Hamlet and Claudius

Do you consider yourself an impulsive person? Impulses are the motivations or desires that affect our course of action. In Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, we get to know Hamlet, Claudius and Polonius all with different personalities, and different ways of taking action. Hamlet, an indecisive bachelor takes a lot of time thinking when it comes to making a decision. Claudius has an evil nature about him, allowing him to take action whenever he wants. Polonius has a sneaky personality, but his actions are often focused on the need to impress the king. The course of action someone takes is often motivated by their personality, especially when it comes to impulsive actions.

Throughout the play, we get to know Hamlet’s personality quite well. For most of the play he is indecisive and has trouble taking action. When his dead father approaches him and asks to be “avenged”, Hamlet takes a lot of time coming up with the ideal plan. He spends a lot of time thinking and contemplating ideas to get revenge properly. Hamlet eventually settles with the play “mouse trap” which he will present to Claudius to see if he is actually guilty. Once Hamlet is sure of Claudius’ crime, he still hesitates to take action. He feels the need to wait for the right moment in time. In Act 3 we see Hamlet’s personality really shift. While talking to Gertrude he hears a noise behind a curtain, and impulsively stabs through it to kill whoever is on the other side. Hamlet ends up killing Polonius, something he definitely hadn’t planned on. His actions continue to be impulsive as the play progresses, and his course of action elevates. In a sword fight against Laertes, Hamlet finally takes revenge against Claudius. After fighting with Laertes for some time, and watching his mother die after drinking poisoned wine, Hamlet takes a stab at Claudius. Not only does he stab him with the poisoned sword, but he forces Claudius to drink the poisoned wine. This is the ultimate shift in Hamlet’s personality. He has finally acted on his thoughts, and made a decision, though it ends up being too late. Because of Hamlet’s prolonged course of action in taking revenge, and indecisive personality, he ends up dying himself. His delayed impulses and unsure personality change his course of action forever.

In contrast to Hamlet, we meet Claudius, a villainous character who never waits too long to take action based on impulse. The first impulsive action we see from Claudius is him killing his own brother in order to gain the crown. Not only does Claudius kill his brother, but he immediately marries his brother’s wife soon after the funeral. His impulsive actions give him a bad reputation, especially from him nephew Hamlet. We don’t notice much of Claudius’ evil actions throughout the middle of the play. After Act 3, we see that Claudius truly is an evil man, full of impulsive decisions. He is already scheming to get rid of Hamlet after the