Revenge in Hamlet

Revenge is defined as the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at his or her hands. Revenge is a leach with its fangs buried in one's heart, sucking one's blood until it has quenched its thirst for vengeance. Revenge is a vehicle that runs on a special kind of fuel: anger. Anger so raging that one would lose all sense of reason and entirely judge circumstances on emotion, a way of knowing that is easily rationalized. We can relate the above to Hamlet's case, as one would notice that nothing deters him from carrying out his revenge up till his death. Hamlet's desire to carry out revenge is caused by his father's murder and the fact that his uncle not only murders his father, but also marries his mother a month after his father's death, which is a clear insult to the old king.

Anger closes one door and opens another in that though it causes Hamlet's character to change, making him quite more egotistical and callous, it also makes him more cunning and calculating, which enables him to achieve much. For example, during the play depicting the murder of Gonzago in act 3 scene 3, Hamlet stresses the fact that Lucianus is not Gonzago's brother, but rather his nephew. In doing so, Claudius is caught up in the guilt of killing a brother, as well as fear for his life as the play does not reenact the murder of the old king, but rather the murder of the present king Claudius by his nephew, Hamlet.

A lack of consciousness and self-control is depicted in act 3 scene 4 when Hamlet is arguing with his mother. He goes on a hard-nosed offensive against Gertrude, effortlessly murders Polonius, and carries on as though nothing ever happened. He emotionally tortures his mother to the extent that she says "O Hamlet speak no more, thou turn'st my eyes into my very soul, and there I see such black and grained spots as will not leave their tinet."

Revenge is the one rolling stone that gathers a lot of moss. It affects not only the pursuer, but also the people around that person in search of vengeance. Hamlet brings about the question on whether or not revenge is worth it. We come to see that due to Hamlet's obsession to get revenge, the people in his life i.e. Ophelia, Gertrude, Laertes, Polonius, Claudius and himself all perish. This brings about the question about whether or not revenge gave Hamlet redemption or caused more harm than good. He followed the proverb "one right turn deserves another" one dangerous and in his case, fatal proverb to live by.