Revenge In Hamlet Research Paper

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Revenge is a very prominent motif in any novel, movie, or play. People watch it overtake the characters and lead them to make irrational decisions. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, this statement shows to be very true. The people of denmark start to act before they think, which puts many characters in bad situations. The disease of revenge spreads throughout the state of Denmark, quickly contaminating the minds of the people, but afterward, revenge quickly becomes regret. The protagonist, Hamlet, is in the center of all the conflict in Denmark. Early on, he gets on the bad side of most of his peers, so when something goes wrong, he becomes the person to blame. As conflict begins, they all quickly become overwhelmed by the hunger for revenge inside of them. Although Hamlet is still sane, reprisal, especially against his Uncle Claudius, infects him. He wants revenge because “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life / Now wears his crown” (I, iv, 39-40). Claudius killes Hamlet’s…show more content…
Hamlet accidentally kills his father, Polonius, and from that point on, all Laertes wants is to get even with Hamlet and take his life as Hamlet took his father’s. Laertes teams up with Claudius to get back at Hamlet. Many times Laertes realizes what he is doing may be immoral, but the King keeps pushing him by saying phrases like “Revenge should have no bounds” (IV, vii, 125). Eventually, Laertes becomes so tainted that he wouldn’t even have a problem if he “Cut [Hamlet’s] throat i’ th’ church” (IV, vii, 123). In this very moment, his mind is fully contaminated. In the end, Laertes realizes his revenge isn’t worth it and that it completely overtakes him. Before he falls to the ground, poisoned and defeated, he says, “I am justly killed by mine own treachery” (V, ii, 302-303). Laertes comprehends that he should have never been playing tricks in the first

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