I think that Hamlet has no blame at all for the deaths of
Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Claudius deliberately sends people to
murder R&G (although it could have been a misinterpretation on the
executioner's part), and Gertrude inadvertently drinks the poison that Claudius
prepares in his evil plan to murder Hamlet. Hamlet's intention of killing
Claudius could also be justified by the fact that Claudius tries to kill him
throughout the whole story.
We can agree that Hamlet does not kill Claudius during his
prayer at least partially for fear that Claudius might enjoy a good afterlife
for his repentance. We should also notice that Hamlet contemplates life and
death a lot, and does not know what anyone's afterlife would be like, or if
there is an afterlife at all. At first, he fears that heaven could be real and
Claudius might go there, and fears his own death because he does not know what
will happen afterwards. But at the end, he is finally determined to carry our
his revenge and is ready to face his own death, so he goes to the fencing match
that Claudius hosts even though he is extremely suspicious of it.
1 comment:
I also don't think that Hamlet was responsible for Gertrude's death, many of the deaths were not purposely executed by Hamlet, however, I think the main point is that because Hamlet wanted revenge in the first place is what brought this chain of events to fruition that ended in everyone's death. So even if some were not purposeful, they were almost all the result of Hamlet's craving revenge in the first place and not just immediately doing it but instead delaying until it sacrificed everyone around him.
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