The drama Hamlet revolves around HamletÆs attempts to outwit his uncle, King Claudius. Claudius has murdered HamletÆs father. Throughout the play, Hamlet manages to outsmart his uncle. He foils ClaudiusÆ plans to have him murdered by enlisting the aid of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet also has an opportunity to kill Claudius as he sits in a confessional, but Hamlet decides he should wait for an opportunity when Claudius will not be absolved of his sins. Hamlet also uses a play within the play, The Mousetrap, in which to ôcatch the conscienceö of the King (Shakespeare II.ii 1087). Despite these and other actions wherein Hamlet remains more aware than Claudius, in the final act Hamlet succumbs to ClaudiusÆ treachery. He is killed in a duel with Laertes, whose sword has been dipped in poison, a duel orchestrated by Claudius. By setting up the duel that both Laertes and Hamlet are fooled into carrying out, Claudius makes them both victims of dramatic irony.
There are a number of reasons that HamletÆs ability to outwit Claudius are undermined by Act V. One of the biggest of these is his recognition that he has killed Polonius unfairly and by mistake. Therefore, when Claudius eggs on Laertes to duel with Hamlet, Hamlet does not turn down the invitation or avoid the conflict. Of course, Laertes is unaware that Claudius has rigged the fight in order for Hamlet to be murdered. HamletÆs indecision and indifference throughout the play also points to his desire to transcend above the common and ôrottenö events and individuals around him. His ôto be or not to beö soliloquy, according to Bloom (1998), acts as a forewarning of his desire to transcend that unfolds in Act V:
This soliloquy is the center of Hamlet, at once everything and nothing, a fullness and an emptiness playing off against each other. It is the foundation for nearly everything he will say in Act V, and can be called his death-speech-in-advanc...