Is Hamlet Primarily A Tragedy Of Revenge?

Introduction

Yes, Hamlet, a play that is written by William Shakespeare, is a tragedy of revenge. This revenge leads Hamlet, the lead character, to death and all the other people who are close to him. The chase of Hamlet is to seek revenge for the death of his father. This feeling of revenge blinded his intelligence and morals. Hamlet is regarded as the most complex character in Shakespeare’s writing. He is also regarded as a lunatic who is obsessed with taking his father’s revenge. This theme of revenge is carried out throughout the novel and acts as a driving force for Hamlet. Revenge is used as an emotion in his life that ruins his life, but if carefully observed, there is intelligence behind every move he makes.

Discussion

Hamlet’s play revolves around the story of revenge. Hamlet believes that Claudius killed his true father, but this has turned his life into a mess. The only two women he loved in his life were led to death because of his revenge. His experience leads an innocent person, Polonius, to death, while his trial of revenge causes the death of his mother. This play shows that Hamlet’s ability to make sound judgments and reasoning was taken away. He acts on impulse, just by seeing his father’s ghost, without thinking logically (Shakespeare). The blame for all this can be placed on Claudius because he was the cause of all these issues.

The theme of revenge is first depicted in this play when Hamlet’s father comes into his vision and tells him to take revenge on his uncle Claudius for the murder of his father. It is the base of all the tragic incidents taking place in the play afterwards. In his drive for revenge, Hamlet kills Lord Polonius instead of Claudius. It is the time when Hamlet’s initiative made him do a roughly irreversible thing. Even Ophelia gives everything up and goes crazy after the death of Hamlet’s father, and this is because he is seeking revenge on his uncle. By this act of letting everything go, Ophelia was trying to seek revenge on the whole world and individuals hurting her.

When Laertes finds out that Hamlet has killed his father, and this results in his sister going crazy, this fills him with rage and anger. He plans to get revenge on Hamlet for this act. The story goes on, and in the last scene, all the acts of revenge are collected in a single place. Hamlet wanted revenge for his father, and this thing got him killed. It is the place where everyone falls and destroys. It is the story where it is shown that revenge and rage have the power to destroy everything. Revenge is the feeling that Hamlet pursues, but in the end, he dies because of it.

Why Hamlet Is Primarily A Tragedy Of Revenge

Hamlet is a story of revenge because the whole play revolves around taking revenge. This play has a series of events in which the characters take revenge on one another. At first, the envy of Claudius made him murder King Hamlet. The ghost of Lord Hamlet comes to his son and asks him to avenge his murder. In the rage to kill Claudius, Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, whose son ultimately killed Hamlet for avenging his father. This same fate followed Hamlet, and the constant thought of vengeance led to the demise of the families in this play.

The moral of this play is no good comes from revenge. When looking for revenge, people lose even the things that are very dear to them. This play is built around the tragedy of revenge, especially to create terror and pity in the audience for the lead character. The father of the lead character asks him to make a vow to murder Claudius. It is regarded as the tragedy of revenge because King Hamlet dies before seeking revenge for his death against his brother, Claudius, who killed him. Then, the whole story is shaped in a way that shows how the families are destroyed, trying to take revenge.

Conclusion

This debate concludes that though Hamlet was an intelligent character, the feeling of revenge blinded him. It not only affected him but also hurt the people who were close to him. Hamlet’s way of acting shocked both Ophelia and Gertrude. He acted madly, but there are places where moral Hamlet is also shown. Hamlet asks for forgiveness from Laertes, showing that he realises Laertes is doing the same as Hamlet. This act of revenge brought him to the same place that he was avoiding. Even there is much evidence found in the text of the play that shows its revenge tragedy. Therefore, this is a tragedy of revenge where everything is ruined because of madness caused by vengeance.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. 1604. http://proseproductionsinc.homestead.com/1102_Hamlet_Guttenber_1604.pdf.