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Shaan Merchant

Ms. Glubka

IB English 11 Period 2

19 November 2021

Hamlet vs. Gladiator

Two journeys; one of a young prince looking for a cure to his madness and the other, a

famous warrior who would do anything for his country. How can these two people live different

lives in different universes yet have similar experiences which connect them? One of these two is

Hamlet, from the play of the same name, which embodies the genre of a dramatic tragedy.

Hamlet takes place in the kingdom of Denmark in the late middle ages. After his father’s death

Hamlet meets the ghost of his father and discovers that his uncle, Claudius, was the one who

killed his father. Throughout the play, Hamlet looks for ways to avenge his father, but at the same

time, Claudius is looking to kill Hamlet. Slowly Hamlet begins to go insane with madness and

eventually dies by a poised foil in a game of fencing. However, he avenged his father's death

before he died, by killing Claudius as the Kingdom of Denmark fell. The other story is about

Maximus, from the movie Gladiator which showcases a dramatic historical epic. Maximus is a

renowned and respected general in the Roman military during the age of Roman Emperor

Marcus Aurelius. An aging Marcus Aurelius tells Maximus that he will be his heir, but Aurelius’s

son Commodus gets jealous and kills his father. Commodus takes the title of emperor and

banishes Maximus, and kills his family. Maximus is captured by slavers and is sold to become a

gladiator in the Colosseum. He slowly gains the respect and praise of Rome again as a gladiator

and challenges Commodus to a fight. Before succumbing to his injuries he kills Commodus and
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vouches for a new free Rome. The protagonists of Hamlet and Gladiator embody the ideas of

revenge and death as they experience the paths that they were led to by fate.

Death is the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of life (Oxford Dictionary).

William Shakespeare was able to showcase this idea of death within Hamlet, starting with King

Hamlet. The story progresses and shows the deaths of Polonius and Ophelia. Then with an epic

conclusion to the play, the deaths of Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and

Hamlet finally occur. After this, the story of Hamlet is left in the hands of Horatio and Fortinbras

as the Kingdom of Denmark fell (Hamlet). Hamlet starts the play with bonds with each of these

characters. They were his friends, lovers, and family members, but Hamlet slowly grew insane

and turned on them. Each person who died in Hamlet slowly lost their bond with Hamlet, and

once that bond snapped, they died. Meanwhile, Ridley Scott’s approach to death in Gladiator is

slightly different. The first death within the movie is that of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Death

then takes the life of Maximus's family and friends and at the end, the movie shows the deaths of

Commodus and Maximus (Gladiator). With the exception of Commodus, the people who died in

Gladiator had close bonds with Maximus. They were the most important people in Maximus’s

life, and it was these deaths and sacrifices that fueled his will to kill Commodus. The two stories

show the disparity between representations of death. They take two different representations and

use them to bring out the emotion of the protagonist as the secondary characters die. Then at the

end of each story, they have the protagonist dramatically kill the antagonist before dying

themselves. These climaxes at the end allow for a conclusive end to each of the protagonists’

journeys.

Revenge is the actions taken of vindictiveness and vengeance. The major theme

connecting these two stories with both stories using the ideas of revenge to formulate their plots.
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Within Hamlet, this idea of revenge comes once Hamlet finds out Claudius killed his father.

Throughout the play, Hamlet tries to create a plan to avenge his father (Hamlet). The thought of

getting revenge is what fuels Hamlet’s madness. While Hamlet learns more about his father's

death he desires to kill Claudius. The lengths he goes to eventually lead to Polonius's murder.

This just goes to show how revenge was able to mess with Hamlet’s mind and drive him insane

frenzy of thoughts within his head. Hamlet no longer cared about his kingdom and only desired

revenge so, when he finally killed Claudius he was okay with giving control of Denmark to

Fortinbras. Meanwhile, in Gladiator, Maximus is looking to get revenge for the death of his

family and his emperor. As he goes through the process of slavery and becoming a Gladiator he

is determined to kill Commodus (Gladiator). Revenge is what drives Maximus to stay alive and

fight in the gladiator arenas. Whenever a friend died this drive only grew and it slowly ate away

at Maximus. It slowly turned Maximus insane, but he was still able to focus on his goal at the

time. A goal that would earn him the respect of Rome so he could challenge Commodus to a

fight. When Maximus finally achieves this goal, he feels at peace with dying because he knows

he was able to avenge the death of everyone who died. Both Hamlet and Maximus sought

revenge after someone they loved were killed. Revenge led them to insanity, but Maximus was

able to use this insanity to keep himself alive and worked to protect not only himself but the

people surrounding him. Meanwhile, Hamlet’s insanity drove him to neglection of his friends

and kingdom. Despite their differences, both achieved their revenge and were able to find peace

with the consequences that would result from their deaths.

Revenge and death go hand and hand which is why they are both present in each story.

Death tends to be both the cause and consequence of revenge. Death leads to revenge, and

revenge leads to death. A simple loop that’s the premise behind each of these stories despite them
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having ample differences. Shakespeare and Scott were able to take these themes and use this idea

to create a bonded relationship to create a commonality between the two stories.

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Bibliography

“Oxford Learner's Dictionaries: Find Definitions, Translations, and Grammar Explanations at

Oxford Learner's Dictionaries.” Oxford Learner's Dictionaries | Find Definitions,

Translations, and Grammar Explanations at Oxford Learner's Dictionaries,

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/.

Scott, Ridley, director. Gladiator. DreamWorks LLC and Universal Studios, 2000.

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Holt, Rinehart and Winston,

2001.