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Madness And Revenge In Hamlet

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In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the author claims that revenge and madness are related because the need for revenge can cause one to go insane trying to get their revenge. This comparison comes up when Hamlet kills Polonius, Ophelia goes insane, and when Laertes attempts to do anything to avenge his father and Ophelia. Shakespeare’s claims that madness and revenge are related are not true today because people generally get revenge through the legal system, and rarely have issues as large as those in Hamlet where they would feel such a strong need for revenge. These modern comparisons show up in workplace revenge, the people who generally seek revenge, and the effect revenge has on people.
The first way Shakespeare expresses the …show more content…

Laertes returns to Denmark upon hearing the news of his father’s death, and straight away threatens to kill Claudius unless he gets answers. At the time, threatening a king was a capital punishment, which shows the extent Laertes is willing to go to get his revenge. Even after Claudius explains everything to Laertes, Laertes still wants his revenge and would like to kill Hamlet. Hamlet and Laertes were pretty close, so this once again shows how far Laertes is willing to go to enact his revenge, which is borderline mad. Finally, upon hearing the news of Ophelia’s death, Laertes is once again filled rage. “Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, it could not move thus” (Shakespeare IV, v, 145). In this quote, Laertes claims that even if Ophelia was sane, she could not persuade him any better than she is now to take revenge for them. He probably feels this way because he is angry that Ophelia has become like this, and blames it all on Hamlet. This could be a sign that he is becoming mad, since he is blaming everything on Hamlet without thinking anything through. His rage ends up turning him mad, as he is willing to take his own life for his revenge and even wishes to kill himself to be with Ophelia in the

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murder, he accidently stabs Polonius in the chest. Ophelia thought that Hamlet didn’t love her, so she jumped off of a bridge. The quote implies here, because it shows Hamlet lost everything, and everyone he loved in the process. Laertes had a brother like relationship with Hamlet. He loved Polonius, and Ophelia a little too much.

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Almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king, and marry with his brother… Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune.” Laertes shows he is impulsive when he says he is going to kill Hamlet with a poisoned sword.

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