The classic revenge tragedy is one way to describe Shakespeare’s greatest play Hamlet. The story is driven by a reprisal catastrophe lead by the main character, Hamlet. Over the course of the story, readers see that Hamlet is mulling over requital as opposed to demanding it. Hamlet’s powerlessness to vindicate the murder of his beloved father, king Hamlet, is what keeps the story running and prompts the demises of a large portion of the story characters, including Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Ophelia, Laertes, Gertrude, Claudius, and himself. In Hamlet, there is no justification for revenge because evil consumes the protagonist and leads to the downfall of everyone around Hamlet, including himself. The first clue readers receive about …show more content…
Ironically, the letter consists of commands to the King of England to kill Hamlet. Following the Polonius murder act, Claudius sends Hamlet off to England to be killed because he assumes Hamlet is trying to kill him. By sending Hamlet off to England, Claudius is protecting himself, but he utilizes the excuse of saving Hamlet: “this deed, for thine especial safety—/ Which we do tender as we dearly grieve/ For that which thou hast done—must send thee hence/ With fiery quickness. Therefore, prepare thyself. / The bark is ready and the wind at help, / Th' associates tend, and everything is bent/ For England” (IV.iii.36-42). Claudius send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to make sure Hamlet is dead. They have a letter to give to the king to execute Hamlet, but Hamlet being the brilliant man he is, changed the letter to say that whoever bears the letter must be executed. When their ship is attacked by pirates, Hamlet returns to Denmark, leaving Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to die; he comments that "They are not near my conscience; their defeat / Does by their own insinuation grow" (V.ii.58-59). As the story progresses, Hamlet is seen getting revenge unintentionally by stabbing “Polonius through the arras, and second, when he intentionally sends the two courtiers to death” (Topchyan …show more content…
He convinces Laertes that Hamlet is the one who kills his father. Claudius persuades Laertes that “revenge should have no bounds” (IV.iiiiiii.127). On one hand, Laertes will use a poison-tipped sword during the fight with Hamlet. On the other hand, Claudius will have a poisoned drink at the ready, just in case Laertes isn’t able to kill Hamlet for him. Gertrude ends up drinking the poisoned wine prepared for Hamlet and dies. Hamlet has been hurt by the poison sword, yet he doesn’t “die until he has served his purpose, as, in the end, he accomplishes the task at the cost of his own life” (Javed 332). Hamlet realizes that Claudius is the one who is behind all of this because Laertes informs him about all his sins. He then stabs Claudius and forces him to drink the poisoned wine: “Drink off this poison” (V.ii.93). The revenge plot is thus concluded. Hamlet himself then dies from the wound received during the fight with Laertes