In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the author claims that revenge and madness are related because the need for revenge can cause one to go insane trying to get their revenge. This comparison comes up when Hamlet kills Polonius, Ophelia goes insane, and when Laertes attempts to do anything to avenge his father and Ophelia. Shakespeare’s claims that madness and revenge are related are not true today because people generally get revenge through the legal system, and rarely have issues as large as those in Hamlet where they would feel such a strong need for revenge. These modern comparisons show up in workplace revenge, the people who generally seek revenge, and the effect revenge has on people.
The first way Shakespeare expresses the
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Laertes returns to Denmark upon hearing the news of his father’s death, and straight away threatens to kill Claudius unless he gets answers. At the time, threatening a king was a capital punishment, which shows the extent Laertes is willing to go to get his revenge. Even after Claudius explains everything to Laertes, Laertes still wants his revenge and would like to kill Hamlet. Hamlet and Laertes were pretty close, so this once again shows how far Laertes is willing to go to enact his revenge, which is borderline mad. Finally, upon hearing the news of Ophelia’s death, Laertes is once again filled rage. “Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, it could not move thus” (Shakespeare IV, v, 145). In this quote, Laertes claims that even if Ophelia was sane, she could not persuade him any better than she is now to take revenge for them. He probably feels this way because he is angry that Ophelia has become like this, and blames it all on Hamlet. This could be a sign that he is becoming mad, since he is blaming everything on Hamlet without thinking anything through. His rage ends up turning him mad, as he is willing to take his own life for his revenge and even wishes to kill himself to be with Ophelia in the
Laertes believes Hamlet is to blame not only for his father’s death, but also for Ophelia’s death because the death of her father is ultimately what drove her to killing herself. Once Laertes returns, he asks King Claudius who is responsible for the death of his father and is informed that Hamlet is the one to blame. Ophelia enters and reveals to everyone that she has gone crazy and ends up killing herself. Hamlet returns to Denmark and is surprised to find out that Ophelia has died. Laertes and Hamlet start fighting at her burial service and Hamlet says he wants to be
During Ophelia’s funeral, the drama between Hamlet and Laertes magnifies which causes more hate between their families. Laertes provokes Hamlet into fighting him by Ophelia’s grave, with their families there to witness, by saying “[t]he devil take thy soul” (V, i, 243). Following this mishap, Laertes is informed by Claudius of a strategy to end Hamlet’s life in the near future. This immoral conflict being conducted in a place that already is commemorating death displays that they are inclined to cause more people to die. This plot to kill Hamlet is not beneficial to Hamlet’s success and only weakens his personal plot to kill Claudius.
He knows his father was killed and he will get his revenge no matter what it takes without even having to think about it. He is so impulsive he rushes in after Claudius without having any proof or idea that Claudius is actually the man that killed his father. Shakespeare writes in 4.5.101-102: “...Laertes, in a riotous head, O’erbears your officers…”. Laertes then goes on to tell the king in 4.5.115: “O thou vile King, Give me my father…”. It does not matter to him, what he has to do, he will follow his impulses to get what he wants.
Laertes was worried about his and his dad’s pride so he decide to murder hamlet. Laertes plans the big fencing match with Hamlet. He tricked hamlet and poisoned the tip of his sword. After he poisoned the tip of his sword everything went downhill. Laertes was being greedy because he wanted his dad to be king and stay king.
This is evidence of tension between Laertes and Hamlet and foreshadows the later confrontation between them. On the contrary, Hamlet feels romantic love for Ophelia. His love is supposedly so passionate that “Forty thousand brothers/ Could not with all their quantity of love” (V, i, 275-276) care for her as much as he does. Both Laertes and Hamlet carry their love to Ophelia’s grave. While at the grave, Laertes shows his brotherly love for Ophelia once more when he stands inside her grave and exclaims “Hold off the earth awhile,/
Within the classic Shakespeare play of Hamlet, many overarching themes can be found. However, when one looks more closely, they can see that the idea of revenge has huge impacts on the plot. When watching the movie adaptations, one directed by Franco Zeffirelli in 1990 and the other by Kenneth Branagh in 1996, some discrepancies can be seen throughout the story. The way the directors depicted certains scenes has changed the way the views see the ideal of revenge. By analyzing the depictions of Hamlet’s personality throughout all three versions of Hamlet, the audience realizes the importances of revenge in the plot.
Almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king, and marry with his brother… Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune.” Laertes shows he is impulsive when he says he is going to kill Hamlet with a poisoned sword.
William Shakespeare tells the tale of a troubled man in his masterpiece, Hamlet. Imagine your beloved father dying and your mother marrying his brother shortly after. You’re left to grieve on your own. Instead of consoling you, your mother and uncle have a wedding and begin to share the same bed. This is what Hamlet suffers through in the play.
When he returns to the castle, he enters "in a riotous head"(4.5.100), and bursts in and says to Claudius, "... O thou vile king, / Give me my father" (4.5.113-114) as he believes Claudius killed Polonius. To this Claudius replies “What is the cause, Laertes, / That thy rebellion looks so giant-like?--"(4.5.119-120). Laertes is the embodiment of Hamlet's rage and desire for revenge, however where Hamlet hesitates, Laertes acts without questioning or thinking. As in this case, he bursts in the castle, and confronts the king and calls him "vile", without thinking of the consequences of speaking to the king in such a manner and accusing him of murder.
Towards the end of the play, Hamlet finally receives his chance at revenge in the form of a fencing match against Claudius. Although he kills Claudius, a poisonous sword wounds Hamlet, and he exclaims that “O, I die, Horatio./ The potent poison quite o’ercrows my spirit”(5.2.352-353). Revenge distorts Hamlet’s mind to the extent that he challenges Claudius to a fencing match, even though Claudius is out to kill Hamlet. As a result, Hamlet dies, and, in turn, illustrates that revenge hinders logical decision making, and induces dire repercussions.
In the exposition, Laertes is introduced as the brother to the beautiful Ophelia, the girl to whom Hamlet secretly loves. As a “loving” friend and relative, they both share a common bond in wanting to care for Ophelia, but the future shows differently than what they intended. When Ophelia died towards the end, that common bond they shared for her grew stronger and added to the fire that ultimately drew them to go against one another. Hamlet became rejectful of the news and anger soon took over. When confronted by Laertes and challenged by his feeling for
By doing this she leaves Laertes all alone in the world. When Hamlet returns from England to hear this news he is petrified. He becomes angry with Laertes for grieving too much and in return Laertes is angry at Hamlet because he thinks this is all his fault. The two gramble at each other. This leading to the last act of cruelty.
I believed that Hamlet’s madness and revenge actions are justified because he was facing several very difficult situations, in a brief time. I think the best way to understand Hamlet’s actions is imagining being in his shoes. For a moment, visualize that your father dies suddenly without giving you time to say goodbye or to prepare you for the emptiness that his departure is going to leave in you. In addition, your uncle married your mother, two months after your father’s funeral. Those two situations are strong enough to destabilize any person.
Revenge is the desire to inflict harm on one who has wronged someone else. In many cases, revenge is motivated by a desire to make a person receive payback for their wrongdoings. A person can either forget and carry on with their life or allow sin to fill themselves with anger and a thirst for revenge. In the tragedy, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet has a strong suspicion that his father’s death was a murder by his uncle, Claudius because a ghost had told him so. Hamlet’s depression transitions into an intense desire to avenge his great father, Hamlet becomes consumed with the past as everyone around him moves on into the future.
In Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, revenge plays a major role in how the characters act. They base their actions off of getting revenge. Hamlet, Laertes, and Young Fortinbras all are trying to get revenge for their fathers. All three of the characters use different methods for getting revenge and they all get different results. Shakespeare uses these three characters to show that revenge can consume you and that is all that you want and he shows how harmful it can be.