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Shakespeares revenge essay
The nature of revenge
Shakespeares revenge essay
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Revenge has stood out as a primal human instinct that is fueled by anger, pain, and sadness for the longest time. It leads one to commit evil acts and sins. Taking revenge is a bittersweet thing and I believe that it is a natural emotion for humans to feel when something unfair has been done to them. Revenge would come either verbally or physically and its goal would be to hurt the other person. I do not believe that revenge is ever justifiable our revenge might hurt the other person and they could want to try and get their own vengeance on us and that could start an unstoppable chain of hate and vengeance. We might also hurt innocent people in our path towards revenge. 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 …show more content…
Laertes planned with Claudius to kill Hamlet with the poisoned tipped sword, but they had not thought that the sword may be used against them. With Laertes believing the King's accusations that Hamlet had murdered his father, he fights Hamlet and pricked him with the poisoned tipped sword. Hamlet has many chances to kill his uncle but he was blinded by emotions and rage and that outweighed his judgement. Also in the poem, A Poison Tree, by William Blake, the speaker said that he was angry with his friend but he made the decision to talk about his problem with his friend and that caused his rage and anger to subside and his wrath did not grow. “I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end.” But, with his foe, he kept the anger bottled up and it led him to act on it and take his revenge, resulting in his foe dead under the apple tree. “In the morning, glad I see: My foe outstretched beneath the
In a sense, revenge is slowly killing oneself and dragging another into death as well. Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his novel The Scarlet Letter, evinces this reality in the eventual fate of Roger Chillingworth. Aroused by a vehement zeal for payback towards the Reverend Dimmesdale, Chillingworth drains the life out of himself, shown in his gradually decaying body and soul. With a raging desire for knowledge and a single-minded pursuit of retribution, Chillingworth’s demonic actions lead him to damnation, demonstrating the need for reconciliation in times of conflict. Chillingworth’s unquenched thirst for knowledge leads him to a state of vengeance, foreshadowing its eventual control over his actions.
It is too late though, the poisonous sword had cut Hamlet. In anger, Hamlet steals the poisoned sword and runs it into Laertes. He then charges Claudius and runs into him. He also takes the wine and forces Claudius to drink from it. Both Claudius and Laertes died before Hamlet.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the theme of revenge is very palpable as the reader examines the characters of Hamlet himself, as well as Laertes, son of Polonius, and Fortinbras, prince of Norway and son of the late King Fortinbras. Each of these young characters felt the need to avenge the deaths of their fathers who they felt were untimely killed at the bloody hands of their murderers. However, the way each chose to go about this varies greatly and gives insight into their characters and how they progress throughout the play. Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are similar in the fact that each had love, or at least respect, their fathers. Enough to make an attempt to wreak revenge upon their fathers murderers at the risk of their own reputation, freedom, and souls.
Revenge will most often never be the same as justice, as human nature and emotion get in the way of absolute justice. Works Cited Alexandre Dumas, the Bible, Hammurabi's Code, Francis Bacon, Twelve Tables.
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...
In Shakespeare 's The Tragedy of Hamlet, the author conveys that revenge is best served quickly by showing that waiting can give time to the enemy to get rid of you, as well as how a lot of people can get involved and hurt if one does not make a decision about what they want to do. Once Hamlet found out the truth about what happened to his father, he should have acted swiftly to take out his uncle. Instead, he waited, and as he did that, more and more people got involved and ended up dead. Because of his postponement, not only was his own mother a victim, but he himself perished in the end.
Revenge has been used in the same context throughout history. Hundreds of years ago people sought revenge for reasons similar to those of present time. The Oxford English Dictionary has recorded the continuance of the meaning of this term, revenge, as wanting to “repay” a person for their wrongful doings since as early as 1553. Many literal pieces from early time periods have used this word and adjusted it to be a core theme. For example, the early poem, Beowulf, highlights epic revengeful battles between the protagonist and antagonists. The author uses revenge as a motivating component to develop relatable plots and characterizations. The journey of how the protagonist, Beowulf, becomes a noble savoir begins with his battle against the descendant
Laertes has the ability to perform tasks that may be unpleasant or dangerous. Laertes does not simply try to kill someone by thinking cautiously the whole time, but by directly confronting them and facing them head-on. When Laertes returns home to Denmark he even confronts Claudius about the death of his father. Swearing Laertes says “I dare damnation. To this point I stand,/That both the worlds I give to negligence,/Let come what comes, only I’ll be reveng’d/Most thoroughly for my father.” (IV. v. 133-136). With this declaration Laertes plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet and they construct a plan to have Laertes fence with Hamlet and for him to kill him. They instrument a plot of revenge for the death of Polonius, quickly coming up with three ways to kill Hamlet: stabbing him with an unblunted sword, placing poison on the sword, and poisoning Hamlet’s drink (IV. vii.). After they construct this plan they swiftly utilize the plan. Laertes did not wait for the perfect moment, at the perfect time, and at the perfect place. He created the place, time, and moment to carry out the dangerous task. Hamlet, however, waited and waited for what he thought one day would be the perfect moment in which he could kill his uncle. Even when Hamlet had an opportunity to kill Claudius, he talked himself out of it. When compared to Laertes, Hamlet is a coward because of his inability
Finally we arrive at the sword match between Hamlet and Laertes. Hamlet is unaware of Claudius’ poisoned goblet and the poisoned tip of Laertes’ sword. When Laertes cuts Hamlet, he makes the choice to stab Laertes, who would see him dead as well.
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
Revenge has caused the downfall of many a person. Its consuming nature causes one to act recklessly through anger rather than reason. Revenge is an emotion easily rationalized; one turn deserves another. However, this is a very dangerous theory to live by. Throughout Hamlet, revenge is a dominant theme. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all seek to avenge the deaths of their fathers. But in so doing, all three rely more on emotion than thought, and take a very big gamble, a gamble which eventually leads to the downfall and death of all but one of them. King Fortinbras was slain by King Hamlet in a sword battle. This entitled King Hamlet to the land that was possessed by Fortinbras because it was written in a seal'd compact. "…our valiant Hamlet-for so this side of our known world esteem'd him-did slay this Fortinbras." Young Fortinbras was enraged by his father’s murder and sought revenge against Denmark. He wanted to reclaim the land that had been lost to Denmark when his father was killed. "…Now sir, young Fortinbras…as it doth well appear unto our state-but to recover of us, by strong hand and terms compulsative, those foresaid lands so by his father lost…" Claudius becomes aware of Fortinbras’ plans, and in an evasive move, sends a message to the new King of Norway, Fortinbras’ uncle.
“Those who plot the destruction of others often fall themselves” (Phaedrus). This quote was said by a Roman fabulist and it depicts the entire concept of revenge in Hamlet. The nature of revenge causes someone to act upon anger rather than reason. Hamlet takes place in Denmark and is about Hamlet’s uncle who kills his dad to gain power of Denmark. After the killing, Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle. In the play, there are several characters wanting vengeance like that of Hamlet. Throughout the play, Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras all had a tragic death of a family member which caused their decision for revenge. Consequentially, these revenges caused the demise of two characters and the rise of power of another. The retaliation shown by the Prince of Denmark, as well as Laertes led to the downfall of their government.
He has the ability to perform tasks that may be unpleasant or dangerous. Laertes does not simply try to kill someone by thinking cautiously the whole time, but by directly confronting them and facing them head-on. When Laertes returns home to Denmark he even confronts Claudius about the death of his father. Swearing Laertes says “I dare damnation. To this point I stand,/That both the worlds I give to negligence,/Let come what comes, only I’ll be reveng’d/Most throughly for my father.” (IV. v. 133-136). With this declaration Laertes plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet and they construct a plan to have Laertes fence with Hamlet and for him to kill him. They instrument a plot of revenge for the death of Polonius, quickly coming up with three ways to kill Hamlet: stabbing him with an unblunted sword, placing poison on the sword, and poisoning Hamlet’s drink (IV. vii.). After they construct this plan they swiftly utilize the plan. Laertes did not wait for the perfect moment, at the perfect time, and at the perfect place. He created the place, time, and moment to carry out the dangerous task. Hamlet, however, waited and waited for what he thought one day would be the perfect moment in which he could kill his uncle. Even when Hamlet had an opportunity to kill Claudius, he talked himself out of it. When compared to Laertes, Hamlet is a coward because of his inability to
Hamlet contains three plots of revenge throughout the five acts of the play. Young Hamlet, after getting a shocking realization from his father’s ghost, wants to enact a plot of revenge against his uncle. Laertes, who was struck twice in quick succession by the death of his father and sister, wants to kill Hamlet. Away in Norway, Fortinbras wants to take revenge on the entire nation of Denmark for taking his father’s land and life. These three sons all want the same thing, vengeance, but they go about it in wildly different ways, but as Lillian wilds points out, “he also sees himself in the mirrors of Fortinbras [and] Laertes.”(153) It becomes clear that the parallels presented throughout the play are there to further illuminate the flaws of
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.