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Examples Of Revenge In Hamlet

Decent Essays

Revenge in Hamlet Coretta Scott King, an American author and activist, once said “Revenge and retaliation always perpetuate the cycle of anger, fear and violence”. In Hamlet, revenge is one of the major themes. The development of Hamlet is mainly based of the revenge that is shown throughout the play. In the play we begin to see Hamlet wanting revenge for his father, Claudius wanting revenge on Hamlet, and Laertes wanting revenge for his father Polonius. In the first few scenes of the play we start to see that Hamlet isn’t fond of his uncle becoming his step-father. One of the very first signs of revenge that is shown in Hamlet is when the ghost of Old Hamlet tells Hamlet that his brother poisoned him.
Hamlet. “O, my prophetic soul! My uncle!”
Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts— O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power So to seduce (Shakespeare 1.5.42-46).
Once Hamlet is told this he is not only looking to seek revenge on Claudius but also on his mother, but the ghost tells Hamlet that he shouldn’t do that because she didn’t do an actual crime. This part of the play is when Hamlet begins his plan to kill Claudius and starts to act mad. …show more content…

At first Claudius just wanted to send Hamlet away so he wouldn’t cause trouble but after Claudius found out Hamlet killed Polonius he wanted him dead. Claudius knew that Hamlet originally wanted him dead and not Polonius. “The present death of Hamlet. Do, it England, For like the hectic in my blood he rages”(4.3.68). In this quote we can tell that Claudius didn’t want anymore to do with Hamlet but he also didn’t want to hurt Gertrude. He thought it would be a good idea to send him away so that no one would expect that it was

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