If
you are a classic reader, what comes to your mind when you think of Hamlet? Perhaps
the words betrayal and tragedy come to your mind. Or, you might consider it a
tale of revenge. Several themes intermingle throughout the story, but revenge is the most interesting to me,
for it connects several characters directly. In the play Hamlet, Prince of
Denmark, I am honing in on three specific characters: Prince Hamlet, Laertes,
and Claudius, who all had different personalities and displayed three different
aspects of revenge. To me, Both Hamlet and Laertes were anti-heroes in their
own right, while Claudius was strictly a villain. Hamlet and Laertes sought
retribution for their father’s deaths and broken families, while Claudius
sought revenge for his own selfish purposes and perceived threats.
“Revenge his (Claudius’) foul and
most unnatural murder.” – Ghost, page 36, line 45.
Throughout the play, Hamlet is guided by his father’s ghost to revenge his
death. Before the actual appearance of his father’s ghost, it is unclear if he
would have sought vengeance on his own. Hamlet was a young man who was
attending school in Wittenberg and took leave to go home for his father’s
funeral. It seems he would have returned there if not for the ghost’s
appearance. "For your intent in
going back to school in Wittenberg it is most retrograde to our desire and we
beseech you, bend you to remain here… “–Claudius, page 29, lines
135-138. The revenge Hamlet intended to
perform was an act of upholding personal honor and well as compassion in
wanting to aid his father’s ghost to move on.
The character of Hamlet is mixed in emotions of uncertainty as he
constantly questions himself if he is doing the right thing (Act II-III). Hamlet’s
character is also religious and his revenge is religiously founded as he tries
to find justification (Act III). The
Ghost’s request for revenge can be compared to a mosaic law found in the
Christian Bible (Leviticus and Deuteronomy) that states that a family member
had the right to avenge themselves of the wrongful death of another family
member and this was lawful (blood for blood), and it was their own personal
choice. But revenge for Hamlet
is not simply about killing Claudius; it’s about making sure he’d suffer in
Hell. “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;
And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven; And so am I revenged. That would
be scann'd : A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this
same villain send To heaven.” - Hamlet (3.3.1) Hamlet acts out the full
extent of this blood for blood agenda to where he spared Claudius in church so
that he would not go to heaven but later find him in a sinful manner to condemn
him, all because his father was not able to go to heaven and still remains in purgatory.
When
Hamlet makes the mistake of killing Polonius (Act III), Laertes adopts his
pattern of revenge, but at a much quicker pace than Hamlet did. Laertes wishes
to avenge his father’s death and, like Hamlet, he is guided by a superior
figure who happens to be the evil intentioned Claudius (Act IV). Laertes does
not plan too deeply and unlike Hamlet he seeks immediate fulfillment, him
invading the palace with a crowd of his followers (Act V). The character of
Laertes is young, like Hamlet, but he has a sister to look after and a loving
but meddlesome father (Act II). He liked to have a good time as young men do,
and his character is outgoing, even when avenging his father’s death, much
unlike Hamlet. Though he seems a bit impatient, Laertes, like Hamlet, is cable
of much grief, as revealed at Ophelia’s funeral procession.
Claudius
was the younger brother of the former King Hamlet and he obviously desired what
his brother had owned. His character is sly and deceitful. Throughout the play,
Claudius actions were all together self-centered, as he tried to cover himself.
He displayed a constant uneasiness and even fear of Hamlet because of his
guilty conscious, which is why he is constantly questioning Hamlet’s strange
behavior. “His liberty is full of threats
to all… Should have kept short, restrained, and out of haunt this mad young
man.” – Claudius to the Queen, page 66, lines 23-25. It is unclear if he was truly remorseful
but he recognized the seriousness of the crime committed, liking it to Cain
killing his brother Able, who was motivated by jealousy of what his brother
had. (Genesis). “O, my offence is rank it
smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, A brother's murder… What
form of prayer can serve my turn? – I am still possessed of those effects for
which I did the murder, my crown, mine own ambition, and my Queen."
–Claudius, page 61, lines 64-67. Claudius has committed murder for the
things he owns and will not easily give them up. For that, he plotted to kill
Hamlet in England out of fear that he knew too much (Act V). When the
opportunity comes, he uses Laertes grief and revengeful spirit against Hamlet
as a backup plan. After Hamlet visited
his mother, the Queen went to tell Claudius that Hamlet thinks he killed the
former King, not believing it herself. (Act IV) Claudius in a sense took
revenge out on Hamlet who threatened to expose his treachery.
Hamlet's desire for revenge is
tempered by his desire to take revenge on the right person, in the right
way. However, Laertes and Claudius
sought immediate revenge and did not consider what was morally right. But
through these characters one can see that Shakespeare saw revenge as a natural human emotion or a natural response, whether for good
or bad. But in the end, these characters paid for their vengeance with their
lives.
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