Revenge Essay, Research Paper

Revenge causes one to act through anger rather than reason. It is based on a principle ofan eye for an eye, which is not a very clever principle to live under. In the play Hamlet,by William Shakespeare, Young Fortinbras, Laertes and Young Hamlet were all seekingrevenge for their slaughtered fathers. They all acted on the basis of emotion, which led tothe deaths of two of them and the rise of power of one. Since the heads of each of thethree major families were murdered, the eldest son swore vengeance. Therefore, themajor theme of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is revenge. There were three major families in play Hamlet. The Fortinbras family, Thefamily of Hamlet, and the family of Polonius. The heads of these three families were allkilled within the play. Fortinbras, the King of Norway, was killed by King Hamlet in aone on one battle in the battlefield. After Fortinbras was killed, the lands of Norwaybecame Denmark. Polonius was an advisor to the King, and also a father of Laertes andOphelia. He was killed by Young Hamlet while he was eves dropping on the conversationbetween Young Hamlet and his mother. How now! A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead! (Act3, Scene 4, Line 25) King Hamlet was the King of Denmark. he killed King Fortinbras,only to be killed by his brother Claudius. The serpent that did sting your father s lifenow wears the crown. (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 45). Each of these three events effected the sons the same way, it enraged them. Everyone of the three eldest sons had one thing in common, they all wanted revenge for thedeath of their fathers. All three sons swore vengeance, and then acted towards gettingrevenge for the deaths of their fathers. Young Fortinbras was deeply enraged by the deathof his father. Fortinbras was to regain all lands that have been lost by his father toDenmark. But Fortinbras uncle forbade him to attack Denmark, but to channel his anger

to the Poles and attack them. Laertes found out about his father s death, and immediatelyreturned home. He confronted the King and figured out it was Hamlet who killed hisfather. He then decided to avenge his father s death by killing Hamlet. Laertes killsHamlet in the end due to a poisonous blade. The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,unabated and envenomed. (Act 5, Scene 2, Line 325). Hamlet was deeply effected bythe death of his father. When his father s spirit told him that it was his uncle that causedhis death, Hamlet swore to vengeance for his father s death. He kills Claudius bypoisoning him while himself, is also dying from poison. The point envenomed too! Thenvenom, to thy work here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, drink off thispotion, is thy union here? Follow my mother. (Act 5, Scene 2, Line 335) The lack of thought used in exacting revenge led to the death of Laertes andHamlet. Laertes planned with Claudius to kill Hamlet. But they never would of thoughtthe poisonous sword would be used against them. Laertes believed that the King saccusations were correct, which blinded him with rage against Hamlet. Hamlet had manychances to kill his uncle, but his rage outweighed his intelligence, and he wantedClaudius to die in eternal damnation. He wanted to kill his uncle with performing a sin.Unfortunately, it was the sin for poisoning a son in law. In Conclusion, since the heads of the three families were each murdered, theeldest sons swore vengeance, and two of the three sons died while exacting their acts ofvengeance. Revenge is a major theme of Hamlet. As a theme, revenge was present in allparts of the play. It seemed ironic that Claudius, Hamlet, and Laertes all died on the samesword and how Fortinbras, the first to seek revenge becomes King of Denmark. Revengewas the driving force between the main characters of the play, it led to the death of twoand the greatness to the other.