Nature versus nurture is a common sociological theory that can be used on anyone. Nature refers to how someone is born or their genes, and nurture is someone's environment. People wonder what affects a person the most. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, there are many arguments that his uncle Claudius is actually his father due to their similarities. With the nature versus nurture argument, it can be argued that they act very similarly because the environment Hamlet was growing up in was around Claudius. Looking at both Hamlet and Claudius; their inaction/action, their plots to kill each other, their diction, their dealings with Gertrude, the way they treat women and their advisors, it proves that Claudius is not Hamlet's father. The two men plot and kill, but before acting, they take great pains. plenty of time to think about their actions. Hamlet likes to set everything up and put everything in place before acting on his suspicions or ideas. He thinks about how his actions will affect everyone and this is due to the common sense he has. Before killing Claudius, he hatched a plan to take him down and exploit him for killing his father. He knows he can't kill him right away because people will be confused and blame Hamlet, so he plans to make him snap first. He puts on a play involving a young man poisoning his uncle, which annoys Claudius because he poisoned Hamlet's father. In directing the play, Hamlet alerted Claudius to everything he knew, which frightened Claudius. Hamlet moves on to a more elaborate plan to act "mad", which causes a lot of fear in Claudius because he thinks that Hamlet is now a threat to him, which is what Hamlet wants. Claudius' reaction to Hamlet's madness is shown when he...... middle of paper ......udius and Hamlet have various similarities, but they hate each other. They plot to kill each other because of the death of Hamlet's biological father. Their similarities come from the time period they live in and the fact that Hamlet's father was a king and was involved in the war, leaving Hamlet with his uncle. His uncle's behavior had an impact on the man Hamlet became. They both experience similar situations; plot to kill someone, plot, etc. They both create similar situations for themselves, such as having advisors or their inability to act, but they have differences. Hamlet is angry while Claudius is just trying to save himself. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Literature “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”: an introduction to reading and writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts. 9th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. Print