In my mind, the primary theme of Hamlet is revenge and betrayal. To me it appears that, throughout the whole play, someone is always trying to get back at someone or is using someone for their own benefit. This theme has always been a common one among playwrights and even modern screenplay writers because it can be very easy to create a very complicated work based on the theme of revenge.
Throughout Hamlet there are different examples of people succumb with the need for revenge. The most obvious example is Hamlet. Hamlet is on a quest to revenge his father’s murder. This becomes clear right from Act 1, Scene 5 when Hamlet first realizes that his father’s death was not accidental but that his father was actually murdered.
The lines “Adieu, adieu! Remember me.” (line 92, Act 1, Scene 5) shows that this is the ghost’s intent in coming back to speak with Hamlet. Although he does not say the words “revenge”, or kill, he indirectly and subtlety leads Hamlet to believe that he is to avenge his fathers death. When Hamlet repeats the phrase “Adieu, adieu! Remember me!” these words show that Hamlet will not ever forget his fathers plea to him and every time that he sees King Claudius he will see a murderer.
But my question would be, would Hamlet be expected to seek revenge for his father’s death? Now that Hamlet has this information is he now obligated to kill King Claudius? I feel that the only way to possibly know the answers to these questions is to be in the situation. I don’t think that the rage that Hamlet would feel is possible to feel unless confronted with a similar situation. If my father was murdered I would obviously be very angry and very upset but would I have the rage to kill someone thinking I was right in doing so? I don’t know, and I don’t think that I could know unless I was faced with that situation.
An example of betrayal rather that revenge would be the fact that Queen Gertrude was very recently widowed and has re-married within such a short time period. I feel she has not only betrayed the late King Hamlet by only grieving for a short while, but she has also betrayed Hamlet by not honoring his father’s death and not really caring about Hamlet’s opinion. But I think that Gertrude was mislead by Claudius and I feel that she is beginning to realize this but is now way to far over her his beginning to realize this but is now way too far over her head. It’s not like she can just divorce the King after so recently marrying him. I feel that things are just slowly spiraling out of control for her.
Polonius uses people throughout the play to get what he wants. The best Example of this is when he uses his own daughter to show the king how Hamlet feels about her. He shows very little regard for her well-being and is really only concerned with impressing the King. An example of Polonius’s need for attention from the King is shown in line 127, in Act2, Scene 2. Polonius says “What do you think of me?” to the King, and when the King replies that he thinks all the best of Polonius than Polonius says that he would do anything to prove that he is honorable towards the king. Polonius is a “suck-up” toward the King and feels that if he has close relations with the King then he will do well in life. Little does he know that his relations with the King actually gets him killed.
In the last scene (Act 5, Scene 2) Hamlet’s need for revenge finally is fulfilled. Hamlet kills King Claudius. But at that point, Hamlet is now avenging his mothers death along with his fathers. Line 304 “O villainy! Ho! Let the door be locked: Treachery! Seek it out!” shows that this is the last straw for Hamlet. His mothers death is too much and he will not let anyone leave the room until the murders are brought to justice.
Claudius has destroyed Hamlets whole family and Hamlet finally makes him pay. But also in this last scene, Laertes is also overcome with the need for revenge. He is seeking revenge for the death o his father. The interesting thing about Laertes need for revenge compared to Hamlets need for revenge is that Hamlet is waiting and timing his strike for the exact time when his murdering of Claudius will not seem so criminal itself. But Laertes (under the influence of Claudius) Doesn’t care when he kills Hamlet, as long as it gets done. Claudius manipulated Laertes to be so full of rage toward Hamlet that he would murder him without question. Isn’t it interesting that both Hamlet and Laertes had an uncontrollable need for revenge and they both ended up getting killed?
