Hamlet Essay

From the opening scene it is obvious that Hamlet is a play that will be centered around revenge. There are clear indications that show the revenge driven by every character in this play. From the thoughts of the characters to the actual actions consummated by them, revenge is the focal point for them in this play. Hamlet must avenge his father’s death, Laertes must do the same for his father, and Claudius is there to add ammunition to the already blazing fire of revenge felt by these characters. This play is clearly full of revenge, but it is not a traditional revenge play. There are not many gory or bloody scenes in this play. The characters have thoughts that follow a revenge play, but there is no action on their part when they think about

In The Spanish Tragedy, there are similarities within the two plays, “Hieronimo momentarily wavers between forswearing and pursuing his revenge, but quickly resolves to take the active course, and does so implacably,” (May 29). Hieronimo is undecided of whether he will be revengeful or stay back and not do anything. This is what Hamlet deals with for a long period of time in Hamlet. The difference between these two is that Hieronimo makes a decision much quicker than Hamlet does in choosing an action filled life with revenge. Hamlet deals with a lot more thoughts and ideas than The Spanish Tragedy does. The Spanish Tragedy also has a huge similarity to Hamlet, “... including a ghost calling for revenge and a play-within-the-play, together with a sustained exploration of the themes of madness and suicide,” (May 25). There is a ghost in both of these revenge plays, but the Ghost in Hamlet is shown to be somewhat different that the other ghost. Although the Ghost in Hamlet is the reason why this play is not full of bloody revenge, he is also the reason why there is revenge in the play. When he is talking to Hamlet he has one request, “If thou didst ever thy dear father love-... / Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder,” (I.v. p.23). The Ghost asks for his revenge through Hamlet. Although this revengeful thought happens, it takes until the last scene of the play, while this is said in the fifth scene. Most of the revengeful thoughts happen throughout the duration of this play, but they are introduced a long time before they are acted on by the characters. Hamlet shows that he is behind what the Ghost tells him later in this scene, “So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word. / It is ‘Adieu, adieu, remember me. / I have sworn’t,” (I.v. p.26). Hamlet is writing this thought down. He is shown to have this thought throughout the play, especially in