Essay 2: Hamlet In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, there is a reoccurring concept of madness and revenge. When reading Hamlet the reader often finds oneself thinking over and over again “Has hamlet truly gone mad or is it all an act?” as he tries to seek out revenge for the death of his father. In Hamlet, the play we see a repeated theme of revenge as Shakespeare depicts three personages Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras whom each seeks vengeance for the murders of their father’s but each have extremely different approaches at seeking their revenge resulting in the downfall of two of the men as one prevails. Right off the bat in the play the reader can sense the need for revenge initially in Act 1 scene 2 by the Norwegian prince Fortinbras as King…show more content… The ghost of king hamlet reveals to hamlet that his death was not natural and that his death was caused by he who now bears the crown king hamlet reveals “sleeping in my orchard, a serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark is by a forgèd process of my death rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, the serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown.”(1.5.35-40) He pleads to hamlet to revenge his most foul and unnatural death because that is keeping him from entering the gates of heaven. Hearing this Hamlet comes up with a plan to act mad as he seeks for the truth behind his father’s death. Ultimately when reading the play one is struck with the question “Has hamlet truly gone mad or is he really acting mad?” Many readers also recognize that Hamlet had many chances to kill his uncle, but his anger overshadowed his better judgement as he tried to wait until the lord could see no good in Claudius, to ensure that he’d be sent to hell. Unfortunately for Hamlet, his chance to finally get his revenge on Claudius was his own death. As hamlet carries on his plan to revenge his father’s death most readers assume he has gone mad due to some of his actions in the play for example his constant mood swings and random violent outburst His insanity doesn’t stop there, not only does he have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed but he himself ends up