Revenge and Vengeance in Shakespeare's Hamlet - Revenge or Scruples?

Hamlet: Revenge or Scruples?

“'Vengeance is mine,' sayith the Lord”. What does this mean? I believe

what the Christians meant it to mean is that we, as humans, have no right to

seek revenge, that only “the Lord” has the right to decide when to take revenge.

We say this, but do we follow it? No, I think not. We all try to take revenge

into our own hands, in one form or another.

Revenge is one strong theme that holds throughout “Hamlet”. We see

Prince Hamlet try to execute a kind of private vengeance, an eye for an eye,

which is completely opposite of the Christian teachings. Hamlet is a man who

believes in heaven and hell and who feels that a man who challenges divine

ordinance will ultimately face judgment. We might look at the ghost of the late

king Hamlet as the part of us that wants to take vengeance into our own minds.

Like the little voice in our heads that tells us to do something, when in our

hearts we know it is wrong.

When Horatio, Barnardo, and Marcellus tell Hamlet of their sighting of

the ghost, Hamlet agrees to join them that night and see if he can observe the

ghost firsthand and possibly speak with it. That night when Horatio, Marcellus,

and Hamlet sight the ghost, it beckons Hamlet to leave the other two and speak

to it in privacy. Hamlet follows, despite the protests of the others, who fear

it may be an evil spirit, disguising as King Hamlet in order to gain their trust.

Horatio suggests that it may lead him astray and then "assume some other

horrible form / Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason / And draw you

into madness..." (I, iv, 80-82). Hamlet insists on listening to the message of

the ghost. Although he does not state it, perhaps Hamlet subconsciously

considers that Horatio is right, that the ghost is indeed a false messenger sent

to trouble him.

Hamlet does not kill Claudius immediately following his encounter with

the ghost because he is unsure of the ghost's accusations of Claudius and does

not want to murder him without proper motive. Hamlet would suffer in the eyes of

the people if he were to murder Claudius, the reigning king, and claim his

motive was the words of a ghost. Hamlet already disapproves of Claudius due to

his marriage to Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, so soon after the death of her first

husband, King Hamlet. Prince Hamlet feels that the widow did not sufficiently

mourn and that the marriage is incestuous due to the relation between the late