Hamlet and Revenge
In what ways, and how effectively do you think Shakespeare presents the “Revenge is sweet but you got to stay alive to taste it” composed by David and Leigh Deeding is a beautiful way revenge can be illustrated. By definition, revenge is a legitimate response to political, family, personal or legal transgression. This act of supposed justice is epically epitomized in “William Shakespearean Hamlet”, arguably the greatest drama of all time.
Being a revenge tragedy, William Shakespeare draws on interiorly, external and internal conflict as well as moral justification to illustrate a Isaac of Images and In doing so, demonstrates the dichotomy of whether or not revenge is as simple as it seems to be. The concept of a revenge tragedy is evoked when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, If need be, to secure one thing – his sense of personal dignity. This Is seen by Hamlet as he, with great passion – schemes to kill Claudia.
This scheme arises due to the murder of his father, who was poisoned by Claudia whilst he was asleep, and to claim the throne via marriage to Gertrude. In his scheme to kill Claudia, Hamlet wishes to avenge his father under direction of the host of King Hamlet and supposedly bring peace to himself. Shakespeare uses ghosts as an external influence on Hamlet to initiate the revenge. The ghost seen in act one is can be seen as a catalyst in speeding up revenge process. Hamlet, after his father’s death is full of melancholy and wishes to suicide however refrains from doing so only because it is a sin.
In Hamlet’s first soliloquy we see no drive for him to take revenge but rather a clutter of ‘explicitly salty thoughts which are disorganized. He, in all fury curses the current state of politics and family Hyannis as an “Incestuous” and manipulative man rules the state, and his mother In all “frailty’ naively agrees to marry him. This soliloquy is full of thought rather than action however the ghost gives Hamlet a motive and application for his emotions. Interestingly, Hamlet requires tangible Justification to continue his plot on Claudia.
With instruction from the ghost – a supernatural being in which the Elizabethan time saw as a reason alone to take action in pursuit for revenge, Hamlet struggles to comes to terms with its justification. Suspicion beforehand of Claudia being the elliptic, furthered with the ghost’s confirmation, Hamlet still puts upon an antic disposition to seek confirmation. This Is due to his moral Justification as he becomes skeptical in his approach. The only thing Hamlet wishes to secure in taking his revenge against Claudia is his own sense of personal dignity and in doing so over complicates a supposed simple task of revenge.
This is the substance that makes Hamlet a tragic hero. Because he contemplates and lays poise in balancing moral righteousness, his tragic flaw is exposed. Shakespeare presents us with more than just a revenge but a three dimensional character due to the fact he has interiorly. I OFF I Nils Inward-alertness marks a recall Dread Walt n ten solute, unquestioning faith in God that Shakespearean generation inherited from the middle ages. This harmonize act in which Hamlet has found himself in is of standing on the brink of a religious past and a secular future.
In his seek for moral Justification, Hamlet puts on a play that imitates the murder of King Hamlet and the “wicked speed” of the remarriage of the widow – the Queen. To Hamlet’s superficial Joy, Claudia reacts for wishing “some light”. This proves to Hamlet that Claudia is the culprit of “the primal eldest curse upon”. Revenge in the play works on a multi-dimensional platform as there are many reasons why Hamlet could have sought revenge. Primarily under the direction of King Hamlet’s ghost for personal revenge, many undercurrents of subconscious conflicts seethe to the surface of the conscious of Hamlet.
Different ages have seen Hamlet’s motives in different lights. Freudian analysis of Hamlet sees him in love with his mother and sees Claudia as the threat. This undercurrent can be seen in act 3 here he says “l will speak daggers to her, but use none” as if he would if he would have if the ghost told him not to. To further this argument, Hamlet’s first soliloquy, more than half of it is devoted to his mother as “she married at O most wicked speed”, “but break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue”.
This train of argument can be continued – as in act 3 scene 4 sees the violent confrontation between Hamlet and Gertrude – his mother. In this scene Hamlet acts strictly out of spontaneity. His rage is far from ‘sugar coated’ as he outpour the grief burdening his heart in most shocking and vile fashion. His outburst of now exteriors interiorly is heavily centered on the “incestuous pleasures” of his mother and uncle. This follows close suit to the Oedipus complex – a Freudian view of psychology that all toddlers are in love or lust with the opposite parent sex.
Freud himself saw Claudia “the man who shows [Hamlet] the repressed wishes of his own childhood realized”. This means to say that the marriage of Claudia and Gertrude revoked the passions of his youthful subconscious and because he cannot define them or know what they are, he sees the need to take revenge on Claudia upon a practical yet tangible enough motive. His anger and wish for revenge it seems, is directed more towards his mother rather than Claudia.
His accusations upon Gertrude follow a methodical and calculated attack in of which he compares King Hamlet to Claudia upon a spectrum of heaven and hell. He depicts his father as the “Hyperfine” compared to Claudia who Hamlet calls the “devil”. He even talks about the sexuality of his own mother – “for at your age the heyday in the blood is tame” as he cannot come to comprehend the attraction she has for Claudia at such “wicked speed”. Comparing his verbal attack on Gertrude to his procrastination with Claudia it is difficult to say what Hamlet seeks revenge for.
Because of the dexterity of Hamlet’s inner conscious it is difficult to say whether or not Hamlet himself wishes to carry out a revenge in the first place. Having the perfect opportunity for when Claudia is praying, Hamlet dismisses it for he sees “revenge”. This can be seen as an excuse as the killing would have been straight forward and efficient. Instead Hamlet superficially goes on to say that he wants to see Claudia suffer whilst he takes his revenge, “when he is drunk asleep, or in rage/ Or n authenticates pleasure of his bed”.
After his antic disposition, Hamlet is seen to become exactly what he was playing – mad. Due to the consistent manifestation of existentialism within him, Hamlet becomes erratic compared to his previous finesse and idea of perfectionism. His lack of thought and scheming leads hamlet to spontaneous acts of raw emotion. If Hamlet plays the fool for strategic purposes; there are subtleties of genuine mental distress. In the last scene, Hamlet explodes into a cameo in of which he is very wise and violent at the same time.
Because of the mass murder in this scene it seems that Hamlet is taking revenge against the misfortunes that destiny has drawn him and also against society itself. From the superficial simple revenge against Claudia, others become involved such as Aphelia and Polonium. With revenge playing a central theme in Hamlet, it is no wonder why William Shakespeare manifests so many twists and turns for the motives of it. Playing with our perception and ideologies, William Shakespeare – through Hamlet will continue to fascinate us with its different psychoanalysis’.
