The Role of Revenge in "Hamlet"

Hamlet is a play based on revenge. Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, marries Claudius, Hamlet's uncle after killing his own brother. Hamlet is visited by a ghost of his father, discovers that his uncle Claudius was the one who killed his father, his father secretly tells Hamlet what happened. The author, Neil Babra, states,” Hurry and tell me all, so that I may fall to my revenge as quickly as one falls in love”. Hamlet pretends to be crazy and the rejection of love towards Ophelia drives her crazy too and results in them both dying.

The statement an eye for an eye is used in life but is overly expressed in Hamlet. Losing their fathers, Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras is taking revenge on the people who killed them by using intense violence. Many of the characters in Hamlet suffer unfortunate deaths from the result in an attempt to get revenge.

Hamlet has lost all trust in his friends and no longer trusting his own self when they follow a command they got from the king.

Get quality help now

KarrieWrites

Verified writer

Proficient in: Free Essays

5 (339)

“ KarrieWrites did such a phenomenal job on this assignment! He completed it prior to its deadline and was thorough and informative. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were Hamlet's childhood friends. King Claudius told them to go spy on him because of his “madness”. When he killed Polonius, Claudius thought it was best to send him off to England to be killed. Hamlet felt betrayed by his closest friend and that made him even angrier. Nothing hurts more than being betrayed by your closest friend. Everything that has happened, the only person he could trust is Horatio.

Hamlet also wants to get revenge on his mother because she married his uncle after his father died.

He is using a different approach to get revenge on her. The approach he is taking on his mother is making her feel terrible and make her realize what kind of person she has married. The book Hamlet, states, “A bloody deed. Almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king and marry his brother.” Then, Gertrude finally figures out who she married and how bad he is. She was so oblivious to what was happening. Again, Hamlet takes revenge on Claudius for marrying his mother and killing her. Lastly, Claudius accidentally kills his wife, Gertrude, and it makes Hamlet even angrier that he wants to take revenge on Claudius even more. It shows that he is being careless when he doesn't try and take the cup from Gertrude. Fortinbras` father was killed during a battle with Hamlet's father. Fortinbras wants to get back the land his father lost in the battle.

Laertes is wanting to get revenge for his father because he was killed by Hamlet. Polonius was killed when he was spying on Hamlet and his mother talking. Hamlet heard a noise and stabbed whoever was behind the curtain. After hearing about his father's death, he heads back to Denmark right away. He thought the king had something to do with his death but he found out who it truly was, Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes discuss on how to get revenge on Hamlet. The author Neil, states, “Indeed, not even a holy church can offer refuge to that murder, Hamlet! Revenge shall have no bounds!” They finally come up with a way to kill Hamlet in a very cruel way. They are going to fool Hamlet into a duel with Laertes. To make sure Hamlet's death is going to be successful, they will dip Laertes` sword into poison and if that doesn't work out they will have a cupful of poison for him to drink out of. The book Hamlet, states, “I brought some oil from a hauler so deadly that if you dip a knife in it, no medicine in the world can save the man scratched with it.”

Once they got Hamlet to duel with Laertes, they prepared everything. They planned on how he was going to kill Hamlet without causing any trouble. During the match, Claudius offers Hamlet the poisoned drink but instead, Gertrude was the one to drink it and it ends up killing her. While dueling, Hamlet is scratched and he noticed that the tip of the sword had poison on it. Hamlet then takes his sword from him now Hamlet ends up with the poisonous sword. Then, Hamlet wounds Laertes with the poisonous sword, and Claudius realizes that Laertes is about to die. Laertes' last thing he said to Hamlet is the plan that Claudius and himself had made and he also forgives Hamlet for killing his father, Polonius. Before Hamlet's death, he finally takes his revenge on Claudius. Hamlet then forces Claudius to drink the rest of the poison cup and it quickly kills him. Hamlet finally got revenge for his father's death. Finally, Hamlet realizes he is going to die and tells his trusted friend, Horatio to tell his story to the people then he is finally dead.