Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind (Gandhi).” While he had been speaking out against revenge as a whole and not Hamlet specifically, the quote fits, nonetheless. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet mainly centers around Prince Hamlet of Denmark who must create and execute a plot to murder King Claudius, his uncle and stepfather, after the potential ghost of his father reveals that Claudius is his killer. The story follows Hamlet and chronicles the effects of his decisions on those around him. Shakespeare utilizes morbid irony and shifting characterization to warn his audience that revenge leads to one becoming the person that they are trying to exact retaliation onto by chronicling Hamlet’s deteriorating …show more content…
The audience is never entirely sure of Hamlet’s mental state as he begins his, rather short, fake acting career until he accidentally murders Polonius while under the impression that he was Claudius. His senseless act of violence is highlighted by his mother’s cry of, “Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!” after watching her son commit cold-blooded murder right in front of her, tells the audience just how insane he had become (III.iiii.28). This is again proven by his brazen act after, declaring that Polonius was to blame for his own murder and calling the man a “wretched, rash, intruding fool” (III.iiii.32). These actions bring Hamlet’s character ever closer to becoming his uncle in that he, like his uncle, was willing to do anything, even commit murder, to get what he wanted - the throne for Claudius and Claudius’ blood for Hamlet. Shakespeare goes even further with the morbid irony by having Claudius’ son just as desperate to kill Hamlet for murdering his father as Hamlet is to kill Claudius for the exact same reason. Additionally, at the end of the story when Hamlet finally manages to kill Claudius, he dies, ironically, at the hands of Laertes - the son of Polonius whom he had killed in an effort to achieve his goal (Neill). This final scene is Shakespeare's’ way of telling the audience that Hamlet has become Claudius. Shakespeare uses the stark differences in Laertes and Hamlet to pointedly remind his audience of the type of person that Hamlet used to be and how much revenge changed him in this comparison of Hamlet to
He loses both his sister AND his father to Hamlet’s rampage which expectedly infuriates him. “And so I have a father lost; and a sister driven to desperate terms… but my revenge will come.”. Laertes comes home to the destruction of his family and immediately begins plotting with Claudius to kill Hamlet. The revenge ended up backfiring and killing everyone except Horatio, thus proving that they should have left justice to a more cautious and lawful
Hamlet, is unsure who he has stabbed and killed through the curtain, but hopes that it is Claudius. Hamlet concurs with his mother that his actions are reckless and brutal. He quickly refocuses his concerns back to addressing his mother's actions which he veiws as reprehensible. Hamlet’s need for revenge as a result of Claudius’s betrayal against him and his father encourages Hamlet to appear insane. His choice to appear insane drives him to try murder Claudius in an unforeseen way.
Also, in his time of dying, he found out some important information about King Claudius that he would have never discovered without these circumstances. Revenge is powerful, and if not well contained and controlled it can be fatal. From Hamlet I have learned that power and revenge can consume a person if they are not careful and can cause craziness and mass
Serving as a character foil for Hamlet, Laertes is a very unique character. His character throughout the play is very impulsive, through thinking and acting. His father Polonius even tells him that he must be careful on how he acts and gives him advice on how he must act. (Act 1 Scene 3) Besides being impulsive, Laertes is a caring person as well.
In “Hamlet”, Hamlet loses both his father and his mother due to being murdered by a man named Claudius, who also happened to be Hamlet’s uncle. As you could imagine, he now is feeling angry and ready for revenge. Hamlet’s idea of revenge is what is called “an eye for an eye” in other words, he wants revenge. He feels as if the best way to go about the situation is killing claudius for what he did. He has no shame in doing so.
Throughout the play Hamlet continues to act insane and even dies with the act continuing. Even after Hamlet gathers all the evidence that proves Claudius is the murder, Hamlet continues to behave in a strange way. When he mistakenly murders Polonius he does not react as a sane person would. This act enrages Laertes, who then wants to avenge his father’s death. Driven to madness by the murder of his father, Laertes, with the help of Claudius conspires to kill Hamlet.
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet lead the protagonist down a never ending spiral for revenge on his father’s murderer, which ultimately lead to his own death and six others. I will uncover how Hamlet’s quest for revenge and his own personal arrogance and pride made him mentally unstable which lead to his own demise. Act I, Scene II Hamlets father has been dead for two month and Hamlet is revealed wearing all black and mourning the death of his father. He is confronted by the reality at court in the kingdom that people have moved on from the mourning of his father and are celebrating the marriage of King Claudius and his mother Gertrude the Queen. These gestures make Hamlet depressed, uneasy and suspicious of everyone’s happiness.
Hamlet eventually kills Claudius like his father told him to, but only did it after his mother, Gertrude, drank the poison that Claudius meant to give Hamlet. This is a result of external action from all the sorrows that was building up in Hamlet’s life. This brings us to our next character, Gertrude, Claudius’s wife and Hamlets
The story of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a story of betrayal, revenge, and intrigue. Hamlet, the title character discovers that his uncle killed his father and married his mother effectively stealing the throne. Hamlet decides he must kill his uncle Claudius as revenge for what he had done. However, as the new king, Hamlet isn't sure how to get to him, so he decides to fake madness, but his plan backfires as Claudius doesn't trust him and makes sure he is always watched. In his fumbled plan for revenge, Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, forces Polonius's son Laertes to seek revenge against him, and drives Ophelia crazy causing her to kill herself.
Hamlet, also, could not get over the death of his father. He found out when his father’s ghost came back that his brother, and Hamlet’s uncle, murdered him. He then was willing to do anything possible to get revenge on Claudius, his uncle. Both of
The moment that Hamlet learns from both his mother and Laertes that Claudius is the cause of their deaths, Hamlet finally comes to the realization that he was waited too long, which has resulted in the death of two he cares closely for. He understands that he has received enough validation, which is why he is finally able to kill Claudius. In fact, it is fitting that Claudius is killed with the same weapons that he had poisoned and rigged in order to ensure Hamlet’s death. Either way, it is evident that once Hamlet comes to the realization of his true values, he can then overcome all obstacles in order to pursue his revenge. Therefore, William Shakespeare illustrates through Hamlet’s character that once a person comes to terms with their own values, he will be able to find purpose and
Claudius, as seen in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is both intelligent and clever, two traits that, put together, complement his manipulative and dangerous nature. Due to his cunning nature he portrays the role of a very complex villain. The death of King Hamlet by Claudius results in Prince Hamlet to act out of character, which thus resulted in the tragic death of Polonius and Ophelia. While Hamlet and Gertrude were having conversation, Polonius was hiding behind the huge carpet that was hanging on the wall. Unknowingly, Hamlet stabs Polonius.
Hamlet is stressed over his own father's murder, but he has to plan the right way to murder his Uncle Claudius. At one point, he thought he had finally murdered Claudius but it turned out to be Polonius, the chief counselor to the king . This murder only complicated things for Hamlet and caused him to be more confused about what to do with the situation. Shakespeare decided to depict Hamlet in a way that shows his flaws because it creates drama in the play.
Hamlet is William Shakespeare 's renowned tale of mystery, intrigue, and murder, centered on a young misguided prince who can only trust himself. Some may say that the actions of Prince Hamlet throughout the play are weak and fearful, displaying a tendency to procrastinate and showing an apathetic nature towards his family and peers. Others spin a tale of a noble young scholar, driven mad by the cold-blooded murder of his father by his uncle. In truth, I believe Hamlet is neither of these things. Hamlet is a sort of amalgamation of the two, a bundle of contradictions thrown together into one conflicting but very human mess of a character.
Through the entirety of the play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, the characters were overcome with the need for revenge as the outcome of many deaths. Therefore, no one was happy through “Hamlet” and it resulted in a tragedy. The character Hamlet played a big role in turning towards revenge and never would classify himself as being happy. Hamlet displays positive and negative behavior throughout the play. Hamlet exhibits strengths and weaknesses as well, although his weaknesses of over-thinking, bitterness, and his inability to accept the death of his father overshadow his strengths.