Explore the presentation of revenge in ‘Hamlet’ Essay

Revenge is a winder theme in small t aver. It is non only essential to on a lower floorstanding hamlets character, it tenors the structure for the whole play, supporting and overlapping early(a) authorized themes that arise. Though it is Hamlets retaliation that forms the basis for the story, tied into this is the vengeance of Laertes and Fortinbras, whose spots in more ways mirror Hamlets possess. By juxtaposing these avengers, Shakespeare draws attention to their disagreeent approaches to the business of retaliation and how they resolve these.see moretheme of avenge in hamletThe thought process of penalise is first introduced by the appearance of the ghost in act 1 Scene 5, and linked to this is the theme of hell and the after life-time. At the end of this nip, Hamlet is irreversibly bound to revenge for the duration of the play, speak, I am bound to hear So art thou to revenge. The ghost appears with the sole aim of using his discussion to obtain revenge on his br separate, and so ein truth word he speaks is designed to enrage Hamlet and stir in him a desire for vengeance. He uses very emotive language to exaggerate the enormity of the crime, and he concentrates Hamlets attention on the treachery of Claudius.His description of the murder itself demonises Claudius and contains many references to true sin, the serpent that did sting thy conveys life now wears his cr avow. Hamlet, who has been brought up with absolute nonions of intimately and evil, is susceptible to these religious references, o all you host of heaven O earth And shall I couple hell? It is ironic that the ghost refers to his own torment, trapped in purgatory, in point to demonstrate to Hamlet the impairment of the spotlight, yet this serves only to warn Hamlet of the executable consequences of revenge.Instead of enraging him, Hamlet is now wary of acting rashly or without proof as it could place him in a similar situation to his commence. The separate revengers in the play do not have this wariness, they act immediately without considering the ghostlike consequences and it is unclear whether Hamlet would have had a similar attitude had he not been inadvertently alerted to this danger by anile Hamlets ghost. Though Hamlets immediate reaction to radicals of his fathers murder is one of anger and a desire for action, by the end of the scene his desire for revenge is already blunted, for a occur of rea passwords. inappropriate Laertes and Fortinbras, Hamlet receives the information of his fathers murder from a secret and unreliable source, which means that not only is he changeable of the truth, he is laboured to act out his revenge in secret. passim the play, Hamlet frustrates the audience with his lack of action, especially as all almost him his contemporaries are visibly taking their own revenge. Fortinbras is in a similar situation to Hamlet, as his father had been murdered by overaged Hamlet and his land taken. The land itself i s worthless and Fortinbras stands to lose more than he can gain yet like Hamlet it is a government issue of honour.Both are exacting revenge for aroundthing that nobody else cares for or remembers a dead king for whom nobody grieves and a patch of worthless land. commence of Hamlets dilemma is the moral question of whether his desire for revenge is worth disrupting and endangering the lives of all those around him, whether tis nobler in the mind to languish the slings and arrows of dire fortune, or take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them However, unlike Hamlet Fortinbras does not pause to contemplate the idea of revenge he acts on it, sharked up a list of anarchical resolutes and marched on Denmark.The difference in their characters is obvious Fortinbras character matches his name, strong in arm. He is a man of action, not of words, he has a strong presence and a commanding attitude which demands obedience, Go captain, from me distinguish the Danish king I will dot my overlord. Fortinbras situation is infinitely less complex than Hamlets own the boundaries mingled with good and evil, personal and public, right and wrong, are for him, clearly defined. He is able to act openly, un make up ones mindd by friends and family.Hamlet on the other hand is surrounded by people who have obligations to some(prenominal) himself and the king, and is whence unsure of whom to trust. Hamlets dilemma is founded on this that any action he takes carries with it risks and possible consequences which could destroy the foundation of his very existence, so he hesitates and does nothing, all the small-arm hating himself for his inaction, makes us rather bear those ills we have than aerify to others that we know not of.The problem for Hamlet is that the murder is too close to home, so he is unable to define the boundaries between personal and public. He cannot publicly anticipate Claudius without proof because he risks losing his claim to the thrown , alienating his friends and family and being exiled from Denmark, as it would be seen as an attempt by the prince to regain the throne, rather than a son avenging his fathers murder. On top of this Hamlet hopes to avoid jeopardising his relationship with his mother, but at the same time he wants revenge on her for her betrayal.In order to fully understand Hamlets psyche and therefore the reason behind his actions, it is important to understand how religion affected all aspects of life in Elizabethan times. It was believed that a person who was able to acknowledge his sins out front death would be absolved and therefore go to heaven, but if a person were unable to do this their soul would be condemned to purgatory until they were able to confess and repent. Old Hamlets soul is in purgatory and Hamlet wants Claudius to suffer the same fate, a villain kills my father and for that, I his sole son do this same villain send to heaven.Why, this is hire and salary not revenge. For this reason Hamlet has to wait for the opportune moment to kill Claudius, when he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, at game, a-swearing or about some act that has no relish of salvation in it. However, the other problem which religion creates is that of Hamlets own afterlife. If murder for revenge is wrong then by killing Claudius, Hamlet condemns his own soul along with that of Claudius. On the other hand, Hamlet is honour bound to exact revenge for his fathers murder, and the consequences of not doing so could be even more drastic.Even self-annihilation offers no solution, as the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose term no traveller returns, puzzles the will, and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others we know not of. Hamlets indecisiveness is not just a consequence of his uncertainty about the consequences his actions will have. He is in aflame turmoil at this point in the play, and is feeling betrayed and rejected by those whom he had relied on so remote in his life.His anger and frustration at his mothers behaviour is amplified by her lack of grief, and his desire for revenge at the start of the play is mainly fuelled by his own grief and a sense of injustice. His anger towards Claudius diminishes, as he is distracted form revenge by more immediate concerns, such as his relationships with Ophelia and with his mother. detonate of Hamlets feelings of isolation stem from what he sees as betrayal by his friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and his sports fan Ophelia.Hamlets critical relationship with Claudius forces all three to take sides, and decide to whom they owe the strongest allegiance. Ophelias father Polonious, Claudius right hand man, instructs her to shun Hamlet and, as his dependant she is forced to obey him. Women were viewed as property during Shakespearian times, and without a male protector her future prospects were slim. Also, the emphasis placed on family craft and loyalty was cold greater, so to disobey her father would be equal to treason.Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were given a direct order from their king, so to disobey would actually have been treason. Added to this was their ignorance of Hamlets situation due to both Hamlet and Claudius lie, which meant that they were unsympathetic with Hamlets mental instability and obsession with old Hamlets death. Hamlet refuses to recognise the impossible situation his friends were placed in, and resents them for abandoning him when he needs them most, even though it is his feud with Claudius that has forced them to into it.Feeling betrayed, he has no compunctions in using them to further his own gains. All three are, ultimately, fatalities of Hamlets vendetta against Claudius, as Hamlet brings about the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and drives Ophelia to hydrophobia and suicide. Ophelia especially is very much a victim, as in obeying her father she loses Hamlet, and when Hamlet kills Polonious she los es him as well. With Laertes away, she has no-one left to protect her and is very much alone.In many ways, Hamlet himself is a victim of revenge, as he utilise as a motherfucker by his father, to instigate revenge against old Hamlets killer. By placing this obligation on Hamlet, on top of all his emotional instability, Old Hamlet effectively pushes his son over the edge and renders him incompetent of decisiveness. It is unsurprising that Hamlet is unable to take revenge or in fact make any significant decisions, as he is under considerable emotional and mental strain. Laertes is in a similar situation, as Hamlet his friend has murdered his father and driven his sister to madness.His unsafe state of mind makes it easy for Claudius to use him as a tool against Hamlet, so the two friends become instruments in the power struggle between the two brothers, a struggle which crosses the divide between life and death. Laertes situation resembles Hamlet in other ways. They are joined by th eir beloved for Ophelia, Hamlet as a lover and Laertes as a brother. When Laertes returns to follow his father murdered, he faces the same dilemma that Hamlet originally had in that, as far as he knew, the king of Denmark had murdered his father.Unlike Hamlet who promptly chose to employ deceit in order to beleaguer Claudiuss deceit, when Laertes discovers this he immediately confronts Claudius. By doing this he achieves his revenge far sooner than Hamlet, but consequently becomes a tool for Claudius against Hamlet. These two revengers differ in their approach to revenge, but ultimately they come to the same end. They both fall victim to the corruption that surrounds the court of Denmark, with Claudius at the centre. Claudius use of deceit throughout the play hides the truth under a overwhelm of dishonesty.Claudius uses other people as tools to achieve his aims, so if they fail he escapes the brunt. He uses Polonious, he uses the king of Norway against Fortinbras, and finally he uses Laertes against Hamlet himself. His corrupting influence means that nobody in Denmarck knows the truth, and Hamlets only attempt to break this veil of deceit causes the death of Polonious instead of Claudius. In act 3 scene 3, Shakespeare uses the curtain concealing Polonious as a metaphor for the corruption touch Denmark, making it impossible for Hamlet to take revenge as he is unaware of the truth.Though Hamlet tries to cut through the curtain, he fails and ends up killing the wrong man. This shows him that it is no good trying to confront the problem, he must remove the cloak of deceit and reveal Claudius for what he really is before he can take his revenge. Though Hamlet tries to irritate around this problem by being deceitful himself, and Laertes tries to confront the problem face on, both end up being used as weapons in a fight that kills them both. The ending of the play is very consolatory despite, or perhaps because of, the deaths of nearly all the characters.For a neat ending, it was necessary that all the characters achieve their revenge, and as there were so many intertwining strands of revenge, it was infallible that a large proportion of characters would be killed. The play ends with a new beginning, as the corruption at the heart of Denmark dies with Claudius and Hamlet. Hamlet succeeded in taking revenge on Claudius and revealing the truth about his character, and Laertes succeeded in killing Hamlet but died in the process. All this clears the way for Fortinbras, who we see is far more suited to leadership than the indecisive Hamlet.Fortinbras was more successful in his revenge than Hamlet and Laertes for a number of reasons. He is not held bandaging by the dilemma that freezes Hamlet of having to choose between betraying his fathers trust or losing the throne and alienating everyone he loves. Hamlet is held back by his law of proximity to Claudius and the situation, whereas Fortinbras is free to act uninfluenced by the people arou nd him. other factor in Fortinbras favour is that, unlike both Hamlet and Laertes, Fortinbras do the decision to take revenge alone, so it was entirely his responsibility.Revenge has to be nurtured in Hamlet and Laertes, and both are used as tools in the ongoing feud between the two brothers. Fortinbras is a man of action, and doesnt waste time pondering the philosophy behind the revenge mentality, as Hamlet does. And unlike Laertes, he plans and organises his revenge, he doesnt rush slap-up into confrontation unprepared. In fact, he represents the best qualities of both of them, so it is adaption that it is he who emerges with not only his life, but the throne of Denmark to go with it.