Tyler Garcia

AP English
Hamlet Essay
10-28-07

Hamlet Essay
The family and the mistakes and destruction thereof are a powerful theme
in Hamlet. There were three major “families” in the play: Old Hamlet, Gertrude,
Hamlet; Polonius, Laertes, Ophelia; and Claudius, Gertrude, Hamlet.
The first family wasn’t really a family present in the play it was just
destroyed prior to the beginning of the play. This family was the one comprised of
Old Hamlet, Gertrude, and Hamlet. From the play we found out that Hamlet
respected, loved, and cared for his father Old Hamlet immensely. Gertrude must
not have had a very close relationship with Old Hamlet because she moved on
very quickly and remarried soon after his death. There never was much mention
about Hamlet and Gertrude’s relationship. They most likely just had the average
mother son relationship. Like I said this family was broken up before the play
started. We found out how Old Hamlet had chosen to send Denmark into war
which wasn’t the best of ideas. This was a mistake on Old Hamlet’s part. Also in
the play it is revealed that Claudius had murdered Old Hamlet by pouring poison
into his ear. This is what caused this family to be destroyed.
The second family was lead by Polonius the father of Laertes and Ophelia.
This family seemed to be really close because all of them were looking out for the
welfare of the other members of the family. Polonius is just like most parents he
liked to look too far into his children’s lives. He was kind of over protective. He
sent a spy to see what trouble Laertes was getting into in England. Laertes and
Polonius both cared a lot about Ophelia. They both advised her to stay away from
Hamlet because they believed that his love was to be short lived. Ophelia
obviously respected her father and brother because she used their advice.
Polonius also had made some mistakes like Old Hamlet. He tried too hard to be
involved in other people’s lives. That was his major mistake because it eventually
leads to him spying on the wrong person who killed him, Hamlet. This is what
ended up leading to this family’s destruction. Ophelia goes crazy and commits
suicide while her brother is killed in feudal attempt to avenge his father’s death.
The final family is basically the same family members as the first family with
the exchange of Claudius for Old Hamlet. Gertrude was on “the rebound” and
married Claudius very soon after her ex-husband died. They seemed to like each
other quite a bit. Hamlet on the other hand never really ever liked Claudius at all.
This dislike changed to hate once he found out that Claudius killed his first father
Old Hamlet. Hamlet was very upset with his mother for marrying so quickly also.
Claudius’ murder basically set this family up for destruction since the beginning.
Hamlet seeing the ghost is what finally tipped the scale.
All of these families were of high class in Denmark and it’s cool to think that
families of this high status can encounter problems of this magnitude just as the
bottom classes do. They all ended up being destroyed.