Redemption Themes In Hamlet

593 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Morality in hamlet

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. It has been studied by many people throughout the ages. Hamlet touches on many different themes: suicide, fratricide, and revenge are the ones most studied. There are, however, many other themes that are not often discussed. Three of these themes are: redemption, moral truth, and a just society. Redemption is seen throughout the play on different levels. Hamlet has been asked by the ghost of his father to avenge his father’s murder at the hand of his uncle, Claudius. His spirit is unable to rest because he hasn’t been given the opportunity to make amends for his sins. Perhaps the most powerful display of redemption is when Claudius is praying for forgiveness. After his prayer is over, Claudius stands up and says: “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” (Act 3, Scene 3) Claudius understands that he cannot find redemption while he is still committing the sins he is trying to repent of. He cannot ask to be
Many of them are hidden in the rich language. One of the most famous moral truths in the play is spoken by Polonius in his advice to his son Laertes. Polonius tells Laertes, “above all, to thine own self be true, but it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” (Act 1, Scene 3) This quote says a lot about integrity and the kind of people we should be. Polonius is encouraging his son to refrain from putting up fronts with people. He is telling him that he should be the same toward every person he meets. Another moral truth that has powerful impact in the play is when Ophelia, after going insane, tells Claudius “we know what we are, but know not what we may be.” (Act 4, Scene 5) This moment of sanity from the insane Ophelia teaches us about our potential. Every person that comes to earth has the potential to be anything they can dream of, as long as they are unafraid to

Show More
Related

  • Hamlet- Truly Mad, for Freigned Madness?

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... Hamlet is merely a young man, looking for revenge for the death of his father. A young man that has gone through hell and back since his fathers death, losing his love, his mother marrying another man, best friends betraying him, all of which finally lead to his demise. Hamlet shows that he understands real from fake, right from wrong and his enemies from his friends.

    Read More

  • Revenage in William Shakespeare´s Hamlet

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, themes make up very important ingredients for the entire play. The most prominent and important theme is Revenge. Some Shakespeare critics may argue that guilt is the most important theme. However revenge is the most important theme and the reader sees this through revenge advancing the plot, the idea of seeking vengeance allows the reader to learn more about characters, foreshadowing of characters deaths and in the end seeking vengeance causes the majority of main characters deaths.

    Read More

  • Soliloquies Essay - Claudius' Soliloquy in Hamlet

    459 Words  | 1 Pages

    From the soliloquy I can see that Claudius feels sorry for the murder, but not sorry enough. He says, "Oh, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven." He wants to pray for forgiveness of his offense, but laments, "Pray can I not," because "I am still possessed of those effects for which I did the murder - My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen." He murdered Hamlet's father in order to get those things and he is not willing to give them up. He realizes that true repentance would be willing to give then up, and therefore, he is not really repentant. This is why at the end of his prayer, he says "Words without thoughts never to heaven go." There's no point in saying he is sorry because God knows he doesn't really mean it. So, the best he can do is pray that God will make him sorry, by pleading, "Heart with strings of steel, be as soft as the sinews of a new-born babe."

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare Hamlet Suicide Quotes

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet. The son of a king. A man who could have had it all, but instead he chose the much more painful route of revenge and a life of bloodshed. The downfall of Hamlet is comparable to trying to hide a lie one has told. The deeper we try to cover the lie, the worse it gets and harder it becomes to do the right thing. The deeper the reader explores into Hamlets life, the messier and messier it becomes. With a mind full of suicidal thoughts and insanity with no effort to contain it can only lead one thing, and Hamlets downfall is the ultimate example. Pain, suffering, and extreme

    Read More

  • Hamlet Procrastination Quotes Analysis

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    That would be scann’d” (Act III: Scene iii, 74-76). After watching Claudius’ reaction to the play, Hamlet is convinced of Claudius’ guilt. Hamlet is on his way to Gertrude’s bedroom when he sees Claudius kneeling down. Because Claudius is kneeling, Hamlet mistakenly thinks that Claudius is praying for forgiveness and decides not to kill Claudius. This is the most important quote in the play that proves Hamlet’s tragic flaw is procrastination. One can argue that the cause of Hamlet’s downfall in the rest of the play results when he does not kill Claudius when given the perfect opportunity. The importance of the quote is extended with its dramatic irony. The audience knows that Claudius is not praying for

    Read More

  • The Theme of Vengeance in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1931 Words  | 4 Pages

    Vengeance. A vicious, violent way to make oneself feel better about an offense against them. Throughout the tragedy of Hamlet revenge is a recurring theme, amongst all of the characters. Whether this revenge is in physical form, or mental form, it is equally hurtful. Mahatma Ghandi said, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” Ghandi is literally saying that if one person commits a revengeful act, it will create a continuing reaction of bitterness and violence throughout everyone. This quote is highly significant throughout the duration of Hamlet, as it portrays almost precisely, both the plotline of the story, as well as the conclusion. From the murder of King Hamlet to the murder of Prince Hamlet the tragedy is filled with violent acts of revenge.

    Read More

  • Tone Of Claudius's Soliloquy Act 3 Scene 3

    964 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Act 3, Scene 3 of Hamlet, Claudius’ soliloquy begins with a confession of killing his brother which then progresses into praying for the capability to feel deep remorse. This soliloquy portrays Claudius’ evolution from one who wants to be pardoned for his sin to one who is asking to gain true repentance.

    Read More

  • Hamlet as Victim and Hero

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, a Shakespearean tragedy, tells the story of Prince Hamlet, who gained the knowledge of a terrible incident that his kingdom had suffered. Claudius, the king of Denmark and Hamlet's uncle, had killed his own brother, the king, who was also the father of Hamlet, and married his brother's widow. Hamlet suffered these traumas to a severe degree, and his only relief was to defeat his human weaknesses and correct the wrongs created by his uncle.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Seeking Revenge In Hamlet

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    Seeking revenge is never the answer to any problem. In Romans 12:19 it states, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, “It is mine to avenge, I will repay,” says the Lord.” In Shakespeare play Hamlet, there are plenty of examples of the domino effect of revenge seeking. The first example is the rage and revenge expressed by Hamlet, which drives him mad. The second is Laertes seeking revenge on Hamlet. Lastly, all characters who played the game of revenge all payed the price in the end. Let us begin the game of revenge dominos…

    Read More

  • The Theme of Revenge in "Hamlet"

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Hamlet Acts Morally, Harms Others by his Actions, and Realizes his Tragic Limits

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most famous work of tragedy. Throughout the play the title character, Hamlet, tends to seek revenge for his father’s death. Shakespeare achieved his work in Hamlet through his brilliant depiction of the hero’s struggle with two opposing forces that hunt Hamlet throughout the play: moral integrity and the need to avenge his father’s murder. When Hamlet sets his mind to revenge his fathers’ death, he is faced with many challenges that delay him from committing murder to his uncle Claudius, who killed Hamlets’ father, the former king. During this delay, he harms others with his actions by acting irrationally, threatening Gertrude, his mother, and by killing Polonius which led into the madness and death of Ophelia. Hamlet ends up deceiving everyone around him, and also himself, by putting on a mask of insanity. In spite of the fact that Hamlet attempts to act morally in order to kill his uncle, he delays his revenge of his fathers’ death, harming others by his irritating actions. Despite Hamlets’ decisive character, he comes to a point where he realizes his tragic limits.

    Read More

  • Hamlet, A Noble Prince

    1585 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hamlet’s mourning about the death of his father and the remarriage of his mother drives him to madness. This is the main characters inner tragedy that Shakespeare expresses in the play. First he considers suicide but the ghost of King Hamlet sends him on a different path, directing him to revenge his death. Shakespeare uses Hamlet to articulate his thoughts about life, death and revenge. Being a moral character he must decide if revenge is the right thing to do. Shakespeare relays many scenarios of reasoning to the audience about mankind His hero sets the wrongs on mankind right again.

    Read More

  • Condemned: Hamlet’s Moral Dilemma

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hamlet is one of the most often-performed and studied plays in the English language. The story might have been merely a melodramatic play about murder and revenge, butWilliam Shakespeare imbued his drama with a sensitivity and reflectivity that still fascinates audiences four hundred years after it was first performed. Hamlet is no ordinary young man, raging at the death of his father and the hasty marriage of his mother and his uncle. Hamlet is cursed with an introspective nature; he cannot decide whether to turn his anger outward or in on himself. The audience sees a young man who would be happiest back at his university, contemplating remote philosophical matters of life and death. Instead, Hamlet is forced to engage death on a visceral level, as an unwelcome and unfathomable figure in his life. He cannot ignore thoughts of death, nor can he grieve and get on with his life, as most people do. He is a melancholy man, and he can see only darkness in his future—if, indeed, he is to have a future at all. Throughout the play, and particularly in his two most famous soliloquies, Hamlet struggles with the competing compulsions to avenge his father’s death or to embrace his own. Hamlet is a man caught in a moral dilemma, and his inability to reach a resolution condemns himself and nearly everyone close to him.

    Read More

  • Hamlet- A Revenge Tragedy

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... be overstepping the boundaries of morality. Not only does Hamlet want to kill Claudius, but he also wants to damn his soul. This contrasts greatly with Claudius’ act of murder, which is carried out with no preference for the victim’s afterlife. As a result of Hamlet’s tendency to over-think situations, his mission of vengeance is once again delayed.

    Read More

  • Hamlet as the Tragic Hero

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet is the best known tragedy in literature today. Here, Shakespeare exposes Hamlet’s flaws as a heroic character. The tragedy in this play is the result of the main character’s unrealistic ideals and his inability to overcome his weakness of indecisiveness. This fatal attribute led to the death of several people which included his mother and the King of Denmark. Although he is described as being a brave and intelligent person, his tendency to procrastinate prevented him from acting on his father’s murder, his mother’s marriage, and his uncle’s ascension to the throne.

    Read More

More about Redemption Themes In Hamlet

Open Document