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Sam Volaris

Professor Rodriguez

English 105

10 May 2020

The Revenge Revolution of Hamlet

The main focus of ​Hamlet​ is death and revenge between three characters. These

characters are Prince Hamlet, Prince Fortinbras, and Laertes. Each character has their own

reasons to take revenge, but the one who ends up getting their revenge without losing anything is

Prince Fortinbras. He is the only one that did not die trying to get his revenge and got the land

back that King Fortinbras lost in battle.

The person who led Prince Hamlet down the road of revenge was Horatio. He was the

one who knew that King Hamlet’s ghost would speak to Prince Hamlet (1.1. 171). Horatio and

Prince Hamlet were friends, which is why the prince confessed that a visit from the spirit of King

Hamlet took place.

Prince Hamlet's revenge starts off with an order from King Hamlet’s ghost. The ghost

tells Prince Hamlet that he was killed by his Uncle Claudius. His uncle put poison down King

Hamlet's ear, as a result taking the king's life, wife, and crown. This shocks Hamlet because he

and the people of Denmark believed that he was bitten by a snake that killed him, but in reality

it was Claudius. The ghost also tells Prince Hamlet to take revenge on Claudius for killing him

by murdering Claudius (1.5. 27).

After the ghost of King Hamlet disappears, Prince Hamlet tells Horatio and Marcellus to

swear not to say anything to anyone else (1.6. 153). This sparked the action towards the whole

play making it all about Prince Hamlet’s revenge towards Claudius. At the same time, this is
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what is going to drive Prince Hamlet into madness because he is having trouble trusting the

ghost's words.

Prince Hamlet set up a play for Claudius to see if he would show any guilt during the act.

The play that Prince Hamlet instruct the actors to perform is a modified version of ​The Murder of

Gonzaggo​ (3.2 .226). He adds the part that the ghost told him about: the poison being poured

down the king's ear. The goal of the play is to prove that Claudius killed King Hamlet, giving

Prince Hamlet more justification to kill Claudius.

After the part of the poison being poured down the actor’s ear plays, Claudius stops the

play and walks away. This concludes that he was the cause of death for King Hamlet. What put

Claudius in the spotlight even more, was when he was praying for forgiveness for what he did to

King Hamlet (3.3 .40). This was the perfect time for Prince Hamlet to kill Claudius, but he

hesitated to do so because he did not want Claudius to be forgiven by god.

The way that Laertes' revenge is set up is by an accidental kill of Prince Hamlet. The way

Polonius, Laertes’ father, was killed by Prince Hamlet was while spying on Prince Hamlet and

the Queen (3.4. 26). Once Laertes gets the news of the death of his father, he demands answers

of what happened to his father. Claudius tells Laertes what happened, leading him to want

revenge for Prince Hamlet killing Polonius.

Claudius guides Laertes to get his revenge towards Prince Hamlet, using Laertes as a

shield against Prince Hamlet. At the same time Claudius helped Laertes get his revenge. Laertes

is about action compared to Prince Hamlet, which is about planning before he does things that

why he hesitates before taking action. Even when Laertes gets the chance to get his revenge on

Prince Hamlet he still listens to Claudius, when it comes to getting his revenge (5.2 .258).
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Prince Fortinbras' revenge is caused by the death of his father, similar to Prince Hamlet.

The difference is the method to get revenge. Prince Fortinbras wanted to retrieve land that was

lost during the battle that ended up getting King Fortinbras killed by King Hamlet. Claudius, the

King of Denmark, wrote to the King of Norway to stop Prince Fortinbras from taking the land,

putting a stop to Prince Fortinbras’ plans (1.2. 26).

At the end, both Prince Hamlet and Laertes have a fencing duel. Laertes' sword was

dipped in poison by Claudius before the match began. There was also a cup of wine that was also

poisoned for Prince Hamlet just in case if the sword did not work. This plan backfired on

Claudius because the queen ended up drinking the poisoned wine and it killed her (5.2. 300). At

the same time, the poison sword poked Prince Hamlet and he fell on the ground. Prince Hamlet

picked up the poison sword and stabbed both Laertes and Claudius, killing them both. The only

one left to seek his revenge is Prince Fortinbras. He was victorious and retrieved his father's land

without effort or loss.

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." ​The Norton Introduction to Literature,​ edited by Kelly J.

Mays, shorter 13th ed. W.W. Norton, 2019, pp.1396-1495.