The Revenge of Prince Hamlet

The Revenge of Prince Hamlet

Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, is a wonderfully written play that has many tangled webs

of lies, betrayal, and revenge. The play starts off with the death of Hamlets father, the

king. One night Hamlet sees the ghost of his dead father. The ghost speaks to Hamlet and

tells him that he was killed by Claudius. Claudius, who is Hamlets uncle, has recently

become the new king and as well married Hamlets fathers wife, Gertrude. Prince Hamlet

devotes himself to avenging his fathers death, but because he is contemplative and

thoughtful by nature, his heart is not fully in the deed, and he delays, entering himself into

a deep depression and strong apparent madness. Hamlets quest for revenge leads him on a

long journey of deception and eventually his own death.

Hamlet himself feels that he is slacking on his vengeance. He explains that “...all

occasions do inform against [him] and spur [his] dull revenge.” (Act IV, Scene iii) There

are many points in the book were Hamlet gets upset at himself because he isn’t applying

himself to his quest for revenge. Hamlet must do what his father told him to do. His father

says that if Hamlet ever loved him, he will “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.”

(Scene I, Act v) He considers himself weak and says “My fathers brother, but no more like

my father/ than I do Hercules.” (Act I. Scene ii)

Eventually Hamlet gets his revenge in a sword battle between himself and Laertes.

Hamlet scores the first hit, but declines to drink from the kings goblet. Instead Gertrude

takes a drink from it and is swiftly killed by the poison. Laertes then succeeds in wounding

Hamlet, though he does not die of the poisoned sword tip immediately. Laretes is cut by

his own sword’s blade, and, after revealing to Hamlet that Claudius is responsible for the

queen’s death, he dies from the blades poison. Hamlet, in a angry rage, stabs Claudius

with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink down the rest of the poisoned wine.