In Hamlet there are three key families that are the main focus of the play. The families are the family of Hamlet, the family of Polonius, and the family of Fortinbras. There are many similarities and differences between the three separate families. One similarity that all three families have is that at least one member of their family seems to have a hidden agenda. Hamlet wants to take revenge on Claudius and the reason Claudius did it was to become the new king of Denmark. Laertes wants to take revenge on his father Polonius, who was killed by Hamlet. Lastly, Fortinbras has a hidden agenda when he initially says that he wants to go through Denmark to invade Poland, but there are suspicions that he has a secret agenda to overthrow Denmark and recover the land that was lost when the old king of Denmark defeated his father. and became king.

There is also spying in Hamlet between families and this shows that there is a lack of trust. An example would be when Polonius sends the spy Reynaldo to spy on Laertes because he suspects that his son is up to no good. He says “your falsehood bait take this carp for real” this is a metaphor and means just using a subtle lie and catching the truth. Polonius is saying that he uses the bait of lies to find more information and more specifically the truth. This idea of ​​telling a lie and discovering the truth can also be supported when Polonius says “with pinwheels and with essays of bias”, which again can be interpreted as roundabout attempts to tell a lie so that the truth comes out. “Windlasses” metaphorically means lure, for example, deceiving an animal by making a roundabout approach, and so for Reynaldo it means telling a little lie as a lure and as a roundabout attempt to discover the truth.

This lack of trust can also be seen in Hamlet and Claudius’ family relationship, as Hamlet knows that his uncle killed his brother to become king and Claudius sees Hamlet as a threat to his throne and at one point even tries to send him off. to England and have it. he killed him there. The reason why Claudius sent Hamlet to England is explained when Claudius says “since yet your scar looks red and raw…you cannot harden with coldness”. Scar is a scar or wound and it is assumed that England has recently been wounded by the Danish sword and is therefore more likely to carry out the king’s command to kill Hamlet. It could also mean that they are unlikely to brush aside and ignore the fact that Hamlet, who is from Denmark, is coming to England and with orders to kill him, they are not willing to brush this aside and let him live.

Shakespeare also presents the Hamlet family as incestuous, especially his mother and uncle, who are now married after the previous guy’s death. Hamlet seems disgusted that his mother can move so quickly and warm the old kings’ bed with her brother. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy he says that the time since his father died and his mother remarried is “two months”. Ophelia, on the other hand, said that “two two months” have passed since the old king’s death, so Hamlet could be said to show his disgust at what his mother and uncle have done in marrying by exaggerating how quickly his father. has been forgotten

In the first soliloquy he also says “such an excellent king, who went to this Hyperion to a satyr”. This first part here shows how Hamlet is unfavorable towards his uncle the new king and his father the old king by saying look what the king once was and look at him now. He compares the two as family and as the king’s role. In both circumstances, it seems that Hamlet dislikes his uncle and does not trust him. “Hyperion to satyr”, this again shows how he compares both his uncle, the new king, and his father, the old king, by saying that his father is a “hyperion”, which is the Greek god of the sun, who also uses elemental images about how he sees. the father of him as the sun that is needed for all life to exist. He then goes on to say that his uncle is a “satyr”, which is a grotesque creature, half human and half goat. He was also associated with drunkenness and lasciviousness. This again can be linked to the fact that Hamlet hates and is disgusted by what his uncle and his mother have done by marrying and sharing the bed that the mother and the old king once shared.

It could be argued that this dysfunctional family of Hamlets is one of the reasons, if not the reason why Hamlet spirals downward and eventually becomes obsessed with revenge and becomes a fragile state. This may also be supported by the fact that the main reason Hamlet considers revenge in the first place is that his uncle had killed, which is also a Biblical reference to the story of Cain and Abel. In this story one brother killed the other out of jealousy, greed, and then marrying the dead brother’s wife. This Biblical reference seems to go well with what Hamlet’s uncle has done because he killed his brother out of his own greed for power and the throne of Denmark and then marries his brother’s wife. . Hamlet refers to this as the “greatest sin.”

Hamlet’s obsession with taking revenge on his uncle could also be seen as the Oedipus complex that a man named Freud developed after seeing Hamlet. If his theory were used to describe Hamlet’s actions and his interaction with his mother and his uncle, then it would be that Hamlet wants to get rid of his uncle because of his sexual desire for his mother. .

In conclusion, Shakespeare’s presentation of Hamlet’s complex family relationships is very well done and very well intertwined with the overall plot.