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Vengeance In Hamlet

663 Words3 Pages

There are a few major themes shown throughout the script in the play Hamlet. These themes build off of each other and have a good representation of how the actions of others have consequences that affect everyone. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the characters develop and grow with a craving for revenge, love, hatred, sin, and moral corruption. If there are two main lessons to be taught in Hamlet, it would be that vengeance creates tension that leads to self destruction and sinning destroys all innocence within us.
The story of Hamlet revolves around revenge and how obsession with revenge corrupts the royal family. There are multiple instances where revenge has negative long term effects on the characters. One example of this is when the ghost told …show more content…

The original plan of Claudius sending Hamlet to England to get beheaded backfired on Claudius and caused Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to die instead. The quote in act 4 scene 7, “then I’ll trick him into an undertaking, which I’m working out now, that’s sure to kill him. When he dies, no one will be blamed, even his mother will call it an accident.” proves Hamlet’s intentions. Revenge in this story causes each negative event to happen, and the conflicts continue to get worse each time another character seeks …show more content…

Hamlet talks about how much he loved Ophelia, but it could potentially be inferred that she killed herself to prevent Hamlet from loving her any longer. The quote in act 5 scene 1 conveys sincere feelings from both Hamlet and Laertes towards Ophelia. The quote “Damn it, show me what you’re going to do for her. Will you cry? Fight? Stop eating? Cut yourself? Drink vinegar? Eat a crocodile? I’ll do all that. Did you come here to whine? To outdo me by jumping into her grave so theatrically? To be buried alive with her? So will I.” proves Hamlets aggression towards Laertes. Hamlets aggression may stem from his passion and feelings towards Ophelia. This can cause Ophelia to feel extremely pressured by both these important people in her life. Since Hamlet is so incredibly against sin and continues to gain hostility against Laertes, and Ophelia was pressured by all the men in her life, she could have used suicide as an escape from them all, choosing sin over life and love. If Ophelia truly loved Hamlet, it can be confusing why she would kill herself, but perhaps it was revenge on Hamlet for murdering her

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Death In Hamlet Act 1

520 Words | 3 Pages

Laertes complains to the priests to perform a full service for his sister. Suddenly Laertes jumps into Ophelia’s grave and exclaims that he wants to be buried next to her. Hamlet jumps in too and insults Laertes saying that he doesn’t love her as much as he does. They fight each other and are pulled apart. At the end of this scene, Claudius reminds Laertes about their plan to murder Hamlet.

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Examples Of Ophelia's Madness In Hamlet

798 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet has come to see his mother, Queen Gertrude, and ends up stabbing Lord Polonius, which ultimately leads to his death. Lord Polonius’ final words include “O, I am slain!” Even though this provides a slight amount of comic relief to the reader, it has a reverse effect on Ophelia’s mental state. Her father’s death seems to be the potent punch in this fight because she officially goes mad after this final event. This is apparent in Scene IV Act I, when Laertes has come back to visit his sister and check on her well being.

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Violence In Hamlet Analysis

1906 Words | 8 Pages

Hamlet could have caused Ophelia emotional agony due to their relationship ending or from killing her beloved father, which leads her to the action of killing Ledford 4 herself. Hamlet seems to be very complex and he may not be as deranged as Shakespeare makes everyone in the play to think he is. When readers think into detail about the way he could have possibly “mentally killed,” Ophelia or directed her to this spot in her life, we realize he is actually quite smart if it is part of his use of violence to seek revenge. Shakespeare constructs Hamlet to be a character that everyone can love and feel sorry for at times because we as readers can relate to him in some aspects.

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Why Is Revenge Important In Hamlet

732 Words | 3 Pages

Laertes believes Hamlet is to blame not only for his father’s death, but also for Ophelia’s death because the death of her father is ultimately what drove her to killing herself. Once Laertes returns, he asks King Claudius who is responsible for the death of his father and is informed that Hamlet is the one to blame. Ophelia enters and reveals to everyone that she has gone crazy and ends up killing herself. Hamlet returns to Denmark and is surprised to find out that Ophelia has died. Laertes and Hamlet start fighting at her burial service and Hamlet says he wants to be

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Claudius: The Wrongful Death Of Ophelia

1361 Words | 6 Pages

As Shakespearean scholar A. C. Bradley (2010) explained, this course would foreseeably raise the question of the defendant’s own behavior at the play. Though this may have been advantageous for the king, it was the opposite for Ophelia. With her brother Laertes at college, her father dead, and her companion across the sea, Ophelia had nobody to support her amid such immense suffering. Moreover, Ophelia could not ask Hamlet about his alleged involvement in the murder. This grueling uncertainty served the final blow that drove her to take her own life.

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Hamlet Revenge Quotes

1146 Words | 5 Pages

While some might think that Hamlet felt violence and bitterness throughout the entire play, Hamlet develops emotionally and mentally as a character, allowing him to become a better person than who he was at the start. Throughout Hamlet’s journey, emotions such as violence, fear, and anger drive his motives; he keeps portraying his actions as just, when in reality, it is pure revenge. Young people often let their emotions blind their true sense of justice and revenge. Hamlet develops as a character throughout the play and eventually becomes a good man. Act 1, scene 5 in Hamlet describes how the Ghost of King Hamlet states a mysterious command to his son which states, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder”(pg23).

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What Does Ophelia's Body Symbolize In Hamlet

755 Words | 4 Pages

In Act IV, scene v, Laertes has just come back from France and he went to the throne room to question the King about the whereabouts of his father. The King tells Laertes that his father is dead. As Laertes and King Claudius discuss who could’ve killed Polonius, Ophelia prances in covered in flowers while she singing random ballads. Laertes exclaims that his sister has gone mad, but little does he know that Hamlet is the cause of Ophelia’ current state of mind. In Act IV, scene v, Ophelia’s madness was caused by the death of her father.

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Hamlet: The Cause Of Ophelia's Suicide

745 Words | 3 Pages

Ophelia’s death results from Hamlet's madness, his telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, and Polonius's death. Hamlet telling Ophelia to go to a nunnery made Ophelia feel insecure. Especially when Hamlet told Ophelia that he would marry her just so she would sleep with him. Then, Hamlet comes back to Ophelia telling her that she needs to go to a nunnery. Which is basically calling Ophelia a whore, because a nunnery is like a whorehouse. Ophelia at this point felt very insecure about herself and she questioned her relationship with Hamlet.

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Love Is Toxic In Shakespeare's Hamlet

937 Words | 4 Pages

Her death was doubtful” (5.1.234). Queen Gertrude says this to Laertes to let him know of the news about Ophelia. Ophelia ends up going insane and committing suicide from the way Hamlet uses her and the harmful love he provides

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Madness Ignites In Shakespeare's Hamlet

1327 Words | 6 Pages

Because she could not commit revenge and live (unless she wants her reputation tarnished) she kills herself. This is her form of revenge towards Hamlet for killing her father. Because Hamlet killed her father, but she loved Hamlet, Ophelia had much built up emotion which, in her mind, could only be released in one way- suicide. Revenge can cause the innocent to go mad as demonstrated by Ophelia’s actions. Lack of revenge leads a person to madness because you are bottling up your emotions, releasing them to nothing.

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Hamlet Death Theme Essay

873 Words | 4 Pages

This quote reveals how all these things have affected Hamlet psychologically and emotionally. The death of King Hamlet has led the play toward more death themes, making this the most tragedy

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Acts Of Cruelty In Hamlet

518 Words | 3 Pages

By doing this she leaves Laertes all alone in the world. When Hamlet returns from England to hear this news he is petrified. He becomes angry with Laertes for grieving too much and in return Laertes is angry at Hamlet because he thinks this is all his fault. The two gramble at each other. This leading to the last act of cruelty.

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Hamlet's Revenge

718 Words | 3 Pages

Revenge is the desire to inflict harm on one who has wronged someone else. In many cases, revenge is motivated by a desire to make a person receive payback for their wrongdoings. A person can either forget and carry on with their life or allow sin to fill themselves with anger and a thirst for revenge. In the tragedy, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet has a strong suspicion that his father’s death was a murder by his uncle, Claudius because a ghost had told him so. Hamlet’s depression transitions into an intense desire to avenge his great father, Hamlet becomes consumed with the past as everyone around him moves on into the future.

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Importance Of Revenge In Hamlet

764 Words | 4 Pages

Revenge is a major part of life, even with minor things people like to get major revenge, and the same can be said for major things also. While revenge is a huge thing it can lead to bad results. Revenge is a major theme in William Shakespeare 's Hamlet, revenge is seen through Hamlet’s revenge for his father, Laertes’ revenge for his father, and Fortinbras’ revenge on Denmark for Norway. Hamlet’s revenge is the main part of the play, after his uncle killed his father and married Hamlet’s mom Hamlet wanted to get revenge. However due to Hamlet not being able to do it fast, his revenge tends to drag on leading to many other people getting affected by it, namely Polonius.

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Shakespeare Use Of Revenge In Hamlet Research Paper

1305 Words | 6 Pages

By the end of the play, Shakespeare shows how all of the characters attempt to get their revenge and how revenge does not always work out for the best. Hamlet is the main character of the play and it seems as if everything he does is based off his wanting to revenge Claudius for killing

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