Hamlet as a Revenge Tragedy
Revenge tragedy was a brief sub genre of tragedy at the end of the
sixteenth century, despite some clashes with the teachings of the
church. In a revenge tragedy a crime, normally murder, has gone
unpunished, because the criminal has too much power and cannot be
reached by the law. This fact is revealed by a ghost to someone
closely connected with the victim, laying on him the responsibility to
revenge the crime. The revenger is usually an outsider who lacks
access to the criminal, who is at the centre of a completely corrupt
court. Poison plays a large part and methods of killing are intricate,
insidious and imaginative. The revenger dies at the end of the play,
as he has gone against religion by taking the power of revenge from
God. There will be many other deaths as the corrupt court is cleansed.
Revenge tragedies contain visual references to death such as
graveyards, bones and skulls. Most revenge tragedies have an Italian
setting and Machiavellian characterisation.
One example of a revenge tragedy is 'The Spanish Tragedy' by Thomas
Kyd (c1590). This play has a revenger lacking access to the criminal,
finally carrying out the revenge by intricate means and dying in the
process.
'Hamlet' is a play, which is essentially about seeking the truth. From
the very beginning Hamlet is trying to find the truth about life and
death. The opening scene of the play begins to suggest many questions,
such as the reasons why Hamlet's father died, which are to be
answered. Hamlet continues throughout the play to seek the truth and
reasons for people's actions. He is a deep thinker. This
characteristic becomes...
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...t' is very much a play of three dimensional characters. The deep
psychological character studies and universal themes of matters such
as truth, lies, life and death make it a timeless piece, which has
outlived other revenge tragedies. To call 'Hamlet' merely a revenge
tragedy is to look at a single aspect of this multi-faceted drama. In
most revenge tragedies the revenger is a fairly simple character but
in 'Hamlet' we find a depressed man, a philosopher and a character who
is heavily religious presented with a dilemma in which his duty
conflicts with his qualms. Hamlet is the character who makes this play
what it is. The central character who should be cold and devious is
one who longs for death and debates which is worse, killing himself or
killing Claudius.
Bibliography
Jenkins, Harold (ed.), 'Hamlet' (1982)
Shakespeare wrote hundreds of pieces, from sonnets to plays. Hamlet is one of his most
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.
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-...
Imagine a play in which a prince is seeking revenge of his father’s murder and ultimately succeeds. Now, imagine a play with the same plot, but with young love, dramatic scenes denying this love, and true madness that leads to suicide. Which sounds better? Which would hold your attention longer? Odds are that the second play described is the choice you have chosen or unknowingly chosen in your thoughts. If it is not, then you would be missing out on one of the most famous plays written by William Shakespeare. Both plays described have the fundamental plot of this Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but only the second is the true play that Shakespeare intended to be performed. Only the second play includes the young, lovesick and distraught Ophelia who separates the first described play from the second. Ophelia may not be the star of the play like Hamlet, but through her transformation into a state of madness along with her role in the only true romance in the play, we learn more about several characters and remain intrigued in the play.
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.
Hamlet is a bitter tragedy of revenge and deceit. Unbeknownst to Hamlet, his father, the king of Denmark, is murdered by his own brother, Claudius — who then marries the queen and assumes the throne. Hamlet is visited by his father’s ghost, who compels him to enact revenge upon his uncle — but spare his mother. Hamlet finally decides to stage a play in which there is a poisoning scene, meant to stir his uncle into panic. Hamlet’s plan is successful, but he, in a fit of rage, accidentally...
“Revenge is sweet but you got to stay alive to taste it” composed by David and Leigh Eddings is a beautiful way revenge can be illustrated. By definition, revenge is a legitimate response to political, family, personal or legal transgression. This act of supposed justice is epically epitomized in “William Shakespeare’s Hamlet”, arguably the greatest drama of all time. Being a revenge tragedy, William Shakespeare draws on interiority, external and internal conflict as well as moral justification to illustrate a mosaic of images and in doing so, demonstrates the dichotomy of whether or not revenge is as simple as it seems to be.
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.
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).
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.
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
Whether it is kings, presidents, or ordinary people, revenge is an act that all human do at some point. Revenge is on of the main themes in Hamlet and like many others, today it is more relevant than ever. In Hamlet, King Hamlet is murdered by his brother Claudius. King Hamlet’s ghost reveals himself to his son Hamlet and tells him to seek revenge on the new king and his homicidal uncle.
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.
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.
In this essay I will be writing about whether Hamlet is a revenge tragedy or not, I will have an introduction which will introduce the meaning of a revenge tragedy, then I will have a main body of text in which I will explain why Hamlet is a true revenge tragedy and finally I will have a conclusion. “What is a revenge tragedy?” Well, a revenge tragedy is when a character takes vengeance for a murdered victim, the character is usually a family member of the avenged victim. A Revenge tragedy conventionally results in the death of both the murderer and the avenger. This type of play was very popular during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.