Hamlet Revenge

Hamlet Essay

Revenge is the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for a wrong suffered at their hands. Revenge is also the most important theme presented in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The characters that are revolving around the revenge theme in the play are Hamlet, Ghost, Claudius, Laertes, Polonius, Gertrude, and Horatio. Revenge is the most important theme because revenge is depicted in all acts of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet from Acts I to V, the story would not be interesting and keep the reader tense and wondering without revenge. Revenge is a norm in Elizabethan times because they believed in the principle “An Eye for an Eye.”

In Act I Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo see the ghost and Horatio try to speak to the ghost “Stay! Speak, speak! I charge thee, speak!” (I.I.56) The revenge plot is established by the Ghost and Hamlet in scene V when the ghost utters "So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear." (I.V.8) then the ghost reveals that he is Hamlet’s father “I am thy father’s spirit.”(I.V.10) and tells Hamlet to take revenge for him “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” (I.V.26) The ghost tells Hamlet how it was not a poisonous snake that bit him but the real snake is the one wearing his crown “…’Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,/ A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark/ Is by a forged process of my death/ Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth,/ The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wears his crown.” (I.V.36-41). Hamlet agrees to his father’s wishes and promises to avenge his father. This starts the revenge theme and helps it escalate.
In Act 2 Hamlet started to plan his revenge on Claudius and find out if Claidius is guilty for his actions, Hamlet develops a plan to the murder of his father re-enacted by changing the lines and plot of the production “The Murder of Gonzago” which Hamlet entitles “The Mousetrap” so that Hamlet can see if Claudius reacts to the murder similar to a ‘déjà vu’. “…The...