Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Essay

A bond between a father and a son is sacred, and is surely one of the most firm bonds that have ever existed. When such a bond is severed, a lot of anger can be provoked, most probably in the form of revenge. Throughout â€Å"Hamlet† by Shakespeare, one can observe the theme of revenge exemplified by the main hero, Hamlet, Laertes, and the young Fortinbras, plotting their revenge against the murderers of their fathers. Hamlet is the first of the three to plan his revenge. While in mourning of the recent, mysterious death of his father, the king, he is contacted by a spirit, which bears resemblance to his father. When the ghost tells Hamlet that the new king, Claudius, is responsible for his father’s murder, Hamlet proclaims that he will exist to avenge the death of his father. He will carry out the ghost’s request: â€Å"Thy commandment all alone shall live/ Within the book and volume of my brain† (I.V.102-103). Though Hamlet has promised revenge, his actions are delayed. Hamlet decides that his revenge must wait for a while. He has realized that the ghost he has contacted might simply have been an evil spirit leading him to damnation. Instead of completely believing the ghost, he decides to set up Claudius in order to catch his conscience: â€Å"The spirit I have seen/ Maybe a devil/†¦Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds/ More relative than this. The play’s the thing/ Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king† (II.II.594-601). Hamlet’s plot for obtaining solid evidence for convicting the king is to have a play. The basis of the play will be a simple reenactment of the murder of Old Hamlet. Both Hamlet and his trusted advisor, Horatio, will watch Claudius for his reaction. This will give him sufficient reason to kill Claudius. Hamlet’s plan for the play shows his fear of being tempted by the devil into damnation. This shows his religious beliefs yet again. The first example of his faith are in Act I when he is reluctant to commit suicide for fear of the resulting after life: â€Å"O that this too too sullied flesh would melt/. . .Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d/ His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter† (I.II.129-132). These religious beliefs of Hamlet will prove to play a big part in his revenge scheme, and will stall it. The next part of Hamlet’s plot for revenge involves his general temperament. He decides to act as if mad in order to speak and act freely. Any abnormal behavior can be passed off as his temporary insanity. This way he can say and do things to get certain reactions or information from people in order to help him plot his revenge. He does ask however, that his acquaintances do not say anything about his crazy state being false: â€Å"How strange or odd some’er I bear myself/As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/To put an antic disposition/That you, at such time seeing me, never shall/Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase† (I.V.179-183). This allows him to further his revenge. Later in the play in Act 3, Hamlet has an unpleasant encounter with his former love, Ophelia. During this heated discussion Hamlet learns that she now has sour feelings toward him and gives him back his gifts. He snaps and unleashes all the built up anger and emotion and bitterness that he has been recently feeling. But he also says something that is intended for Claudius to hear. It is a threat that will play into his ply for revenge. Hamlet proclaims that of â€Å"those that are married already-all but one-shall live† (III.I.150). This overt threat directed toward Claudius is indeed overheard and begins to worry Claudius as planned. Claudius decides to take action to protect himself. He no longer believes that Hamlet is mad with love: â€Å"Love? His affections do not that way tend/Nor what he spake, though it lack’d form a little/†¦There’s something in his soul/O’er which his melancholy sits on brood/And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose/Will be some danger; which for ! to prevent/†¦he shall with speed to England† (III.I.164-171). Claudius now suspects that Hamlet is suspicious of him, which Hamlet believes will cause him to do something to prove his guilt, thus allowing Hamlet to carry out his revenge. Hamlet then takes his next step in revenge by having the play acted out. Hamlet and Horatio will both watch Claudius throughout the play. Hamlet realizes that there is no hell for him to go to, but to just turn into dust upon his death. This is another step in the progression of Hamlet’s revenge. The final step of motivation in Hamlet’s revenge comes during the fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes. The queen drinks from the king’s cup that has been poisoned to kill Hamlet. She falls and proclaims she has been poisoned: â€Å"O my dear Hamlet/The drink, the drink! I am poison’d† (V.II.315-316). Laertes then tells Hamlet everything including how he has poisoned Hamlet: â€Å"Hamlet, thou art slain/No medicine in the world can do thee good; In thee there is not half an hour’s life/The treacherous instrument is in thy hand/Unbated and envenom’d/. . .Thy mother poison’d/I can no more. The King-the King’s to blame† (V.II.319-226). Hamlet has finally been motivated enough to act. The king has poisoned his mother and father, and tried to kill Hamlet also. Hamlet then avenges his father’s death by wounding the king with the poisoned sword: â€Å"The point envenom’d too! Then, venom, to thy work/ Wounds the King† (V.II.127). Hamlet has achieved the revenge that he has planned for the entire play. But he must now avenge his mother’s death so he forces the king to drink from the poisoned cup: â€Å"Here, thou incestuous, murd’rous, damned Dane/Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?/Follow my mother† (V.II.330-333). By poisoning the king twice, Hamlet has punished Claudius for both the murders of his mother and his father. Hamlet finally got his revenge but died in the process. The center ideas of the play are the revenges of Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras. All had obtained the revenge that they had wanted. All had avenged their father’s deaths. But all did it in entirely different ways. Hamlet took a while to complete the revenge, he is a man of contemplated inaction. Laertes took a different approach to revenge and accomplished it in a rather short amount of time. Laertes is a man of uncontemplated action. Fortinbras, different from the others, waited for the right moment to act. He carefully planned what he would do over a long period of time and then waited to act. Fortinbras is a man of contemplated action. All three accomplished their revenges-Hamlet killed Claudius, his fathers murderer; Laertes killed Hamlet, his fathers murderer; and Fortinbras did not have to kill Hamlet the son of his father’s murderer, but he did take over the th! rone. All people bent on revenge in Hamlet, accomplished it, making the play a revenge play.