Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Everyone's out for Revenge

While reading "Hamlet" I have realized that 'revenge' is a theme that constantly seems to pop up. It's one of the larger themes of the play and ultimately plays a role in the stories development. Revenge also appears to have a lot of control over the actions of several characters in the play.

The play starts out with King Hamlet's ghost asking that his son Hamlet avenge his death by killing King Claudius, his murderer. When Hamlet finds out the truth behind his fathers death he pretty much vows to take his revenge. Just killing Claudius isn't enough though, he needs to go to hell for what he's done in order to become king. Although Hamlet intentionally acts like he's crazy, i do believe that his need for revenge eventually drives him to true insanity. Revenge begins to cloud his judgement and he eventually ends up killing an innocent man. Hamlet doesn't seem to harbor any guilt for his reckless murder of Polonius and even hides the body, pretty much denying polonius a proper burial.

This is where 'revenge' becomes a cycle. Laertes wants revenge for his fathers death and so he now targets Hamlet. Laertes' need for revenge turns him into a tool for Claudius's use. Now Claudius will be able to get rid of Hamlet by using Laertes, Claudius is probably thinking that he will get out of this whole situation squeaky clean. But we haven't read up to that point yet so who's to say how it will all turn out.

Forthinbras is another character controlled by revenge. He wants to avenge his fathers death by going to war with Denmark and killing Claudius. His uncle finds out about his plans and temporarily sends him to jail until he decides to target Poland instead. I personally don't believe he's just going to let go of his revenge and fight for a seemingly useless piece of land in Poland. I get the feeling that Denmark is still his ultimate target. I can't say for sure but that's what would make the most sense to me.

Thus the power of 'Revenge' once it gets a hold of you, it fully controls your actions and clouds your better judgement.

5 comments:

Tiffany Atchison said...

Good point! I agree that the theme of revenge is evident. We definitely see this through Hamlet's viewpoint when it comes to his revenge regarding his father's murder. I can't really blame him for wanting to send Claudius to hell! Laertes is definitely being used as a tool for Claudius to get rid of Hamlet, but I'm not quite sure how well that will work. Hamlet's pretty inquistive about what's going on, and even though he shows no remorse for Polonius' death I'm sure he can relate to how Laertes is feeling, as well as Fortinbras.

Steph Cryan said...

That is a great point. It does remind me of what we discussed in class on Tuesday, about how revenge seems to be the masculine driving force in this play. It also seems to be everyone's undoing in the end. I agree in the point you make, everyone seems to be using everyone else in order to move forward in their own secret revenge agenda! It seems like everyone wants to kill everyone else, all for the sake of revenge.

Jared Y. said...

I really like the idea you bring up in your post about revenge. Its a huge factor in this play, as well as other Shakespearean works. Your last sentence about revenge "clouding your judgment" is dead-on. Have we ever read a play or even heard a story about seeking revenge by any means necessary and it turning out well? I don't think I can.I think we've hit th point in the play where we see and can acknowledge that it has become a tragedy.

Liz said...

I agree that revenge is evident from the start of Hamlet and has played a large role throughout the play. Will Hamlet get the revenge he believes he deserves or will Claudius take control of Laertes and get the revenge he believes he deserves? My belief is that Hamlet is the one who deserves the revenge but I am not sure how long that feeling will last.

Anna Fister said...

I totally agree that revenge in Hamlet is cyclical. Hamlet's actions produce a domino effect on the others, especially Laertes. However, since they kind of forgive each other at the end, does that break the cycle?