Betrayal In Hamlet Essay

1158 Words5 Pages

To seek revenge, one must first feel betrayed. This is shown multiple times throughout the text. Hamlet initially feels betrayed in the story when his mom marries his uncle quickly after his father’s death. Rightfully so, Hamlet is upset about this. Things change when Hamlet speaks to the ghost of his father, King Hamlet, and finds out the truth about his uncle. Per his father’s words, he must avenge him. This expectation to make his father proud sent Hamlet into a spiral. Through frequent instability, Shakespeare's “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” finds that revenge can often lead to one's downfall by causing action from emotions rather than reason. Hamlet is deeply hurt by his mother moving on so quickly because he sees his father …show more content…

Things do not work out in their favor when Gertrude drinks out of a glass of poisoned wine. It can be implied that Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine because she has figured out Claudius’ trickery and no longer wants to be a part of it or this can also be seen as a mother sacrificing her life for her son as the poisoned wine was meant for Hamlet. As the fight goes on, Hamlet’s determination causes his defeat. When Hamlet finally decides to take the risk, in a way he succeeds. Hamlet was able to stab King Claudius with the poisoned sword and forced him to drink the rest of the poisoned wine. King Claudius then dies meaning Hamlet has obtained revenge for his father’s death and all the chaos the Claudius put him through. This celebration doesn’t last long, Hamlet and Laertes both die from injuries along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet's last words to Horatio, the last living witness, were “On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice. So tell him, with th’ occurrents, more and less, which have solicited—the rest is silence” (393-395). This quote means that Hamlet wants to leave the kingdom to Prince Fortinbras and leaves it to Horatio to tell his life story. This is symbolic because You are able to compare the way Hamlet and Prince Fortinbras act on avenging the death of their father’s. This is made clear when Fortinbras arrives at the kingdom with the intention to fight over the plot of land that killed his father and is given the entire kingdom. This was a wise decision as Hamlet sought to leave the kingdom in good