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Comparing Revenge In Hamlet, Young Fortinbras, Laertes And Hamlet

Decent Essays

In the process of revenge, it causes people to act blindly through anger, rather than through reason. Revenge is based on the principle, “'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” from the Christian Bible. But revenge comes with a price. Instead of helping you move on with your life, it can leave you dwelling on the situation and remaining unhappy. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Young Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet were all looking to avenge the death of their fathers. The boys had more in common they ever knew, they all acted on the power and emotion of revenge, although, each character went about it differently. Throughout the story, Hamlet had to face internal questions that complicated his decisions and reflective, intellectual nature and …show more content…

In this time period, revenging the murder of one’s father was part of an honor and was expected to be done. All three of the sons swore vengeance and then acted towards getting revenge for the deaths of their fathers. Fortinbras took his revenge out in a proper way and rose to power in the end, but on the other hand, Laertes and Hamlet used force to accomplish their revenge. With the death of his father, Hamlet faces a problem; if he should believe in the honest of the ghost? The ghost might be devil like, but by nature a thinker, Hamlet’s first step is to evaluate the ghosts commands. After a chain of circumstances, Hamlet had to face a series of obstacles that he had to overcome in order to achieve his revenge. Hamlet could have killed King Claudius while he had his back to him in the chapel, but he thought that he shouldn’t because he was unsure if Claudius was asking for forgiveness and renouncing the action of murdering his brother. Having to face such a situation, this affects Hamlet on a spiritual level as he had to accept that there is both good and evil in the world that he lives in. Although, Hamlet knew from the very beginning that Claudius was only after land, money, and most importantly power, having to face revenge, Hamlet’s intelligence disappears for a moment. Revenge made Hamlet experience a lack of intelligence, while he could not think clearly about how and when to kill the murderer of his father,

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