Why Does Hamlet Seek Revenge In Hamlet

Hamlet and Laertes both contribute to the play main theme, revenge. Both characters dearly loved their fathers, thats the reason for revenge. But, their love has been distorted and all they feel now is a need for revenge for their fathers’ deaths. But they cope with it differently. Hamlet knows who killed his father, but does not take immediate action. Laertes is a little unclear on who is responsible for his fathers death, but he takes immediate action to avenge him. "To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation: to this point I stand, that both worlds I give to negligence, let come what comes; only I'll be revenged most thoroughly for my father." Laertes Act 4 Scene 5. Both Hamlet and Laertes love their father and seek revenge, but they have different responses to their fathers death.

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet takes place in a Catholic world during medieval times. It tells the story of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, and his struggle to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet is a very complex character. He is not the typical protagonist that one would expect to see in a tragedy about revenge. Unlike most other characters, Hamlet exhibits the inability to make decisions and act on them. He feels the need to be certain about everything. Hamlet is a tragic hero with a tragic flaw.

While reading and analyzing the play of Hamlet it is very clear all of the different themes and lessons Shakespeare is trying to develop. Throughout the story many themes stand out but the biggest one is that revengeful actions never have the best outcome. Shakespeare builds and works on that theme for the duration of the play and that makes this play a revenge tragedy. It is a revenge tragedy because revenge is the most established theme in Hamlet and most of the characters are involved with some type of revenge. Shakespeare enforces this idea by having Hamlet deal with three different revenge stories, all having to do with a son avenging his father. First there is hamlet wanting revenge on Claudius, then Laertes wants revenge on hamlet and last Fortinbras wants revenge on all of Denmark. These three stories all develop and produce the major theme of revengeful actions never having the best outcomes.

Most of the plays of Shakespeare are said to be written based on the desires of his contemporary audience, especially the revenge tragedies. Revenge creates anger and compels a man to take actions without considering any logic. In historical revenge plays, revenge does not only mean punishing the person(s) liable for a past incident, but it is also aimed to capture the throne. From this point of view, Hamlet is not completely a revenge tragedy. The play is not only about Hamlet’s vengeance. Hamlet, Laertes and young Fortinbras as the eldest sons of their respective families individually have objectives to avenge the murders of their fathers. According the course of the play, both Hamlet and Laertes are able to kill the assassins of their fathers but they fail to be the king of Denmark. Rather they are killed by each other in a swordfight. Only Fortinbras manages to capture the power of Denmark ultimately (though he does not have to kill Claudius).

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.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is full of revenge between multiple characters in the play. After seeing the ghost of his father, Hamlet was determined to get his revenge on his uncle, Claudius, for murdering his father and marrying his mother. Hamlet had multiple chances for revenge but was not willing to let his uncle go to Heaven after the crimes he committed. He used schemes and was able to avoid being killed by Claudius. Hamlet’s revenge did not go as planned, seeing that he killed more people than intended and was also killed himself. After the duel between Hamlet and Laertes, Hamlet was finally able to kill his uncle for the wrong actions that he committed.

Hamlet is a revenge tragedy, written by William Shakespeare, in which the storyline’s primary motive is revenge. The story is complex and thought provoking. Hamlet provides a look at death, disease, murder, suicide, graves, and betrayal. Revenge tragedies offer no promise of eventual justice or happiness for the good people. In Hamlet, the highest levels of social figures were uneasy and plotting controversies. Hamlet was betrayed by his own mother and uncle. Hamlet’s uncle (Claudius) murdered Hamlet’s father. Claudius married Hamlet’s mother (Gertrude) in less than two months after the murder. Hamlet was made aware of the murder by a visit from his father’s ghost. The Ghost told Hamlet to revenge his death. Hamlet was shaken by this

Storming into the palace and throwing accusations at Claudius, Laertes reveals he is impulsive. Laertes anger is due to the dishonor that has been inflicted on his family by Polonius’s murder. Claudius takes advantage of the sudden appearance of Laertes, by provoking Laertes into assisting him in plotting Hamlet’s murder. Shakespeare uses Laertes not only as a catalyst in the story, but as a contrast to the pensive Hamlet.

While Hamlet did agreed to achieve the satisfaction his father desired, a major setback he has is wanting it not to be morally complicated. If he truly believed he was justified in avenging his father's death, he would have acted and not have concered himself with the optics of appearing heroic . During the prayer scene, Hamlet instantly draws his sword when he sees the King alone. However, Hamlet does not act immediately because he figures that killing Claudius while he is praying won't be fulfilling the revenge his father asked for. “A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do the same villain send to heaven. O' this is hire and salary, not revenge” (Hamlet, pg. 68). Hamlet wants to kill the King, but recognizes that he would be the same villain if he did so at that moment. Instead of slaying Claudius at his first opportunity after the play, Hamlet decides to do the deed while his uncle is in the middle of committing a sinful act. “When he is dru...

Revenge of The Ghost ‘’The memory be green’’ (1.2.0-5). It has not been much time since Hamlet Sr. died, his memory stays fresh, but his brother, Claudius, has already married his wife and taken his kingdom. Claudius says he does it for the good of the Denmark, in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare. In addition; Hamlet cannot stop his hatred and anger toward his mother and uncle. He gets devastated and goes in grief by the loss of his father.