Hamlet’s revenge Hamlet is a critical point in Shakespeare’s creative work. This play opens up a tragic
period of Shakespeare’s dramaturgic activity. Of his works, Hamlet is perhaps the most studied and most intriguing one. Shakespeare unlike any other writer of his time organizes skillfully a realistic plot, manages his themes, and develops characters within his works. As well as provokes feelings and appeals to consciousness. Reaction to his writing is also what sets him apart from other common writers.
The mood that shines through Hamlet is very different from other works of the playwright. It doesn’t take much to see that melancholy Shakespeare has previously made fun of is an expression of a deep spiritual depression, which grips the main character. It’s necessary to emphasize that Hamlet is not just a literary character, a figure or a hero made up for telling the public the author''s opinion on things. He is a living person with an integral yet complicated nature. This reality is embodied in his behavior and his words, which tell about human opinion and deeds.
Comprehensiveness of Hamlet’s character is one of the greatest artistic achievements of Shakespeare, though it is rather difficult to sum up various traces of character into a single unity within one literary work. That is why there should be some dominating features. There should be one longing for something in Hamlet, one obsession and one passion. There are many conflicts in the tragedy, and many themes, but the leading one is revenge.
Revenge causes one to act blindly through anger, rather than through reason. It is based on the
principle of an eye for an eye, but this principle is not always an intelligent theory to live by. Young Fortinbras, Laertas and Hamlet were all looking to avenge the deaths of their fathers. Although the concept of revenge may be considered an evil justice, it is evident that importance here lays within the context of carrying out the fate. Shakespeare opposes violence and he makes this idea obvious to the reader through actions and words of Hamlet. He opposes unnecessary evil without fair judgment.
The three sons all acted on emotion, and this led to the downfall of two, and the rise to power of one. Since the heads of the three major families (of King Fortinbras, the family of Polonius and the family of King Hamlet) were each murdered, the eldest sons of these families swore vengeance.
Hamlet vows a fast and swift revenge however he encounters experiences and ways that delay his destiny to avenge his father’s death. One of the main
questions that arises while reading or watching this prominent drama is why does it take Hamlet five acts to take revenge? Did Shakespeare do this on purpose to intrigue the audience or is there something deeper that lies beneath and that Shakespeare wanted to point out?
In the course of the tragedy Hamlet is obsessed by the idea of his revenge. The process of realization of this idea calls out a number of questions and tasks Hamlet is pondering about all the time. He is either turning over these questions in his mind or doing something. However he reproaches himself with his slowness but it’s quite obvious that this is done only in order to stimulate his revenge.
Hamlet’s revenge, when it finally occurs, is the result of considerable provocation. Claudius has been exposed by Laertas as a conspiring murderer of Prince Hamlet. Claudius has caused Hamlet to be the death of several people, notable Ophelia and Gertrude.
Undoubtedly, Hamlet is a man of action. But unlike other warriors of his time he is also a man of knowledge. This knowledge eps him from committing thoughtless actions and drawing hasty conclusion. And it contributes to his internal conflict within his own mind, body, and soul.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (Shakespeare I, IV, 90)
While regarding this as the principle means for Hamlet’s frustration, it is not until seeing a spirit of patriarchal form that Hamlet decided to seek the truth, and ultimately, exact revenge. Upon envisioning the apparition, Hamlet sets out to avenge the death of his father, yet he is unclear as to the actual fulfillment of the revenge. Thus, Hamlet acknowledges that as a man of duty, justice, and honor, he must act upon the request of his late father. The concept of “antic disposition” is the feigned madness that Hamlet uses as his first step towards the revenge. Here, we have a clear indication that Hamlet is a thinker, and bares a calculating intellect.