Examples Of Justice In Hamlet

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In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the idea of justice recurs throughout almost every character's plot, acting both as a prompt to action and as the play's climactic resolve. Life "is a search for justice," William Styron asserts in his book, which is a profound insight that undermines all of Hamlet's choices and remarks. The prince of Denmark struggles for justice, weighs life and death, and ultimately loses his life because of it. The main topic of the play and Hamlet's personal encounters with true justice are similar. Shakespeare plays with the meaning of it by deciding to kill off each character after they have done something awful. The numerous examples of justice in Hamlet are put together with a more general truth. They emphasize that only revenge …show more content…

As he tries to cope with the loss of his father, he feels as though the world is collapsing around him. It doesn't help that his mother married his uncle, either. Claudius is startled by the appearance of his late father soon after he is crowned. His search for real justice is set off by the appearance of the supernatural figure because he discovers that his uncle killed his father and understands that he must take decisive action. But as the many other characters in the play, his choice places him at a crossroads, where one path leads to morality and the other, to payback. In terms of seeking justice, this crucial decision defines Hamlet and his morality, but in the bigger picture of things, it just represents the beginning of his entire journey. Shakespeare gave pure justice a fairly broad definition, which is reinforced by Hamlet's perspective when compared to those of other characters. His first response, seeking revenge for broken relationships with family members, highlights the individualized character of justice. It makes a suggestion that, in actuality, justice may be too subjective to ever define and too closely connected to individual views to be able to distinguish between right and …show more content…

Shakespeare's statements that even though vengeance is the only way to truly achieve justice, one's search for it only drags them into a deadly cycle that starts with the search for repayment and ends with their own destruction is made clear in the final scene, which combines the resolutions of all these storylines. Unquestionably, Claudius' death is a result of his own terrible deeds. The play's fundamental theme—that getting even is only possible by means of revenge—is amply reflected in Claudius's death. Then there are two more deaths, including Laertes, which is comparable to the King's in that he is dying as a result of seeking immoral vengeance. However, the ultimate death highlights the more contradictory nature of justice when Hamlet, the play's classic hero, likewise meets his own demise after eventually achieving his own version of genuine justice by killing Claudius. Shakespeare's primary contradiction and ideology is brought into sharp relief in this death: that, despite the fact that exacting revenge brings about real justice, doing so is immoral and leads to the victim's own death. The entire Hamlet narrative is given an entirely new significance in light of this. The drama as a whole sheds light on a more general truth about the pursuit of true justice. It is clear by looking at the lives of Shakespeare's characters that genuine justice is unpredictable and that everyone