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Negative View Of Revenge In Hamlet

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In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, revenge is the driving force behind the plot. Hamlet is charged with avenging his father’s murder at the hands of his uncle and quickly this quest affects everyone in his life. Eventually, almost everyone in the play dies as a result of Hamlet’s quest for vengeance. At first, however, Hamlet’s indecision over killing his uncle seems to be the source of trouble, not the revenge itself. He cannot decide what he wants, and that has a detrimental effect on the people around him. When Laertes returns after the death Polonius, the audience is given a character like Hamlet but without the indecision. However, his quick corruption by Claudius eventually shows he is not the positive character initially introduced. Overall, the play presents a negative view of revenge by showing that even Laertes, who is without Hamlet’s issues, is damaged by it.
At the beginning of the play, Hamlet’s indecision causes his troubles, not revenge. He is more inclined to speak about doing something than actually do it, and from the beginning shows hesitation towards the concept of revenge. At first, he is thrown into a frenzy by his conversation with the ghost. However, the audience sees that two months later, he is yet to make any progress towards killing Claudius. Instead, he is bouncing back between mania and depression, frustrated with himself that he cannot take any action, but more preoccupied with his anger at his mother and his friends. He scolds himself for being “unpregnant” of his cause, but also declares that an actor would “drown the stage with tears” if put in his position (II, ii). He believes he needs to kill his uncle but is also unwilling to take action, preferring to speak about his thoughts on Gertrude and Claudius’ incestuous relationship. Also contributing to Hamlet’s indecision is the contrast between his image of what an avenger should look like and his own self-image. He pictures “rugged Pyrrhus,” with “sable arms” and who is “roasted in wrath and fire,” when he thinks of an avenger. This godlike figure is in contrast with his self-image; in his first soliloquy, he says Claudius is “no more like my father than I to Hercules” (I, ii). To himself, Hamlet is as far away from heroic or godlike

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