An Edgy Teen and his Evil Uncle
- writer
- Mar 5, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 6, 2019
What happens when an edgy teen meets the ghost of his father who tells him to get revenge on his Uncle? That’s right, everybody dies! This is the story of Hamlet, where feelings of revenge and madness of the mind runs rampant. The theme of madness and revenge were the two main themes that piqued my interest in the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. The loss of somebody important in one’s life can cause them to go crazy, take revenge, or do both.
He first introduced the idea of madness when he meets the ghost in the beginning of the play. He was the only one to see the ghost, so it could be a figment of his madness. He then pretends to be mad in order to confuse his uncle and his subjects. This madness might have been faked in the beginning, but it seems that his madness turned real at the end. When Polonius asked Ophelia if Hamlet was truly mad, she replied, “My lord, I do not know; But truly, I do fear it.” (2.1.86-87) He faked his madness so well that his own girlfriend was fooled by his charade.
Ophelia was a secondary character that Shakespeare used to portray madness in his play. Ophelia became depressed and insane after the death of her father. She started to sing songs in a creepy way. She became so deep in her sorrow that she decides to drown herself in the river. Laertes was also driven to madness after the death of his sister (which was also caused by madness), and he blamed Hamlet for it. He was so driven to revenge that he was willing to break his sacred vow and kill Hamlet inside the church. All these characters were driven to madness through a devastating loss in their lives.
Another major theme in the play was revenge. The theme of revenge ran rampant throughout the entire play. Revenge was the main reason everything happened in the play. In the beginning, the ghost tells Hamlet to exact revenge on Claudius for killing the ghost and usurping the throne. The ghost tells Hamlet to, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” (1.5.31) This starts a series of revenge killings that would last the entire play. But how far would the characters go to have their revenge? Hamlet was not the only one to burn with desire for revenge. Laertes wanted vengeance for the death of his sister, Ophelia, and his father, Polonius. He declares, “How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with. To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation. To this point I stand, That both the worlds I give to negligence, Let come what comes, only I'll be revenged Most thoroughly for my father.” (4.5.148-154) Laertes later challenged Hamlet to a duel to gain his revenge.
All the characters in the play Hamlet ended up dying in the end. Maybe if everybody would listen to logic a little more than their emotions, more of them would end up surviving in the end. If Hamlet would not have taken revenge on his uncle, everybody would have been alive in the end. But that would be a boring play wouldn’t it? We should take this as a message to forgive and forget others who have wronged us.
CITATION
Shakespeare, William, and Cyrus Hoy. Hamlet. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996. Print.
Shmoop Editorial Team. “Hamlet Revenge Quotes Page 4.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008.
“Themes in Hamlet with Examples and Analysis.” Literary Devices, Literary Devices, 4 Jan. 2019.
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