Revenge And Vengeance In William Shakespeare's Hamlet

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, there are many recurring themes, one of them being revenge. Revenge is implemented within the play as the main motivation for almost every action within the story. Before I get into the subject, it is important to know what revenge is. To seek revenge is “to avenge (oneself or another) usually by retaliating in kind or degree”(Merriam

Webster Dictionary). Some see revenge as a hateful urge that only the worst of people act upon, but is, in fact, a part of everyone’s life. At some point in one’s life, they are bound to have had been wronged in some way and had the sudden urge to get revenge. Well, this doesn’t mean you are a bad person. It has been proven that there is science behind it. “A group of Swiss researchers

3. Immediately, researchers noticed a rush of neural activity in the caudate nucleus. This is the part of the brain known to process rewards.”(Van Edwards, Vanessa Science of

People).

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However, it seems that William Shakespeare took revenge to extreme in Hamlet. The main character, Hamlet, originally seeks revenge on his uncle for murdering his father for the crown, but, eventually, it turns into madness, in which he becomes obsessed with the thought of torturing the new king, along with anyone thought to be loyal to his uncle. There are other characters within the play, such as Laertes, Claudius, Fortinbras, and Hamlet’s father who all, at some point, find their own reasons to seek revenge. The subject of revenge is deeply embedded into the play, and can almost be found as the motive for every action of each character.

The main character, Hamlet, is the first character to show signs of being influenced by the motives of revenge. Finding the truth behind his father’s death, Hamlet, follows his late father’s orders and plots revenge against his uncle. He planned to act insane to make his

The character that influenced Hamlet’s bizarre behavior was his late father, also referred to as the

Ghost. The ghost convinced Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing Claudius, the ghost’s brother and Hamlet’s uncle. Without this character’s need for revenge, there would be no play. “And would he not then go on to ask: ‘But why in the world did not Hamlet obey the Ghost at once, and so save seven of those eight lives?’”(Khan, Shakespeare Quarterly Washington 66.1).

There are two characters with smaller parts, but just as relevant. Fortinbras, the crown prince of Norway, wants to take over the entirety of Denmark, the country in which the play takes place, for revenge of his father’s death in a previous battle with Hamlet’s father. Although this character seems insignificant, Fortinbras adds the political aspect to the story, and emphasizes the inconvenience of Hamlet’s false insanity. His presence reminds the reader that

Hamlet’s family drama did not stop at the castle walls. The other is not really a character, but an allusion to another play. There is one name that seems to come up several time throughout