In William Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy, Hamlet, Prince Hamlet of Denmark acts as an instrument of the suffering of others during his quest to avenge his father’s murder. While hamlet only intends to kill Claudius, he unintentionally causes other to suffer, showing that revenge often has unexpected consequences.
Hamlet’s actions lead to emotional turmoil in several characters. Hamlet harasses his mother, Queen Gertrude until she admits that she feels guilty and that in her soul there are “such black and grainèd spots as will not leave their tinct” and begs him to “speak no more” because his words are “like daggers” in her ears. He is even crueler to Ophelia, manipulating her and using her to make his charade of madness more believable,
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He mistakes Polonius for Claudius when he catches him spying on him from behind a drapery and feels no remorse. While Gertrude is horrified and exclaims “Oh Me, what hast thou done!” Hamlet merely asks “is it the king?” showing that his pursuit of revenge has made him numb to all the horrific things that he has done. This is shown again when he sends his former childhood friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to die in his place without feeling any guilt at all. The only death he seems to fell remorse for is Ophelia, and even that feels like he is trying to prove to Laertes that he feels more grief than him. Hamlet proclaims loudly “What is he whose grief bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand like wonder-wounded hearers? this is I, Hamlet the Dane.” This confrontation at Ophelia’s grave leads to the duel in which Laertes is killed with his own poisoned sword, Gertrude and Claudius drink the poisoned wine, and Hamlet is first stabbed with the poisoned sword and then drinks the poisoned wine to hasten his death, leaving Horatio as the only survivor to tell Fortinbras what