Revenge Themes in Hamlet - 1077 Words

In the play ‘Hamlet written by William Shakespeare in Elizabethan times, the theme of revenge is a constant throughout the plot. Not only does it underlie almost every scene, but it also has a major effect on the story as a whole. Two of the main revenge plots within the play are Hamlets aim to avenge his father by killing his uncle, the king Claudius, and Laertes aim to avenge the murder of his father by killing Hamlet. These two revenge plots play a major role in presenting to the audience the theme of revenge. There are many reasons why Hamlets revenge plot is important to the development of the play; most are specific to the story-line. Hamlet is set upon revenge because of instructions from a ghost, which has taken his†¦show more content†¦The most famous quote of this play, To be or not to be, that is the question is centred on this quandary. Hamlet, as he believes, has two choices to decide between. One is to kill his uncle and release his father from purgatory, where he is languishing presently, Doomd for a certain term to walk the night, and for the day confind to fast in fires. By doing this, Hamlet himself will almost certainly die in his efforts and go to hell as a murderer. The other choice he has is to not kill Claudius, which means that he will leave his father in Purgatory, but he himself will not die and go to hell. We get an idea of this terrible ‘catch twenty-two, so to speak, in many of Hamlets early soliloquies. Ultimately, possibly the main effect of the revenge theme is that nearly every main character in the plot has died by the end of the play. While this is in many cases not perhaps a direct consequence of revenge, the deaths do still occur in a non-direct way because of the ideas of Hamlets revenge. For example, the death of Polonius is not because Hamlet wishes to kill him to get revenge, but it is because Hamlet thinks Polonius is Claudius, the one he actually wishes to kill. His confusion is shown by the quote, Nay, I know not: is it the King? This is much the same for the death of Ophelia. Hamlet does not kill Ophelia outright, but it is most likely because of Hamlets actions towards her that Ophelia commits suicide Ââ€"Show MoreRelatedTheme Of Revenge In Hamlet1763 Words   |  8 PagesRevenge is one of the deepest instincts common to humanity. Different people emit different purposes of revenge and are most likely filled with an internal confliction of emotions. Once that indiv idual gets his/her revenge, a feeling of justice is established in the mind. Unfortunately, many people blindly take revenge without thinking of their actions or the consequences and believe that they will be able to move on after they take revenge. 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