6. Go through the many deaths in Hamlet.

In what way is each brought on by the character

himself or herself and so part of what is called poetic justice?
Answer: The murder of Polonius, though perhaps an excessive punishment for his eavesdropping,
is the inevitable outgrowth of his spying on behalf of a king whose moral purposes he never
questions. Similarly, Hamlets execution of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is warranted by their
having put themselves so trustingly in Claudius hands. Laertes and Claudius, as the former
points out, are fittingly caught in their own trap, and the queens poisoning is a logical result of
her having trusted, despite her better judgment, in a marriage she knows to be incestuous.
Hamlets own death, finally, is the tragic result of his having postponed his revenge till he is
caught up in the circumstances of Claudius counterplot; he is in a sense sacrificed to his
responsibilities. In addition, he is expiating his murder of Polonius. Only Ophelias drowning
while insane seems an excessive punishment for the comparatively minor sins of trusting her
father and telling Hamlet one small lie in the Nunnery Scene. On the other hand, Shakespeare is
at pains to examine the danger the world holds out for those who trust too innocently to others
motives. Ophelia trusts her father and brother blindly, as they trust Claudius, and like them she is
destroyed