‘All duties seem Holy to Hamlet’: J.W. Von Goethe. Consider how far you agree that Hamlet’s motivations for avenging his father are out of personal affection?

One could argue that Hamlet’s motivations for avenging his father come out of the pure love he feels for him. He laments on his ‘poor father's body’ after the funeral reminiscing on ‘so excellent a king’ who was so ‘loving to my mother’, all of which only adds to his anger at his mother’s remarriage to his uncle since his ‘father’ would have been ‘much offended’ by her sudden remarriage to one ‘lesser’ than him. This apparent idolising of his Father, painting him as a gentle, loving husband and heroic figure leads Gabriel Josipovici to believe that hamlet is ‘as a son who (surely) loves his father’, seeking ‘to avenge foul and unnatural murder’ primarily out of grief at the loss of him. Certainly, Hamlet makes constant references to his father in relation to such great mythical heroes as Hyperion, showing his high regard for him, as well as his continued morning for him despite the required period of mourning seemingly passing for everyone else. In Elizabethan England, this period of mourning was a designated period of time that the families of the deceased were to dress in black (as we see Hamlet do throughout the play) as a sign of respect and mourning for their loved ones. Despite Gertrude encouraging hamlet to ‘cast off thy inky cloak’, indicating that the time of mourning has passed, Hamlet remains determined to continue in this attire, displaying his wish to continue morning his father. Some critics such as James Clark Moloney and Laurence Rockelein even go so far as to state that Hamlet ‘wished unconsciously’ he could ‘have saved the king’ if ‘he had been present’ in Demark rather than studying in England, applying Hamlet’s inferred grief to one of the 7 stages of grief (bargaining to bring back a loved one), further providing evidence of Hamlet’s deep affections for his father that would prompt him to avenge him. However, all of these actions could also be applied to Hamlet’s grief at the loss of his king and ruler. Similarly, to a father, a Kings subjects would be expected to go into mourning at his death to show their respects. Furthermore, Hamlet’s idolised images of his father are in relation to him as a leader and husband rather than a loving father. He interchangeably refers to Old Hamlet as both ‘my father’ and ‘my King’ showing the two persona’s he occupied for Hamlet, suggesting a conflicting emotion in Hamlet’s mind towards him. As a subject to the King as well as his son, Hamlet was bound to avenge his sovereign’s death out his loyalty to the crown, being at the time part of the agreement between feudal rulers (such as Old Hamlet) and their subjects (such as Hamlet.) In addition to this, some critics such as Avi Erlich suggest that due to his war with Old Fortinbras, Old Hamlet would have been away and unable to spend much time with his son, therefore being unable to allow the fatherly/son connection to develop between them. So, whilst Hamlet does show great affection towards his father, the comparisons he makes are to other great leaders as well as in regard to his role as husband rather than father to Hamlet. Much of Hamlet’s mourning can also be attributed to the same behaviour of subject to their King, with the interchangeability of Old Hamlet’s titles in his mind only further supporting the idea that Hamlet would not just be seeking revenge for his own father, but also for his king who, out of his duty to him, he would be honour bound to avenge this murder, regardless of any personal feelings that he felt towards the King. Above all else, Old Hamlet’s position as King would have triumphed a father’s authority, placing Hamlet’s duty to his king as a motivation above that of personal feelings to his father.