Hamlet: The Heart of Revenge

The Heart of Revenge

Avenging a loved one involves many characteristics including commitment, fury, and a one-track mindset. It has a bloody, broken heart that cannot be relinquished until the wrong is set right. Shakespeare uses revenge in his plays to open society's eyes to its hefty consequences. The large doses of violence and murder in his plays act upon the audience's humanity by demonstrating the capability we have of going down the gruesome path of revenge. Shakespeare beautifully demonstrates through Hamlet an individual's capability to demand vengeance and the mindset and characteristics of one who searches for revenge. By following Laertes and Fortinbras examples, Hamlet ends his internal struggle of whether or not to avenge his father's death through murder by ultimately choosing the path of revenge.

The example Fortinbras sets for Hamlet nudges him down the disgustingly ugly path of revenge. While discussing the political affairs of Denmark, Horatio states, "Now, sir, young Fortinbras/ Of unimproved mettle hot and full/...Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes/...But to recover of us, by strong hand/ And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands/ So by his father lost" (I.i.108-111). By taking rapid and forceful action, Fortinbras portrays himself as a traditional revenge- tragedy hero. Prince Hamlet, however, is hesitant about taking action to avenge his father and therefore illustrates his inner battle for the audience. After watching a travelling player get really wrapped up in acting the fictitious Hecuba, Hamlet, ashamed of himself, thinks, "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!/Is it not monstrous that this player here,/But in a fiction,/...Could force his soul so to his own conceit/...For Hecuba!/What's Hecuba to him/...O, vengeance!/ Why, what an ass am I!" (II.ii.58). An actor can "weep" for "Hecuba", a character of fiction, and yet Hamlet cannot spur himself to act upon his yearning for revenge for an individual in reality who he loves and looks up to. Fortinbras is swift in his thinking and plunge-full in his nature, whereas Hamlet second guesses his own thoughts and beats around the bush before tackling the issue. However, Hamlet now identifies his inaction, and continues down the path of revenge. While watching Fortinbras' army march across Denmark with the intent of getting revenge, Hamlet ponders, "Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'/Sith I have cause[,]will[,]strength[,]and means to do't/ Led by a delicate and tender prince/...Even for an eggshell/...When honour's at the stake. How stand I then/ That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,/...And let all sleep? While to my shame, I see" (IV, iv, 6). Hamlet realizes that Fortinbras' revenge runs deep into his soul as he puts many men in harm's way to fight for nothing more than an "eggshell." Hamlet is appalled by his indecision to avenge his father being "kill'd" and his mother who was "stain'd". This is the turning point, the moment when Hamlet's