ipl-logo

William Shakespeare's Hamlet: Is Revenge Ever Justified?

515 Words3 Pages
Is revenge every justified? No, it is not. In William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, seeking revenge had catastrophic consequences. Everyone was faced with the decision to seek revenge, or to make peace with their situations. In “Hamlet” everyone made the wrong choice. In choosing to avenge the crimes committed against them, everyone died. Revenge is unjustifiable because it hurts the revenger seeker, causes dire political disturbance, and creates negative karma. Hamlet is driven mad by the mental anguish of justifying revenge. He knows “ 'tis almost 'gainst [his] conscience” (Hamlet 5.2.304) to commit revenge in the form of murder. For Hamlet, plotting revenge furthered his mental torment, while making peace with the situation could have saved
Show More
Related
276 Words | 2 Pages

Furthermore, in the Hamlet Effect which was previously mentioned written by Holly Crocker has explained how behind each motive there should be a reasoning. The paper in a specified part explains in depth how maily there is no clear motive behind the act of revenge. This part of the section reads “ We argue that there is no clear standard … on the perceivers attributions for the act” ( Crocker 1194). The quote explains what revenge is and the behavior that goes along with it. They also talk about the psychological benefit and cost that goes along with revenge.

Read More
1409 Words | 6 Pages

Revenge can be a dark and winding road for those who choose to take it. This proves true in the play William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Robertson Davies' fifth business throughout the lives of characters Paul Dempster and Hamlet. In both Hamlet and fifth business, revenge used to avenge another person close to a character leads to the death of the one who causes a character's need for revenge; however, in Hamlet of William Shakespeare's Hamlet and in Paul Dempster of Robertson Davies' fifth business, revenge displays different effects on their lives. Paul and Hamlet's paths to revenge are both born out of anger and resentment, both planned ahead of time, but where Hamlet's personality changes, Paul's stays the same during his revenge.

Read More
801 Words | 4 Pages

Were Hamlets Actions Justified? Were his actions justified, that is the question. Hamlet’s father (King Hamlet) died. In less than 2 months Hamlet’s mother (Gertrude) married his uncle (Claudius). Hamlet’s friend came to him telling him that he saw the ghost of his dad.

Read More
701 Words | 3 Pages

Where hamlets actions justified? Did he really avenge is father? Well I don’t think so. Because of him Gertrude was treated very poorly and because of the got her killed, the treatment to Ophelia was not justified and it made her go crazy, he delayed the killing of the king which caused a lot of bad stuff to happen, but the killing of Claudius was justified because he avenged his father. So, the question are his actions justified?

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

Hamlet is a story about revenge and power, due to the recent death of the King of Denmark. The following events include madness, which leads to Hamlet killing King Claudius’ advisor, Polonius. Word about the death of his father got to Laertes who was in England. Laertes returned to Denmark to find his sister distraught and drove to madness. Shortly after his return, Ophelia is found dead by the cause of drowning.

Read More
809 Words | 4 Pages

The big question is “Are Hamlet’s actions justified.” Well Hamlet was both justified and not justified. Some things he did were for a reason others were just possibly because he was pretending to have gone insane. Examples of this are the way Hamlet treated his own mother, Gertrude, and the way he treated his love Ophelia, one thing he is not justified in is delaying the murder of his uncle and his mother’s new husband Claudius. But the thing that is justified is actually killing Claudius.

Read More
2017 Words | 9 Pages

Have you ever been wronged by someone so badly that you felt as though revenge was needed? Perhaps your best friend stole the woman you loved, so you felt that you needed to act and do something to get back at him. Maybe you destroy his life by starting a false rumor about him, or you get in a fight with him and humiliate him. This is just one common example of “revenge” in our everyday lives. In the play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, there are much more serious things going on, involving death, murder, and wars between nations.

Read More
1598 Words | 7 Pages

The main character of William Shakespeare’s tragedy is actually a confused person that’s stuck between two choices. Some may argue that he feels guilty for his father’s death and so it’s his duty to avenge it. While others may disagree and conclude that he is just a maniac who is both violent and dangerous. Hamlet passes through the lane of hesitancy, where he hesitates to kill King Claudius. As a matter of fact, the main conflict of Hamlet is that he feels both the need to solve the crime and punish the responsible.

Read More
1234 Words | 5 Pages

Not all people respond with hate and revenge, some people let themselves get walked over but not hamlet. Hamlet does not respond to injustice too kindly. He wants revenge for his father's death, wants to set things right, help out whoever is in charge of people receiving karma by taking things into his own hands. His main goal in the novel is to seek revenge on his father's death, this started when he was visited by the ghost of the old king. The ghost said to him “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” the ghost of the old king wanted Hamlet to seek revenge on claudius for his ‘unnatural” murder of the kind.

Read More
1544 Words | 7 Pages

Many works of art, especially literature, has a large focus on deception and how deception pushes a plot and story along the line to completion. This had been used in the long history of literature an uncountable amount of times by a lot of different authors, but one of the most popular works which has a heavy focus of deception and the consequences thereof is the drama, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare. This drama, often just called Hamlet features incredibly heavy themes of deception as almost every character is being deceitful in someway, which all has varying effects on the advancement of the main story and plot. Arguably the most deceitful character in the entire drama is the namesake Hamlet. Hamlet has

Read More
665 Words | 3 Pages

Philosopher of Science, Francis Bacon writes of well know public revenges that have been justified over time, “Public revenges are for the most part fortunate; as that for the death of Caesar; for the death of Pertinax; the death of Henry the Third of France; and many more.” (Bacon, lines 24-26). These public revenges, along with most public revenges, lead to a better era for the community that sought revenge causing their actions to be justified. One main example is Caesar of Rome, although his death was at the time unpopular it lead to a better government and the being of the Empire. Revenge that takes place under the law for the people can be justifiable because this said revenge, in the long, allows the people to live free and prosperous

Read More
734 Words | 3 Pages

I believed that Hamlet’s madness and revenge actions are justified because he was facing several very difficult situations, in a brief time. I think the best way to understand Hamlet’s actions is imagining being in his shoes. For a moment, visualize that your father dies suddenly without giving you time to say goodbye or to prepare you for the emptiness that his departure is going to leave in you. In addition, your uncle married your mother, two months after your father’s funeral. Those two situations are strong enough to destabilize any person.

Read More
1173 Words | 5 Pages

Towards the end of the play, Hamlet finally receives his chance at revenge in the form of a fencing match against Claudius. Although he kills Claudius, a poisonous sword wounds Hamlet, and he exclaims that “O, I die, Horatio./ The potent poison quite o’ercrows my spirit”(5.2.352-353). Revenge distorts Hamlet’s mind to the extent that he challenges Claudius to a fencing match, even though Claudius is out to kill Hamlet. As a result, Hamlet dies, and, in turn, illustrates that revenge hinders logical decision making, and induces dire repercussions.

Read More
1262 Words | 6 Pages

Values and beliefs are defining principles of the way in which we view a person, action or relationship. Often, we are encouraged to think again about these values and beliefs, after being exposed to challenging and insightful events, people, or material. William Shakespeare's tragedy, “Hamlet,” written in the Elizabethan era, encourages us to think about our values and beliefs surrounding revenge, love and loyalty. After examination of these concepts, the reader develops new insights into their values and beliefs, and come to fully support the statement that “ the most significant texts encourage us to think again about our values and beliefs.”

Read More
1305 Words | 6 Pages

In Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, revenge plays a major role in how the characters act. They base their actions off of getting revenge. Hamlet, Laertes, and Young Fortinbras all are trying to get revenge for their fathers. All three of the characters use different methods for getting revenge and they all get different results. Shakespeare uses these three characters to show that revenge can consume you and that is all that you want and he shows how harmful it can be.

Read More

More about William Shakespeare's Hamlet: Is Revenge Ever Justified?

Related Topics

Open Document