How Does Shakespeare Present Redemption In Hamlet

Shakespeare’s Hamlet portrays a great deal of backwards thinking on the themes of redemption, moral truths, and a just society. One example of this is Hamlet’s line, “I must be cruel only to be kind” (92). This is not a normal or typical way of thought, but is for Hamlet’s character. Hamlet is driven to madness (insanity) due to the wrongful murder of his father, and this madness (insanity) spills out into the themes, tainting the portrayal of each. Perhaps the least virtuously or rightly portrayed theme in Hamlet is that of redemption. Redemption can be described as an attempt to put right what once went wrong, and in Hamlet is more often portrayed as one seeking revenge of a wrongdoing-in most cases murder. The Ghost, or Hamlet’s deceased father’s spirit, tells Hamlet of how he was wrongfully murdered by his brother, Claudius. The Ghost explains to him:

“Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, Unhouseled, disappointed, ananeled, No reck’ning made, but sent to my account With all my imperfections on my head” (30).

Redemption cannot be received in this state and so he seeks revenge he cannot acquire on his own. Oddly enough, when the first opportunity arises for Hamlet to avenge his father’s death and kill Claudius, Hamlet pauses because he finds him praying. He says, “…am I then revenged, / To take him in the purging of his soul, / When he is fit and seasoned for his passage?” Hamlet did not want to take Claudius’ life as he prayed, asking forgiveness for the very act Hamlet was seeking revenge. Indeed, he did not feel it fair to give his uncle the proper redemption from sin that was stolen from his