Hamlet Act 5 Ranking

One of the major themes explored throughout the play Hamlet is loyalty or lack of it. Ophelia's family is more loyal than that of Hamlet, but also within each family there are varying levels of faithfulness. The most loyal character is Laertes because he is quick to take action to avenge his family. When he hears that his father was murdered, he immediately returns to Denmark and rallies the commoners to attack Claudius. After he witnesses Ophelia's madness, which leads to her death, he pushes Claudius to move forward with his plans to kill Hamlet. He decisively wants justice for the deaths of his father and sister as well as to preserve the family name. Then, Ophelia and Polonius are the next most loyal. Ophelia values her family more than other personal relationships. When Polonius orders her to stop seeing Hamlet, she faithfully complies. However, she is dragged into the deceitfulness by her father, who includes her in his plan to listen to Hamlet. She breaks her loyalty to Hamlet during her conversation with him while pretending that her father and Claudius are not hiding. Polonius's nosiness causes his loyalty to waver, so cannot be trusted by his children. He lacks faith in his son because he secretly tells messengers to visit his school and listen to rumors from his friends rather than talking to Laertes himself. However, he is very loyal to Claudius by helping him find out why Hamlet is acting crazy.

Although Hamlet ranks below Ophelia's family, he is the most loyal member of his own family. He tries to follow the ghost's commands to take revenge by killing Claudius, but his faithfulness loses credibility due to his hesitation. He is not completely loyal to his father because he continues to make excuses to prolong the murder of Claudius. Also, his wrath is directed towards his mother, who the ghost tells him to leave alone. He fails to be devoted to Ophelia by denying that he ever loved her. In the end, Hamlet proves his loyalty when he kills Claudius, even though it seems more for the sake of his mother, who dies after drinking from the poisoned cup. Queen Gertrude is disloyal to her husband because she broke her marriage oaths and commitment to him when she married his brother. Her loyalties are divided between Claudius, who she defends against Hamlet's accusations, and her son, for whom she cares and is concerned about his madness. Finally, King Claudius is the least loyal character. He is ultimately disloyal and deceitful not only to his family but also to the entire state. He lies about poisoning his own brother to get the crown and then marries Gertrude without her knowing, even though one makes an oath of honesty in marriage. He secretly plans to kill Hamlet, who knows the truth about his father's death, before he murders him.