Shakespearean revenge tragedy is most remarkable in Hamlet, where no happy ending occurs for any of the characters. External forces steer Hamlet’s internal considerations. The internal is what is going on in Hamlet’s mind, presumably what is right and what is just. The external are constant pressures coming in from an outside source. Equally, both forces contribute to the development of Hamlet’s character; from a melancholy man who could not make his mind up to a courageous and ready man. Moreover, leaves Hamlet on an emotional rollercoaster contemplating over and over in his mind the nature of his action. In what may be Shakespeare’s most remarkable soliloquy “To Be or Not to Be . . .” (3.1.1), Hamlet endeavors to contemplate the righteousness of life over death and his suicide. Hamlet cannot escape the feeling of being trapped internally and weighing the moral ramifications of life and death. These forces …show more content…
The question arises, did Hamlet love Ophelia? Although there is evidence Hamlet did love her, he needed her to believe that she was insane along with the other’s so as to act on his father’s revenge. The external appearance of the ghost and more, the wedding affected Hamlet’s internal thoughts and external actions of his love for Ophelia. Wich, is apparent in the nunnery scene. “ Get thee to a nunnery, go, Farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go, and quickly go too. Farewell” (3.1.138-142). In the Elizabethan era, a nun was another word for a prostitute. Hamlet’s mother’s behavior has colored his thoughts of all women. However, Ophelia thinks he is talking out of his insanity. “Heavenly power, restore him” (31. 143). Ophelia prays that God brings the Hamlet she knows and loves back. When Claudius and Gertrude hear about the conversation, they affirm his madness as well as her father,
"Hamlet" is a revenge tragedy written by William Shakespeare. The setting of the story is in the middle ages around the 14th or 15th century. The play is mainly set in the royal palace in Elsinore, a city in Denmark. The story features plenty of deaths and a grueling revenge plot set by our main protagonist, Hamlet. What made "Hamlet" famous was not only it 's classic murderous story line, but also the way that Shakespeare puts together complex scenes. Act III, scene ii was a particular scene in "Hamlet" that captured Shakespeare 's literary genius because he used this scene to advance the play even further. What made this scene stand out are a couple of reasons. First, in this scene, hamlet appears to be more in control of his behavior than other scenes which proves that his sanity is still intact and showing that his insanity is just a decoy for his true plans. Second, this is the scene where Shakespeare revealed to the audience that the ghost
The theme of revenge is expanded and created by the ghost of King Hamlet because not only does he instruct others to seek revenge but he has such a powerful reach that characters, mainly Prince Hamlet, become driven by this want for revenge. Prince Hamlet shows his eagerness for revenge by saying that “Hast me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge” (34). As the text progresses the message or theme of revengeance fully surfaces when those who are driven by revenge, Laertes and Prince Hamlet, lure themselves to their own demise and this showcases the evil in chasing revenge. In addition, Shakespeare not only uses the theme of revenge but also uses the almost opposite theme of patience to show what mankind “should be and what not to be”. The following shows the outcome of Fortinbras’s patience, “I have some rights of memory in this kingdom, / Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me” (177). In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the ghost of King Hamlet as a representation and establisher of the theme of revenge and by the end of the tragedy shows how the characters, Prince Hamlet and Laertes, who followed this path lead themselves to their deaths; however, Shakespeare uses Fortinbras to represent the theme of patience and how not seeking revenge or acting upon impulses, like Hamlet and Laertes, led him to the throne of Denmark. Moreover, even though the King Hamlet’s ghost appears in the text for a limited time he plays a significant role in the development of other
Hamlet: Revenge Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is a tragic play consisting of numerous. death. The snare of the snare. The deaths that took place played a very important role in the unfolding of the play. In reading this play the reader can almost guess who was going to die.
Throughout the entire story of Hamlet there was a main theme. Sons trying to get revenge for their father’s murders. Both Laertes and Hamlet thought that they must avenge their father’s murder, however, their murders could not have been more different. Hamlet’s father was murdered out of cold blood by his brother Claudius who wanted to be king. Polonius, however, was murdered by Hamlet thinking that he was Claudius. Polonius put himself into that predicament though by spying on Hamlet. Thereby Laertes was not so much justified in trying to kill his father’s murderer as misinformed about what really had happened. King Hamlet was a great man according to Hamlet and never did anything even remotely deserving of death. So Hamlet was better justified in his quest to get revenge for his father’s murder.
Vengeance. A vicious, violent way to make oneself feel better about an offense against them. Throughout the tragedy of Hamlet revenge is a recurring theme, amongst all of the characters. Whether this revenge is in physical form, or mental form, it is equally hurtful. Mahatma Ghandi said, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” Ghandi is literally saying that if one person commits a revengeful act, it will create a continuing reaction of bitterness and violence throughout everyone. This quote is highly significant throughout the duration of Hamlet, as it portrays almost precisely, both the plotline of the story, as well as the conclusion. From the murder of King Hamlet to the murder of Prince Hamlet the tragedy is filled with violent acts of revenge.
Imagine a play in which a prince is seeking revenge of his father’s murder and ultimately succeeds. Now, imagine a play with the same plot, but with young love, dramatic scenes denying this love, and true madness that leads to suicide. Which sounds better? Which would hold your attention longer? Odds are that the second play described is the choice you have chosen or unknowingly chosen in your thoughts. If it is not, then you would be missing out on one of the most famous plays written by William Shakespeare. Both plays described have the fundamental plot of this Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but only the second is the true play that Shakespeare intended to be performed. Only the second play includes the young, lovesick and distraught Ophelia who separates the first described play from the second. Ophelia may not be the star of the play like Hamlet, but through her transformation into a state of madness along with her role in the only true romance in the play, we learn more about several characters and remain intrigued in the play.
In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Hamlet develops a love interest for a woman named Ophelia in which he was perceived by the other characters to be crazy in love over her. Hamlet, although seemingly crazy at times, demonstrates his love for Ophelia in the play. In the beginning of the play, Ophelia explains to her father the love she felt from Hamlet, “My lord, he hath importuned me with love in honorable fashion… and hath given countenance to his speech my lord, with almost all the holy vows of heaven” (1.3.119-123). Hamlet was so in love with Ophelia, he confessed his feelings to her, and was ready to marry her.
Revenge is a recurring theme in Hamlet. Although Hamlet wants to avenge his father’s death, he is afraid of what would result from this. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet’s unwillingness to revenge appears throughout the text; Shakespeare exhibits this through Hamlet’s realization that revenge is not the right option, Hamlet‘s realization that revenge is the same as the crime which was already committed, and his understanding that to revenge is to become a “beast” and to not revenge is as well (Kastan 1).
‘’The memory be green’’ (1.2.0-5). It has not been much time since Hamlet Sr. died, his memory stays fresh, but his brother, Claudius, has already married his wife and taken his kingdom. Claudius says he does it for the good of the Denmark, in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare. In addition; Hamlet cannot stop his hatred and anger toward his mother and uncle. He gets devastated and goes in grief by the loss of his father. The appearance of ghost and the truth about his father’s death drags him to revenge. He moves from grief and depression to revenge and into insanity. The insanity that starts with as an act becomes real and destroys Hamlet and his loved ones.
Hamlet is without any reservations, one of Shakespeare's most mystifying plays. Although the play has a concise story, it is filled with many uncertainties relating to different issues behind the plot. The reader is left with many uncertainties about the true feelings of prince Hamlet. One question in particular is, did Hamlet really love Ophelia? This dispute can be reinforced either way, however I believe Hamlet was truly in love with Ophelia. Support for my decision comes from Hamlet's treatment towards Ophelia as shown throughout the play, but especially in Act 3, Scene 2, and at Ophelia?s grave in Scene 1 of Act 5.
Throughout Hamlet, each character’s course of revenge surrounds them with corruption, obsession, and fatality. Shakespeare shows that revenge proves to be extremely problematic. Revenge causes corruption by changing an individual’s persona and nature. Obsession to revenge brings forth difficulties such as destroyed relationships. Finally, revenge can be the foundation to the ultimate sacrifice of fatality. Hamlet goes to show that revenge is never the correct route to follow, and it is always the route with a dead
Hamlet is one of the most often-performed and studied plays in the English language. The story might have been merely a melodramatic play about murder and revenge, butWilliam Shakespeare imbued his drama with a sensitivity and reflectivity that still fascinates audiences four hundred years after it was first performed. Hamlet is no ordinary young man, raging at the death of his father and the hasty marriage of his mother and his uncle. Hamlet is cursed with an introspective nature; he cannot decide whether to turn his anger outward or in on himself. The audience sees a young man who would be happiest back at his university, contemplating remote philosophical matters of life and death. Instead, Hamlet is forced to engage death on a visceral level, as an unwelcome and unfathomable figure in his life. He cannot ignore thoughts of death, nor can he grieve and get on with his life, as most people do. He is a melancholy man, and he can see only darkness in his future—if, indeed, he is to have a future at all. Throughout the play, and particularly in his two most famous soliloquies, Hamlet struggles with the competing compulsions to avenge his father’s death or to embrace his own. Hamlet is a man caught in a moral dilemma, and his inability to reach a resolution condemns himself and nearly everyone close to him.
Like all Shakespearean tragedies, Hamlet’s ending is no different in end-result. Hamlet’s separation from society and his self-imposed confusion caused by over-thinking results in the unnecessary deaths of most of the major characters. In turn, Hamlet’s pre-occupation with factors inessential to his mission of revenge slows down his action. It is this internal struggle that illustrates the intensity and complexity of Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy, something that is often looked at from a psychological perspective.
With more than seven billion people on Earth, it is fascinating to consider how every individual is unique yet also similar in various ways. Four hundred years after it was written, Shakespeare’s Hamlet with its themes and characters is still able to illuminate the essence of individuality in human nature. In his explanation of vengeance and its varying effects and consequences, Shakespeare accomplishes such an illumination through the prism of three characters – Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras – each of whom seeks vengeance for the murder of his father. Though their situations are essentially the same, each man reacts in a manner different from the others. In this respect, Hamlet and Laertes each exhibits, in his unique way, the futility and insatiable nature of revenge, while Fortinbras shows how revenge should be conducted.
In a typical revenge tragedy, a hero is called upon by the ghost of a family member to avenge his death ("Revenge Tragedy"). Hamlet is the main protagonist and hero called upon by his father's ghost to "revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (1.5.31). When Hamlet first hears that his father was murdered, he exclaims, "Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift...may sweep to my revenge" (1.5.35-37). He is hungry to avenge his father; however, Hamlet does nothing and at the end of Act II he scolds himself that "this player...could force his soul so to his own conceit...all for nothing...yet, [he]...can say nothing for a king upon whose property and most dear life a damned defeat was made" (2.2.578-598). Hamlet is upset that he hasn't yet acted to avenge his father, but some mere actor can build up so much emotion for nothing. Shakespeare complicates the plot because revenge tragedies are supposed to have a courageous and aggressive protagonist who swiftly carries out his deed of revenge; instead, Shakespeare modifies the hero and portrays Hamlet as an indecisive and contemplative man.