Although many aspects of revenge stimulate the concept of integrity, revenge signifies a more destructive and vindictive focus as opposed to an amicable and restorative one. Mahatma Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye would make the world blind”. Revenge is a universal feeling most people sense, when someone has done them wrong. But in the end revenge usually does not benefit any party. Seeking revenge really won 't make anything better; it will only make things worse. The finest way to get revenge is to move on and remember what goes around comes around. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet depicts the acts of vengeance taken by Prince Hamlet regarding his father’s murder. The course of Hamlet’s emotions, differing from remorse to hysteria, is vividly …show more content…
Hamlet expresses, “The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil, and the devil hath power / T’assume a pleasing shape, yea, and perhaps, / Out of my weakness and my melancholy, / As he is very potent with such spirits, / Abuses me to damn me” (2.2.585-90). With this doubt obscuring his mind, Hamlet seems completely unable to act. This indecision is somewhat settled in the form of the play. Hamlet comes up with the idea of the play that is similar to the events conveyed by the ghost about his murder to prove Claudius guilty or innocent. After the players performed the Mousetrap, Claudius is confounded with guilt, therefore; he begins to pray. Claudius beseeched, “My fault is past – but O, what form of prayer / Can serve my turn? ‘Forgive me my foul murder?’ / That cannot be, since I am still possess’d / Of those effects for which I did the murder – / My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen. / May one be pardon’d and retain th’offence” (3.3.51-56)? When Hamlet walked in on Claudius kneeling, he is indecisive by the thought of killing Claudius right then and there. By purifying himself with prayer, Hamlet feels that Claudius will not get the afterlife he deserves if he kills …show more content…
They are summoned by Claudius to keep an eye on Hamlet and report his every word and action. Hamlet assumes, “You were sent for, and / there is a kind of confession in your looks, which your / modesties have not craft enough to colour. I know the / good king and queen have sent for you” (2.2.274-77). Off the bat, he suspected betrayal and deception with his two former schoolmates. Hamlet seeks revenge on his fake friends once he figures out they brought him to England to be killed by Claudius’ orders. Hamlet wrote a letter saying, There’s letters seal’d, and my two schoolfellows, / Whom I will trust as I will adders fang’d – / they bear the mandate, they must sweep my way / And marshal me to knavery” (3.4.204-07). Readers have insight on how intelligent Hamlet is when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern approach him. His decisions are not only clouded with rage, but instead ruthless and
Hamlet contains three plots of revenge throughout the five acts of the play. Young Hamlet, after getting a shocking realization from his father’s ghost, wants to enact a plot of revenge against his uncle. Laertes, who was struck twice in quick succession by the death of his father and sister, wants to kill Hamlet. Away in Norway, Fortinbras wants to take revenge on the entire nation of Denmark for taking his father’s land and life. These three sons all want the same thing, vengeance, but they go about it in wildly different ways, but as Lillian wilds points out, “he also sees himself in the mirrors of Fortinbras [and] Laertes.”(153) It becomes clear that the parallels presented throughout the play are there to further illuminate the flaws of
"Hamlet" is a revenge tragedy written by William Shakespeare. The setting of the story is in the middle ages around the 14th or 15th century. The play is mainly set in the royal palace in Elsinore, a city in Denmark. The story features plenty of deaths and a grueling revenge plot set by our main protagonist, Hamlet. What made "Hamlet" famous was not only it 's classic murderous story line, but also the way that Shakespeare puts together complex scenes. Act III, scene ii was a particular scene in "Hamlet" that captured Shakespeare 's literary genius because he used this scene to advance the play even further. What made this scene stand out are a couple of reasons. First, in this scene, hamlet appears to be more in control of his behavior than other scenes which proves that his sanity is still intact and showing that his insanity is just a decoy for his true plans. Second, this is the scene where Shakespeare revealed to the audience that the ghost
Many characters and people even with very few appearances or interactions with others can leave a lasting effect on someone or can impact the overall mood and message of a body of work. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, King Hamlet’s ghost or afterlife form makes a few appearances through the course of the tragedy but leaves a persisting effect that weighs heavily on the decisions and actions of Prince Hamlet that result in further deaths, adds depth and establishes the theme of revenge, and overall assists in the development of Prince Hamlet’s character as a person.
One of Hamlet’s flaws is that he over thinks things a lot and it is first shown the most at the prayer scene with Claudius. Once Hamlet sees how Claudius reacts to the play he knows that Claudius killed his father and that the ghost was right, he has a chance to kill him and doesn’t take it . His only proof was the ghost and even though others saw the ghost no one else heard it talk except Hamlet. Hamlet was also considering a lot of other things at this time, like how if he killed Claudius now Claudius would be free of sin and would go to heaven. He was also thinking if his father didn’t get to die free of sin it wouldn’t be fair for Claudius to die free of sin either, which shows how vengeful Hamlet’s character is. At the same time, Hamlet has morals and understands the consequences so that’s why it’s harder for him to perform the act . After a l...
Hamlet does not take the opportunity to slay Claudius as he prays because he believes it will save his soul. His contemplative nature takes over regarding the ghost’s revelation and he decides to devise a play to pique Claudius’ conscience and make sure he is really guilty.
It is the idea of revenge that sends a cool shiver down the spines of justly men when they begin to question as to why someone would stoop to such a level. But yet it is still more than an idea for revenge has been carried out in various forms along all the eras of history side-by-side of that of novels and tragedies. Even so, revenge is still a dark scheme; an evil plague of the mind per se. It is such a plague that will turn even the greatest persons of the brightest, optimistically capable of minds into lowly, as well as lonely, individuals. Thus, revenge will, and can, only end in despair and agony of the mind. Therefore, provided that all that has been said is true, revenge would appear quite unseemly to the observant onlooker. However, taking an in-depth insight into revenge you can uncover quite a compelling feature, which is best summed up into one word. Pride. Pride is the one clear motivational proprietor needed to push a protagonist into the downward spiral of personal vendetta. Without pride, revenge is no more than a mindless massacre of flesh and bone ending in the obliteration of any hope for reconciliation.
Revenge is a major theme throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. This theme provides motivation for characters to murder each other throughout the play, whether or not characters seek revenge for themselves. Because Laertes and Hamlet are so absorbed with wanting to exact revenge upon certain people, they ultimately cause the deaths of all of the main characters in the play. Revenge is the main root of evil in this play.
The majority of this play is Hamlet deciding on whether or not he wants to actually kill Claudius. When the Ghost of his Father says he is murdered, Hamlet immediately reacts by saying he must take revenge, however, when the Ghost reveals Claudius is guilty, he then starts to back off a little and procrastinate in completing his missions, which is why spends so much time thinking and scheming. He finds different ways to distract himself from taking action. He could have taken action, the minute he found out. Instead, he decides to create a play that resembles the way Claudius murdered Old Hamlet to see if he reacts in a way that proves he is indeed guilty.
Revenge has caused the downfall of many a person. Its consuming nature causes one to act recklessly through anger rather than reason. Revenge is an emotion easily rationalized; one turn deserves another. However, this is a very dangerous theory to live by. Throughout Hamlet, revenge is a dominant theme. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all seek to avenge the deaths of their fathers. But in so doing, all three rely more on emotion than thought, and take a very big gamble, a gamble which eventually leads to the downfall and death of all but one of them. King Fortinbras was slain by King Hamlet in a sword battle. This entitled King Hamlet to the land that was possessed by Fortinbras because it was written in a seal'd compact. "…our valiant Hamlet-for so this side of our known world esteem'd him-did slay this Fortinbras." Young Fortinbras was enraged by his father’s murder and sought revenge against Denmark. He wanted to reclaim the land that had been lost to Denmark when his father was killed. "…Now sir, young Fortinbras…as it doth well appear unto our state-but to recover of us, by strong hand and terms compulsative, those foresaid lands so by his father lost…" Claudius becomes aware of Fortinbras’ plans, and in an evasive move, sends a message to the new King of Norway, Fortinbras’ uncle.
Hamlet has evidently shown in the play how his uncertainty in his decisions slows him down in killing Claudius. His indecisiveness makes spend more time thinking about the situation and the possible outcomes. In act 2 scene, Hamlet has yet to fulfil his promise to his father. Hamlet is holding himself back from avenging his father. Hamlet refuses to act as if he knows what he is doing when in reality, he has not found out whether the act of killing is heroic and moral or cowardly and immoral. “O vengeance! Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, that I, the son of a dear father murdered, prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, must, like a who 're, unpack my heart with words and fall a-cursing like a very drab, a scullion! Fie upon’t, for!” (2.2 579-585). Despite all this, instead of taking revenge immediately, Hamlet wants to find out whether his ghostly father is telling the truth. This takes a while as Hamlet would eventually realize it is true later in the play. Hamlet had a so much time to kill King Claudius but it is his uncertainty of his father 's words that delays the revenge. Later in act 3 scene 3, King Claudius is seen kneeling in prayer as he confesses his sins.
Hamlet could have easily walked up to Claudius and killed him, but instead he focused on finding out if Claudius really killed his father first because “[t]he spirit that [Hamlet saw] [m]ay be the devil, ” (2.2.577-578). Hamlet decided to have a play and watch Claudius in order to see Claudius’s reactions to find out whether or not Claudius killed Hamlet’s father. Hamlet did this to make sure he was not killing a man who did no wrong other than marrying his mother incestously. Hamlet held a trial in his mind. The ghost was the prosecutor, Claudius was the defendant, and Hamlet was the judge and jury.
Revenge almost always has the makings of an intriguing and tragic story. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a perfect example of how revenge unfolds and what it unveils. The play tells the story of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, marries his mother soon after his father’s death. Hamlet greatly disapproves of the hasty marriage and suspects foul play. His suspicions are confirmed when the ghost of his father appears and tells him that Claudius murdered him. Hamlet’s father asks him to take revenge upon Claudius, and soon everything takes a drastic change. The courses of revenge throughout Hamlet surround each character with corruption, obsession, and fatality.
Through previous years, philosopher’s have tested numerous theories that help us in defining the nature of our being, often these are stalled by the nuanced thought behind our heart and mind. Philosophers often believed that we were slaves to our passions despite our reasoning, even now this could be proven by acts of love, but more than often proven it can be seen through our desire for revenge. Unlike it’s counterpart [avenge], revenge is both a verb and a noun that can be not only acted upon but attained. Revenge is what one seeks after being wronged and often an action never thought through by reason, but a fight of a person’s passions towards a self declared justice. Portrayed in a copious amount of movies, songs, and art, the theme of revenge has been held iconically within Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet. Centered around corruption of the mind, body and soul, Hamlet is seen by many as the embodiment of revenge through it’s characters (Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras); it is within their actions and development that each character portrays the dichotomy of their passion and reason to prove that we are slaves to our passions until reason catches up.
Hamlet plans on trying to get Claudius to confess to the murder of his father by having the actors do a play involving murder, in an attempt to get Claudius to confess, naturally rather than if Hamlet had burst through the palace doors in a fit and demand that Claudius had killed his father. If, however, Claudius did admit to the murder of King Hamlet, it would’ve been unnatural since Claudius would’ve felt pressured into confessing. Toward the conclusion of Act II, Hamlet is quoted as saying “…I have heard that guilty creatures sitting at a play have, by the very cunning of the scene, been struck so to the soul that presently they have proclaimed their malfunctions”, reassuring the idea that the play could guilt Claudius into confessing the murder of Hamlet’s father.
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedies. At first glance, it holds all of the common occurrences in a revenge tragedy which include plotting, ghosts, and madness, but its complexity as a story far transcends its functionality as a revenge tragedy. Revenge tragedies are often closely tied to the real or feigned madness in the play. Hamlet is such a complex revenge tragedy because there truly is a question about the sanity of the main character Prince Hamlet. Interestingly enough, this deepens the psychology of his character and affects the way that the revenge tragedy takes place. An evaluation of Hamlet’s actions and words over the course of the play can be determined to see that his ‘outsider’ outlook on society, coupled with his innate tendency to over-think his actions, leads to an unfocused mission of vengeance that brings about not only his own death, but also the unnecessary deaths of nearly all of the other main characters in the revenge tragedy.