Hamlet is arguably William Shakespeare's best play . It’s a story of a prince who goes out to revenge his father's death at the hand of his own uncle. Dictionary.com’s definition for revenge is “to exact punishment or expiation for a wrong on behalf of, especially in a resentful or vindictive spirit.” Revenge is so prevalent in today's society because is is fair. What is done to me, is done to you in return. Whether it is kings, presidents, or ordinary people, revenge is an act that all human do at some point. Revenge is on of the main themes in Hamlet and like many others, today it is more relevant than ever. In Hamlet, King Hamlet is murdered by his brother Claudius. King Hamlet’s ghost reveals himself to his son Hamlet and tells him to seek revenge on the new king and his homicidal uncle. Hamlet is, weirdly, lazy to revenge his father’s death and sits on the idea for half the play. When Claudius’ guilt is revealed to Hamlet during the performance, Hamlet becomes ready to kill Claudius, to the point of insanity. Hamlet has the chance to kill Claudius when he is in prayer, but Hamlet won’t allow Claudius to go to Heaven (which he would if he would have been killed in prayer). Hamlet wants his insestuous uncle/step …show more content…
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.” I especially love this phrase because it was uttered by one of my favorite cinema villains, in one of my favorite sci-fi movies. It was used by the cold-hearted Khan in Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. The phrase means that you should not “serve” your revenge quickly. You should serve it “cold” or after time has passed. This is used so that the target does not see it coming. It just happens that it is sort of used by Hamlet. Hamlet doesn’t immediately slay Claudius after he finds out. Claudius of course, later, finds out the Hamlet knows his secret. This way of revenge can not be used with all cases and is usually used only in smaller scale/ private
While revenge may feel sweet at times, in most cases it is destructive to yourself and those around you. The article “Revenge:Will You Feel Better?” makes one contemplate this, and draws the question “is revenge really worth it?” Well, in the article, Karyn Hall suggests that “Revenge can be a strong urge, but you may not feel better if you act on it.” In fact, in a study performed by Kevin Carlsmith showed that “...the students that got revenge reported feeling worse than those who didn't…” With this, one may see that revenge is pointless, and in most cases leaves you feeling worse than the people you performed it
Many people percieve revenge to be something that falls under justice, as they are driven by emotions, while others consider getting the police involved as serving justice. Moreover, some people find revenge to be pleasing and satisfying, but to argue the point that just because something is more satisfying does not mean it is
Revenge is best served cold or so says the well-known expression. This idea of revenge that they seek is usually to restore balance and take an “eye for an eye” as the Bible says. Revenge, if by chance everyone were in Plato’s perfect utopia, would be in a perfect form, where justice and revenge would be one, and the coined phrase “eye for an eye” would be taken literally. By taking an eye for and eye, and punishing those who did wrong equally as they did wrong, there is justice. However, this revenge sometimes goes too far and is consequently not justice.
His belief is that if Claudius were to die during confession, Claudiuss' spirit would ascend to heaven and Hamlet will not accept this. Hamlet figures he will wait until "He is drunk asleep, or in his rage, or in th'incestuous pleasure of his bed, at game a-swearing, or about some act that has no relish of salvation in't, then trip him". (80) Hamlet's obvious plan is to wait until Claudius sins, and then avenge his father. This move cost Hamlet his life. Hamlet's previous decision was based upon his belief in divine purposes.
In Hamlet Shakespeare is able to use revenge in an extremely skillful way that gives us such deep insight into the characters. It is an excellent play that truly shows the complexity of humans. You can see in Hamlet how the characters are willing to sacrifice t...
In Hamlet Prince of Denmark young Hamlet is left facing the outcomes of the conflict his father had with his brother. Old Hamlet is dead, killed by his own brother for the thrown of Denmark. Young Hamlet is in deep morning over the loss of his father and now he has to handle the remarriage of his mother to his own uncle, the man who in cold blood killed his father. Hamlet, with the death of his father, is acting strangely but his whole outlook changes for the worst when his father's ghost visits him. He finds out the true causes of his death and he is influenced by his father to seek revenge. Hamlet's father tells his son to kill his uncle, Claudius because he is the cause of his death. Hamlet loved his father deeply and would do anything for him. He becomes enraged with anger and hate for Claudius and begins to plot his revenge, Claudius' own death. Throughout the play his father's ghost visits Hamlet. Even after his death he has a great control over his son and his actions. These visits are a constant reminder to Hamlet of the truth. Knowing the truth of his father's death has driven Hamlet to the brink of insanity. The only thing he can think of is revenge. His father's death and prior conflict with his brother has left Hamlet in a position of honoring his father and doing right by him, and the only thing he sees fit to do is rid himself of the man that brought about the anger Hamlet is feeling. In the end Hamlet finally gets the revenge he sought with the death of Claudius.
It is the idea of revenge that sends a cool shiver down the spines of justly men when they begin to question as to why someone would stoop to such a level. But yet it is still more than an idea for revenge has been carried out in various forms along all the eras of history side-by-side of that of novels and tragedies. Even so, revenge is still a dark scheme; an evil plague of the mind per se. It is such a plague that will turn even the greatest persons of the brightest, optimistically capable of minds into lowly, as well as lonely, individuals. Thus, revenge will, and can, only end in despair and agony of the mind. Therefore, provided that all that has been said is true, revenge would appear quite unseemly to the observant onlooker. However, taking an in-depth insight into revenge you can uncover quite a compelling feature, which is best summed up into one word. Pride. Pride is the one clear motivational proprietor needed to push a protagonist into the downward spiral of personal vendetta. Without pride, revenge is no more than a mindless massacre of flesh and bone ending in the obliteration of any hope for reconciliation.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet the king of Denmark is murdered by his brother, Claudius, and as a ghost tells his son, Hamlet the prince of Denmark, to avenge him by killing his brother. The price Hamlet does agree to his late father’s wishes, and undertakes the responsibility of killing his uncle, Claudius. However even after swearing to his late father, and former king that he would avenge him; Hamlet for the bulk of the play takes almost no action against Claudius. Prince Hamlet in nature is a man of thought throughout the entirety of the play; even while playing mad that is obvious, and although this does seem to keep him alive, it is that same trait that also keeps him from fulfilling his father’s wish for vengeance
Hamlet is unlike the other two characters in the way that he uses reason and logic before he acts and decides to kill his uncle, Claudius, because he is aware of the consequences. For example, when Hamlet is trying to determine how he can prove Claudius the murderer, after conversing with the players about the play, following Hamlet’s reasoning that the ghost could be a devil trying to deceive him, in his soliloquy he states, “I’ll observe his looks… If he do blench, / I know my course… I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” (II, ii, 625-634). He reattaches himself to his revenge based on the logic of Claudius’ guilt. If Claudius does not feel guilty and has no reaction to the play, Hamlet will not act because logically Claudius was not to blame. Subsequently, Hamlet discovers that Claudius is guilty and commits himself to taking his life, but when Hamlet approaches Claudius and sees him praying he thinks to himself, he shouldn’t kill him there saying, “That would be scanned:/ A villain kills my father, and for that, / I, his sole son, do this same villain send/ to heaven… this is… not revenge.” (III, iii, 80-84). As Hamlet over thinks his actions he reasons himself out of killing Claudius because he compares how Claudius would die, to his father’s death. By over thinking this he stalls and has more time to think about w...
Revenge almost always has the makings of an intriguing and tragic story. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a perfect example of how revenge unfolds and what it unveils. The play tells the story of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, marries his mother soon after his father’s death. Hamlet greatly disapproves of the hasty marriage and suspects foul play. His suspicions are confirmed when the ghost of his father appears and tells him that Claudius murdered him. Hamlet’s father asks him to take revenge upon Claudius, and soon everything takes a drastic change. The courses of revenge throughout Hamlet surround each character with corruption, obsession, and fatality.
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).
...ent, Gertrude, Laertes, and Hamlet are all dying. Suddenly, Laertes announces that Claudius was behind the plan, and Hamlet grabs the poisoned sword to stab Claudius and forces Claudius to drink the wine to kill him.
In the play, Hamlet seeks revenge on his uncle Claudius. Claudius killed Hamlet’s dad and then married his mom to become the leader of Denmark. Later in the play, Hamlet sees his dad’s ghost and is informed of the horrific act committed by his uncle. Hamlets’ dad’s ghost says, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I. V. 25). Hamlets’ dad says this to Hamlet so that his uncle could get retribution for his action. Hamlet has many opportunities to kill Claudius but is unable because of the wrong timing. While Claudius is praying, Hamlet has an opportunity to slay him but doesn’t because if he killed him in his prayers he will make him go to heaven instead of hell. Another minor reason for Hamlet’s revenge against his uncle is his affection towards his mother. As the play progresses, we are able to determine that Hamlet’s relationship with his mom is close to incest status. With this information, we are able ...
What should we do?” (1.4.49-60). The idea of revenge is indeed brought upon Hamlet, but it is in no way forced. As seen in Act 1 scene 4, Hamlet is eager to learn of the circumstances of his father’s death and is willing to do what it takes to have his vengeance. Rose writes, “It is one of the radical ironies of the tragedy that the same nightmarish figure who takes from Hamlet his freedom should also embody the ideal of man noble in reason” (Rose).
Revenge is an incurable disease the adds flame to the fire of violence, we must stand up and put out this fire before it is inherited by the youth to come.