't want my child to spend his whole life planning revenge on someone. His life would be very miserable and painful. So, I found the part where the ghost told Hamlet to seek revenge on Claudius a little unusual because I know that a father wouldn't want his child to suffer.

[sammy576]

Before saying that King Hamlet was cruel for making his son avenge his death and kill Claudius, we have to consider that fact that the deceased king may still want the death of his brother other than the personal reasons he grudges him for. King Claudius is obviously not very intelligent or witty, so it is obvious he may not run the kingdom well. Seeing Claudius

jeopardize the kingdom, Hamlet might have wanted him to kill his uncle for the sake of the kingdom rather than personal reasons.