Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Revenge theme in Hamlet Essay
Christianity and hamlet essay
How does Shakespeare use literary devices to talk about revenge
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Revenge theme in Hamlet Essay
In the play, Hamlet, William Shakespeare explores the theme of revenge. Throughout the work, Hamlet acquires a moral dilemma; he cannot decide how to carry out revenge without condemning himself. Thus, although the play promotes the idea of revenge at the beginning, the cultivation of dialogue, relationships, and complications provide evidence of the detrimental consequences and limitations of the theme. When the Ghost appears to Hamlet, he mentions of Christian elements, such as purgatory, heaven, and hell. The Ghost states that he has almost reached the time to fall “to sulfurous and tormenting flames” (I.5.6). As he reaches this period, the Ghost wishes for Hamlet to avenge him. Hence, the Ghost sends Hamlet into this mission with a motivation of Christian undertones: that of getting out of purgatory. Therefore, Hamlet approaches his new workload with a Christian mindset. Hamlet does not want to go to hell, so he wants to carry out his revenge in a way that can be repented for later. On the other hand, Hamlet labels Claudius as a “villain” (I.5.105). Hamlet approaches the idea of revenge believing that Claudius deserves to reach hell; therefore he waits for the right moment of action so that he does not cause …show more content…
So, this type of revenge could be seen as encouraged by God, according to Hamlet, as he would be putting Claudius in his rightful place in the eyes of the Lord. Hamlet’s alignment with certain Christian teachings emphasizes his fear of God and punishment; he does not want to be penalized for carrying out what he believes is correct, so he attempts to abide by natural law in his actions. This is contradictory to the play’s promotion of revenge, as God does not encourage the act of vengeance. Hamlet desires to follow God’s law, however, he also wants to listen to his Father. Consequently, Hamlet finds himself between his Earthly and heavenly
Shakespeare’s plays, among other classic works of literature, tend to be forged with the tension of human emotion. The archetypical parallel of love and hatred polarizes characters and emphasizes the stark details of the plot. More specifically, the compelling force of revenge is behind most of the motives of Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. The play opens with the return of Hamlet’s father, a surprising encounter, which ended in his son learning that his father’s death was the result of foul play. By emphasizing this scene as the beginning of the story to be told, Shakespeare clearly implies that the plot itself will be based around the theme of revenge. Through three different instances of behavior fueled entirely by vengeance, Shakespeare creates an image in the reader’s mind, which foreshadows the future of the story and provides insight into the plot line. Even so, despite the theme of revenge being the overarching concern of the plot, the parallels drawn between characters truly strengthen the thematic depth of the piece overall, making the play easily one of Shakespeare’s most infamous and historically valuable works.
Each person goes through life questioning the whys and what ifs, but seldom do people act on those revengeful feelings unless they reach a point of action. Hamlet reaches such a point in life where wordplay no longer suffices, and he must act not out of necessity but out of filial duty and honor. In this soliloquy, Hamlet sheds his attachment for words and begins to act on his deeply held feelings of revenge/
With Outline Time and time again, we as a complex society have recognized in many pieces of great literature the idea of man and revenge. Throughout history, the idea of vengeance has destroyed large communities, populations and entire civilizations. The problem with man and revenge is that one may be side-tracted of why or whom he is avenging. This similar idea is conveyed in the theme of Shakespear's Hamlet , "Vengeance can confuse a man's mind and soul to the point where he may not be sure of whom he is really avenging." Shakespear uses foils in this play to allow us readers to understand Hamlet as a man and why and whom he is really avenging.
In Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, the thoughts of revenge are introduced early in the play. At the end of the first act, Hamlet meets the ghost of his deceased father. He is brought to see him by Horatio and Marcellus, who saw the ghost "yesternight" (Shakespeare 1.2.190). During this exchange of words between the Ghost and Hamlet, the Ghost tells Hamlet, "[s]o art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear." (Shakespeare 1.5.5). He is telling Hamlet to listen closely to what he has to say. Then he tells Hamlet to "[r]evenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (Shakespeare 1.5.23). When Hamlet finds out that it was his Uncle Claudius who murdered his father, Hamlet plots against him to avenge his father's death.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare the theme of revenge is heavily embedded into its frame work, seeing it follows Prince Hamlet in his task of avenging the mysterious death of his father. After encountering the ghost of his father Hamlet was lead to suspect that his uncle Claudius, who took over as king of Denmark after marrying Hamlet’s widowed mother, was the father’s murder. So although by simple glance it may seem that Hamlet was in search for revenge throughout the play, Hamlet took many precautions to insure that the action of removing his uncle from power was truthfully deserved. So, Hamlet ultimately sought justice for the murder of his father, but through strong emotions hamlet did commit several uncivil acts that played an
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the focus of many of the characters in the play is to be (or not to be) avenged. Both Hamlet and the minor characters surrounding him revisited the theme of revenge frequently. Shakespeare’s use of secondary characters highlight the important theme of revenge and specifically how a mind set strictly on revenge can corrupt the actions and thoughts of an individual and bring about their destruction. The minor characters of Laertes, the Ghost and Fortinbras display this maxim perfectly. Through their experiences with revenge, two meet their end and the other meets success.
Among other moral lessons conveyed by Shakespeare through Hamlet, is the moral dilemma of revenge and punishment. Hamlet has been told by his father’s ghost that Claudius was his murderer and as a son it was Hamlet’s duty to avenge Senior Hamlet. However, Hamlet is seen to be in a constant conflict between his mind and heart, between what is morally the right thing to do and what is not. His confusion is evident in one of his soliloquies, where he is seen to engage in self-rebuke for delaying his revenge and is considering that the ghost might be just an illusion. In Hamlet’s own words “I know my course. The spirit that I have seen [m]ay be the devil; and the devil hath power [t]o assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps [o]ut of my weakness
The tragedy Hamlet revolves around three major families. Each one of the eldest sons in the family had one thing in common, they wanted revenge for a slaughtered father. Hamlet’s main goal was to make his uncle suffer more than his father, so that his revenge would be complete. In Act 3, Scene 3, Hamlet had the perfect opportunity to kill Claudius, but because of Hamlet’s religious beliefs, he hesitated. Since Claudius was praying, Hamlet decided to wait for a time when Claudius was committing a sin to execute him instead. Hamlet believed that the action you were committing right before death, would determine if you entered heaven or hell. He did not favor the idea of Claudius entering heaven, so he decided to kill, “when he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, Or in th' incestuous pleasure o...
Hamlet’s indecisiveness plays a considerable role in the tragic outcome of this play. Throughout the time he knows about Claudius’s treachery, Hamlet is hesitant to exact his revenge. He claims to want Claudius to suffer as much as possible. As Hamlet was about to get his revenge while Claudius is praying, he changes his mind saying that he wanted “that his soul may be as damn’d and black as hell, whereto it goes.” (Shakespeare, 71) According to Hamlet he wants his Uncle to die while sinning so that his soul goes to hell rather than heaven. Passing up on this opportunity
In the first place, he does not respect his mother and verbally hurts her by saying, “A horrible act- almost as bad, my good mother, a killing a king and marrying his brother.” (3.4 29-30) After that, Gertrude says, “O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart into twain.” However, Hamlet feels no shame and guilt about what he said and what he did to his dearest mother, showing he lacks conscience and responsibility. Furthermore, Hamlet says, “And so he goes to heaven, and so am I revenged. That would be scanned: A villain kills my father, and I, my father’s only son, send this same villain to heaven. Seems like I just did him a favor.” (3.3 75-79) He does not want to murder Claudius since he is thinking about sending him to the hell. Due to the revenge, he has become a man who is full of
In the play, Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle Claudius. Claudius killed Hamlet’s dad and then married his mom to become the leader of Denmark. Later in the play, Hamlet sees his dad’s ghost and is informed of the horrific act committed by his uncle. Hamlets’ dad’s ghost says, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I. V. 25). Hamlets’ dad says this to Hamlet so that his uncle could get retribution for his action. Hamlet has many opportunities to kill Claudius but is unable because of the wrong timing. While Claudius is praying, Hamlet has an opportunity to slay him but doesn’t because if he killed him in his prayers he will make him go to heaven instead of hell. Another minor reason for Hamlet’s revenge against his uncle is his affection towards his mother. As the play progresses, we are able to determine that Hamlet’s relationship with his mom is close to incest status. With this information, we are able ...
Throughout Hamlet, each character’s course of revenge surrounds them with corruption, obsession, and fatality. Shakespeare shows that revenge proves to be extremely problematic. Revenge causes corruption by changing an individual’s persona and nature. Obsession to revenge brings forth difficulties such as destroyed relationships. Finally, revenge can be the foundation to the ultimate sacrifice of fatality. Hamlet goes to show that revenge is never the correct route to follow, and it is always the route with a dead
In Hamlet Shakespeare is able to use revenge in an extremely skillful way that gives us such deep insight into the characters. It is an excellent play that truly shows the complexity of humans. You can see in Hamlet how the characters are willing to sacrifice t...
Being the primary character, there is a greater focus on Hamlet’s pursuit of revenge, since throughout the play his mind and actions plagued by both uncertainty and angry notions towards his mother’s infidelity rather than the “murder most foul”. Unlike both Laertes and Fortinbras, Hamlet's desire for revenge is not implanted by his own will but rather by his father’s ghost; through his encounter the ghost pleads his son’s loyalty by promising the murder Claudius. Initially Hamlet's interaction with the Ghost was one of curiosity and glee which opposes his prior melanch...
Hamlet, a William Shakespeare original, sinfully mirrors how our society acts today. A dark tale of revenge peppered with violence and murder can be used to summarise the main theme of Hamlet. The resolution, each revenge plot ends with highlights and inadequacy of revenge. It should be asked, can we change our fate unlike Hamlet did?