Hamlet Revenge Quotes

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In William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, the main character, Prince Hamlet, is overcome with a rancorous feeling toward his uncle, King Claudius. This is because Claudius slaughtered the former King, who was also Prince Hamlet's father. Prince Hamlet is severely melancholic after he learns of this unjust slaughter through his father's ghost, who visits him and tells him to seek the revenge he cannot, which involves killing Claudius. Overcome with melancholy, Prince Hamlet cannot decide between his passion-driven rage to kill his uncle or his dispiritedness over his father's death. After King Hamlet’s ghost visits his son and talks about how he was killed, Hamlet is overwhelmed with sadness and the idea of seeking retribution for his father. In Hamlet’s second soliloquy, he says, “So, uncle, there you are. Now to my …show more content…

In that quote, Hamlet swears revenge upon his uncle, King Claudius. At this time in the play, Hamlet can not think of anything besides vengeance. This passion will drive Hamlet to kill Claudius, but the rage will not last long and will eventually be replaced by depression. In Act Two Scene Two, Hamlet is speaking with an actor about a play; towards the end of the act, Hamlet has the actor perform part of a play and is able to see the amount of emotion portrayed by them. After Hamlet is done speaking with the actor, he says, “Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, a broken voice, and his whole function suiting with forms to his conceit- and all for nothing!” (Shakespeare 2.2.582-584). The soliloquy shows the readers how much anguish Hamlet feels over the fact someone can fake all of the emotions Hamlet is feeling and act on them, when he cannot do that himself. After Hamlet seemingly overcomes his self-induced pity, he begins to feel muddled and deeply saddened. “To be, or not to be”? That is the question- whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer” (Shakespeare