Essay, Research Paper: Hamlet

In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the theme of revenge is repeated numerous times throughout the play and it involves a great deal of characters. Of these characters, eight are dead by the end of the play by result of murder, which started through revenge. In the play of Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the revenge theme to create conflict among many characters. As a major theme in the play of Hamlet, revenge initiated conflict between Hamlet and Claudius , Hamlet and Laertes and Hamlet and himself . Shakespeare uses the revenge theme to create conflict between Hamlet and Claudius. In Act I, scene 5, Hamlet is visited by the ghost who was his father. The ghost makes Hamlet aware of his murderous death as he told Hamlet that Claudius had killed him. The ghost says this to Hamlet regarding Claudius, "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. At this point of the play Hamlet is first introduced to the revenge plot between himself and Claudius. Hamlet wants to insure that the ghost really was his dead father before he kills Claudius. To do this Hamlet has people act out the death of his father in front of Claudius and declares him guilty by his reaction to the play. Afterwards the conflict between Hamlet and Claudius is showed by Hamlet and it occurs in the last scene. In the last scene, as Hamlet's mother dies and Hamlet and Laertes are sliced by Laertes' poison sword during the sword duel, Laertes says that Claudius caused all this. Hamlet, now realizing that there is no more time for him to delay his revenge, thus stabs Claudus and kills him. Revenge theme; therefore was the motive for the conflict between Hamlet and Claudius. Shakespeare uses the revenge plot to create conflict between Laertes and Hamlet by having Laertes avenge his father and sister's death, which Hamlet is responsible for. After learning of his fathers unnatural death, Hamlet decides that he can no longer trust anyone, except for Horatio. While acting out his madness, he visited Ophelia and break up with her because of his distrust for everyone. In Act III, when Hamlet talks with his mother, he notices that he is being spied upon. Thinking that it is the king, Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius who was hiding behind the tapestry. According to the play it is also believed Ophelia herself went mad because Hamlet treated her rudely and violently and he killed her father. In Act IV, Ophelia's madness drives her to walk into the river and drown. When Laertes arrives back from France he hears the horrible news of his father and sister s death. Responding with an anger Laertes started to plan to revenge against the murderer of his father and sister, Hamlet. Taking part of the revenge plan, Claudius and Laertes come to the conclusion that they will hold a sword duel between Hamlet and Laertes. Together they planed that Laertes will have poison on his sword and Claudius will have a glass with poison in it ready for Hamlet to satisfy his thirst. During the duel, Hamlet is scratched by the poison tipped sword of Laertes. It is now certain that Hamlet will die. Therefore, the conflict between Laertes and Hamlet has resulted in revenge for Laertes.























Through the revenge theme, Shakespeare creates an interior conflict between Hamlet and himself. In Hamlet's first soliloquy, Hamlet displays his dispersion state of being and his unwillingness to live. " Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! Hamlet states that if God was not against suicide then he would take his own life. In Hamlet's second soliloquy, after the meeting with his father's ghost, he insults himself up by saying, "Am I a coward...?", and, "I am pigeon-liver'd, and lack gall". Hamlet wants revenge at this time but he is questioning his willingness to kill Claudius, so he is calling himself a coward. The greatest conflict between Hamlet and himself occurs when Hamlet delays the killing of Claudius. At the point of this play Hamlet compared his fathers death with what he was about to do in killing Claudius. Delaying the killing at this point aroused Hamlets self conflict because he thought that he was not taking enough actions. However, the conflict between Hamlet and himself is resolved when Hamlet killed Claudius because he himself was going to die soon and had little time left. Therefore, the revenge theme created the interior conflict between Hamlet and himself. Generally, the revenge theme was used by Shakespeare to create conflict among many characters throughout the play, Hamlet. The revenge theme was the main factor to create a conflict between Hamlet and Claudius , Hamlet and Laertes and Hamlet and himself .