Revenge is a recurring theme in Hamlet. Although Hamlet wants to avenge his father’s death, he is afraid of what would result from this. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet’s unwillingness to revenge appears throughout the text; Shakespeare exhibits this through Hamlet’s realization that revenge is not the right option, Hamlet‘s realization that revenge is the same as the crime which was already committed, and his understanding that to revenge is to become a “beast” and to not revenge is as well (Kastan 1). According to David Scott Kastan in “Hamlet and the Imitation of Revenge” Hamlet is concerned that he will leave a “wounded name” behind (1). What Hamlet fails to realize is that his name is already “wounded” because his father was murdered. However, Hamlet is his father’s son and therefore he is attached to his father and his cause (Kastan 1). David Scott Kastan points out that “for Hamlet, however, to accept the filial obligation sounded in his name is to disregard and dismiss all other relations he has established” (1). He is trying to convey here that if Hamlet does step up and take revenge on his father’s murderer, he would be destroying his previous relationships with anyone he knew if they found out he fought murder with murder. This worsens Hamlet’s situation, because his relations to his father are so strong he feels he must avenge him, but as Kastan suggests, Hamlet is “only the son, sworn to remember and revenge his father” (1). Hamlet, however, commits himself to his father, to symbolize him; as his son and as his agent (Kastan 1). According to the ghost King Hamlet, “to be Hamlet, to deserve the name” “is to be a revenger” (Kastan 2). Hamlet later discovers that revenge is not the right thing to do. As Kastan ... ... middle of paper ... ...t as Hamlet is obligated to hear, he is also obligated to avenge him. This is also true because the ghost wants Hamlet to remember him, and when Hamlet is running around, trying to get his companions to swear to secrecy, the ghost is there screaming “swear!” (Rose 2). Works Cited Kastan, David Scott. "'His semblable is his mirror': Hamlet and the Imitation of Revenge." Shakespeare Studies. 19.( 1987): 111-124. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 68. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 111-124. Literature Resource Center. Gale. Pennsauken High School - CamNet. 16 Nov. 2009 . Rose, Mark. "Hamlet and the Shape of Revenge." English Literary Renaissance 1.2 (Spring 1971): 132-143. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 68. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.
Mack, Maynard. “The World of Hamlet.” Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967.
"Hamlet's Mourning and Revenge Tragedy ." Hamlet In His Modern Guises. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001. 25-26. Print.
Mack, Maynard. “The World of Hamlet.” Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967.
Moving forward, rather than lagging behind, a truly noteworthy concept of revenge can be seen in the Shakespearean tragedy: “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.” It is within this particular tragedy that prince Hamlet is enlightened, by the ghost of his father, to the murder of his father by his uncle, Claudius, an incestuous, adulterous beast who greedily claimed the throne and Hamlet's mother as his wife. (Hamlet 1.5.45-46, 49-53) Nevertheless, it is through this enlightenment that Hamlet sets off toward avenging his father's death, but along the way he is pitted against misfortune as the downward-...
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.
While the actual personality traits and each character’s motivations add more depth to Shakespeare’s overall belief, the language each character incorporates contributes more highly to the conviction – revenge causes one to act blindly in anger. By analyzing Hamlet’s use of language throughout the play, one can tell Hamlet is keen on avenging his father, but no heart or effort is put into the action. Speaking in disgust with himself, Hamlet says “That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, / Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, / Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, “ (2.2.584-586). Hamlet uses simile to compare himself to a coward and state that he has no...
In the play we recently read, Hamlet, revenge played a huge role and it caused the characters in Hamlet to act blindly through anger and emotion and without reason. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all believed that their fathers’ deaths were wrongly committed and they all looked
When Hamlet and the ghost of his father were talking in the woods about how his uncle killed him Hamlet’s father told him while getting revenge he wanted Hamlet to get his revenge fast and swift and not to wait or hesitate in getting revenge. (Doc. A) Hamlet could have killed Claudius early when he was praying and would have saved the suffering and deaths of all the others. He called himself a peasant, slave, coward, and rouge. He tells himself he is brave but he is being sarcastic in saying that and shows very low opinion of himself because he fails at getting revenge for his father and keeps failing instead of just getting it over with when he had that chance. (Doc.
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...
Bibliography:.. Mercer, Peter 1987, Hamlet And The Acting of Revenge, University of Iowa Press, Iowa City. Knights, Lionel Charles 1970, Some Shakespearean Themes: An Approach to Hamlet, Penguin Books; Harmondsworth.
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.
Kastan, David Scott. “His Semblable In His Mirror: Hamlet And The Imitation Of Revenge.” Shakespeare Studies 19. (1987): 111. Humanities International Complete. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.
...World of Hamlet.” Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967.
In a typical revenge tragedy, a hero is called upon by the ghost of a family member to avenge his death ("Revenge Tragedy"). Hamlet is the main protagonist and hero called upon by his father's ghost to "revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (1.5.31). When Hamlet first hears that his father was murdered, he exclaims, "Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift...may sweep to my revenge" (1.5.35-37). He is hungry to avenge his father; however, Hamlet does nothing and at the end of Act II he scolds himself that "this player...could force his soul so to his own conceit...all for nothing...yet, [he]...can say nothing for a king upon whose property and most dear life a damned defeat was made" (2.2.578-598). Hamlet is upset that he hasn't yet acted to avenge his father, but some mere actor can build up so much emotion for nothing. Shakespeare complicates the plot because revenge tragedies are supposed to have a courageous and aggressive protagonist who swiftly carries out his deed of revenge; instead, Shakespeare modifies the hero and portrays Hamlet as an indecisive and contemplative man.