An Analysis of Shakespeare’s Hamlet - the Theme of Revenge

An analysis of Shakespeare’s Hamlet 

The Theme of Revenge

Sean Wayne

Thursday, July 21st, 2016

Ms. Jacyln Kocalevski

ENG4U

Word Count: 1082

Revenge causes one to act blindly through rage, rather than through reason. It is based on the principle of an eye for an eye, but this principle is not always an intelligent theory to live by. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes, Fortinbras and Hamlet are all looking to avenge the deaths of their father’s. They all act on their internal emotion, but the way the characters go about it is very different. The heads of the three families are murdered, the sons of these families promised to avenge their death, and two of the three sons died while taking on their acts of vengeance, while the third rises to power. In other words, it led to the downfall of Hamlet and Laertes, and the rise of Fortinbras.

 All three of the murders affect the sons of the deceased in the same way; making them angry. This managed to give all of them something in common. For people during this time, seeking revenge was customary and is a part on one’s honor, and was considered to be something that had to be done. This evidently makes revenge a prominent theme in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Fortinbras took his revenge out in the right way and gained power in the end. However, both Laertes and Hamlet used force to take on their revenge. “But I am very sorry, good Horatio, that to Laertes I forgot myself; For, by the image of my cause, I see The portraiture of his: I'll court his favors. But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me into a towering passion.” (5.2. 79-84) In this quote, Hamlet compares himself to Laertes as being like himself since they are both acting to avenge the murders of their fathers, which shows that hey are both after the same thing. Back to the original point, the lack of thought used in acting on their revenge led to the deaths of both Laertes and Hamlet. This displays how revenge can corrupts one mind so deeply which does not allow the person to revaluate their plan.

Hamlet was deeply affected by his father's death. He managed to communicate with the ghost of his father, King Hamlet. The ghost stated that his father's death was a murder by the hand of his uncle, King Claudius, who poured poison into King Hamlet’s ear while he was sleeping. Hamlet was blown away by this, and after using the play to find out if the ghost was telling the truth or not, promised to avenge his father's death. Hamlet says to the Ghost, “Speak; I am bound to hear.” He means that it is his duty to listen to the spirit of his father. The Ghost replies: “So art thou to revenger, when thou shalt hear” (1.5.7). Hamlet had the chance to do so when King Claudius had his back to him in the chapel, but he thought that he should not because he didn’t know if Claudius was asking for forgiveness for committing the murder of King Hamlet. This shows Hamlets indecisiveness. Hamlet waits until he can kill his uncle while he is performing a sin. In the end, the sin is Claudius’ plan with Laertes to poison him.

Furthermore, an argument could be made that the reason that Hamlet did not kill Claudius earlier was because he was being smart and did not want him to have a chance to go to heaven, this can’t hold true. Hamlet would know that all Claudius was after is power, and that he would never try to take back his actions. He would realize that even if the king tried to be forgiven for the murder of his brother, his thoughts of power and greed would never let him have a chance to go to heaven. Hamlet did not think clearly about how and when to kill Claudius. This situation in the chapel shows how revenge causes Hamlet to experience a lack of intelligence, and allows the revenge to corrupt his mind.