Sabrina Akbar

Ms. O’Keefe
AP Literature
January 25, 2019

AP Literature Timed Writing Final: Prompt B

In ​Hamlet​ by William Shakespeare, the main character protagonist is played by Hamlet

himself, the Prince of Denmark. The chilling and satirical play allows an array of themes to be

expressed through Hamlet’s actions and dialogues, which subsequently causes the downfall of

​ xplores more
other main and supporting characters. The idea of justice and injustice in ​Hamlet e

about the character's personality and philosophies during the time period. There are two pivotal

scenes and two important acts of irony in the play that take course of Hamlet’s understanding of

justice and injustice. For Hamlet, justice comes at the expense of ultimate death. The overall

theme that this idea reveals relates to how justice can be misconfused for revenge and

eventually cause the downfall of an entire kingdom.

One of the pivotal parts of the play that shapes Hamlet's understanding of justice and

injustice is when he meets his murdered father’s ghost in the palace. Before meeting the ghost,

Hamlet was an innocent oblivion who could not fathom the idea of his uncle murdering his father

for the throne. When the ghost confesses who is responsible for killing him and explains that

Hamlet must avenge his death, Hamlet immediately understands that it is his moral duty to seek

justice for the injustice against his father. However, it is previously understood in the play that

Hamlet does not enjoy Claudius, the uncle who has murdered the King since Clausius has

married Hamlet’s mother, the queen. Hamlet’s utterly disgusted attitude about Claudius causes

Hamlet to confuse justice for revenge. This first act of irony is described through Claudius’

character. Claudius is a character who has killed his brother for the throne, and he lacks and
understanding of injustice and immorality. Hamlet eventually reciportactes the same philosophy

as Claudius, the man he very much despises, in the pursuit of revenge. This misconfusion of

justice for revenge causes Hamlet to take the lives of other innocent characters, which releases

a chain of unfortunate events that cause the downfall of an entire kingdom.

As Hamlet’s continues his misguided ideology of justice and plots to kill Claudius, he

becomes carried away with his plans to a degree that causes Polonius, an aid to King Claudius,

to die. Polonius was also indeed an innocent oblivion who knew nothing of the malicious acts

that Claudius committed to become king. The death of Polonius introduces the second act of

irony; Hamlet kills polonius in the act of “justice” because Hamlet’s plot has only ever been

about revenge. This is what causes an innocent life to be lost. The pivotal scene of Hamlet

killing Polonius relates to the overall theme in the play as Laertes, the son of late Polonius,

learns of his father's death. After discovering that Polonius has died suspiciously in the castle,

Laertes soon manifests the same ideology and misconfusion of justice just as Hamlet did.

Towards the end of the novel, this idea that justice comes at the expense of ultimate death is

what causes the entire Monarchy of Denmark to perish.

As some readers may realize, the play of ​Hamlet​ can reveal a mood of “healthy

confusion” when attempting to understand Hamlet's character. Some people may sympathize

with Hamlet because he is a character who has dealt with underwhelming amount of deceit and

betrayal from his family, and he deserves his right to desire action to be taken against a traitor

like Claudius. However, readers sympathize with Hamlet because of this understood need for

justice. When Hamlet begins to confuse justice for revenge and causes the death of innocent

lives around him, it becomes difficult to sympathize with Hamlet’s decisions. Hamlet’s plot no

longer feels like a moral duty but more of an immoral duty. Revenge is meant with malicious
intent while justice is meant to find a solution that permits the same malicious intent from

repeating over and over again.

In conclusion, Hamlet’s significant misconfusion for justice as revenge display various

acts of irony and symbolism. In the end, both Hamlet’s family and Polonius’ family, people in

different rankings of hierarchy, end in a perished state due to the acts of both Hamlet and

Polonius. Hamlet's misguided philosophy of justice acted as a butterfly effect for supporting

characters, and Shakespeare expressed this complex theme by displaying the tragic end of life:

death. Hamlet was a character who first searched for the means to avenge his father’s death,

but sadly overtook the opportunities to facilitate justice and bring his kingdom to order in the

pursuit of violent and unfortunate revenge.