Hamlet Revenge Theme

The play Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet is instructed to enact on his uncle Claudius. Hamlet displays the theme of revenge in many ways. Three significant events that show revenge are; Hamlet having to first establish Claudius’ guilt, Hamlet planning his revenge contrasting with the rash actions of Fortinbras and Laertes, and finally, Hamlet’s desire for revenge is strengthened when he is sent to England making it impossible to access Claudius.

The play Hamlet begins with the ghost of Hamlet’s father, the late king, appearing in front of two guards on the night shift. The guards inform Prince Hamlet of his fathers ghost and he goes to see for himself the next night. The ghost tells Hamlet, that he was poisoned by his brother, Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, who is the current king and married to Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. The first time the concept of revenge is brought up in Hamlet, is when the Ghost says to Hamlet that it is his duty to take revenge: "So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear” (1.5.7). Hamlet is already not happy with the arrangement of Claudius marrying his mother and becoming king, so this news brings Hamlet to a new state of dismay. He decides that he needs to prove whether or not there was foul play in his fathers death, so he could avenge his father in good conscious. Later on in the play, Hamlet is informed that a group of actors are arriving, and he decides to put them to work in order to determine whether or not Claudius is to blame. This is the first time Hamlet displays any personal doubt in the ghost, which relates to him not being able to commit the act of revenge and his overall lack of action. By the ...

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...t Claudius being responsible for all the deaths, and even though Hamlet is also poisoned, he manages to finally perform his revenge by stabbing Claudius and making him drink the poison. The dramatic ending highlights revenge as a theme in both the murder of Claudius, but also the rest of the characters deaths show the consequence of Hamlets inaction.

Throughout Hamlet, revenge is displayed in a number of different ways. Three of the main ways were Hamlet having to first establish Claudius’ guilt, Hamlet planning his revenge contrasting with the rash actions of Fortinbras and Laertes, and finally, Hamlet’s desire for revenge is strengthened when he is sent to England making it impossible to access Claudius. The play strongly showed that Hamlet’s lack of revenge played a negative role in all the characters and how important the act of revenge was to Hamlet.