preview

Theme Of Revenge In Hamlet

Decent Essays

Hamlet was written by Shakespeare. The main subject in the story is about a son’s revenge against his stepfather. The son is Hamlet, who is the son of Hamlet the King. Hamlet suspects on his stepfather, Claudius, about the murder of his father, and then he decides to kill Claudius to take a revenge of his father. “Hamlet's passionate first soliloquy provides a striking contrast to the controlled and artificial dialogue that he must exchange with Claudius and his Court” (Shakespeare Online). Because of this, it is important to determine and analyze the role of revenge in the relationship between a father and a son in Hamlet by W. Shakespeare. Hamlet has conflicts, dilemma and suspicion in the story that drags him a bad fate, which is to be dead at an early age. He accomplishes to kill his stepfather, Claudius just before he dies because of his wish to take revenge on Claudius, although he knows this passion will bring him a bad fate. Therefore, when a son, who loves his father, believes that his father got killed by someone, he can kill the person who killed his father with no mercy.
When Hamlet’s father dies, his mother gets married Claudius, who is his uncle, and then he becomes Hamlet’s stepfather. “Although Hamlet shows clear distress about his mother's marriage to
Claudius, his relationship with her is positive” (Marilena Beltramini). The main thing that bothers Hamlet is why her mother, Gertrude, gets married someone else so quickly right after his father’s death. “Even though his mother's actions lead Hamlet to frequently criticize women in general, in obvious allusion to Gertrude's marriage, and even though Claudius' marriage to Gertrude is one of Hamlet's most important reasons for wanting to kill his uncle…” (Marilena Beltramini). After the marriage, Hamlet never gets jealous of his mother, and he neither thinks nor plans to kill his mother. Hamlet’s suspicion might be related to his psychological condition because there is no evidence to accuse Claudius. But, Hamlet continuously thinks that Claudius murdered his father. He sees a ghost and speaks as below:

Hamlet: Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further.
Ghost: Mark me.
Hamlet: I will.
Ghost: My hour is almost come, when I to sulphurous

Get Access