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Noah Clark

Ms. Pavlovska

English IV

17 October 2022

Hamlet’s Fate

The Tragedy of Hamlet, written by Shakespeare around 1600, became one of his most

popular plays and is one of the most famous tragedies ever written. The main character in this

play is Hamlet. Hamlet spends the entirety of the play trying to accomplish his goal of revenge.

Although Hamlet’s actions and thoughts played a big part in his tragic fate, it all could have been

avoided in more than one way.

Hamlet’s actions were driven by his dead father’s ghost, telling him to seek revenge for

his death. King Hamlet, the ghost, was killed by his brother who then married his wife, the

queen. “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” (Act 1. Scene 5,31). In this quotation, the

ghost, or Hamlet’s father, reveals to him that he was murdered. He is also asking Hamlet to seek

revenge for his death. “Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand” (Act 1. Scene 5,81). The Ghost

also reveals to Hamlet that it was his brother, Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, who killed him. With all

this information being thrown at Hamlet within the first act of the play, there is a lot that unfolds

throughout the rest of the play.

Hamlet’s main plan for revenge was to kill his uncle who murdered his father. Hamlet

considered a way to test his uncle to see if he is the one who killed Hamlet’s father and that the

ghost figure isn't fake. “Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt, Do not itself unkennel in one
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speech, It is a damnèd ghost that we have seen, And my imaginations are as foul As Vulcan’s

stithy.” (Act 3. Scene 2, 86-89). This is the test to reveal Claudius’ guilty conscience. Hamlet

tells Horatio to watch Claudius' actions during a scene that resembles how he killed King

Hamlet. If Claudius acts differently then they will know that he did commit the crime. Now that

Hamlet knows that Claudius is guilty, he has to come up with a way to avenge his father’s death.

“Here, thou incestuous, murd’rous, damnèd Dane, Drink off this potion. (Act 5. Scene 2,

356-357). Hamlet finally kills Claudius by stabbing him with a poisoned sword and then telling

him to drink the rest of the poison. Hamlet later tells him to “join Gertrude” the queen, who was

originally King Hamlet’s wife, but when he was murdered she married Claudius. Even though it

does take Hamlet the entire play to successfully avenge his dead father, he has finally found a

way to do it; but could’ve Hamlet’s tragic fate been avoided?

Although Hamlet promised to avenge his dead father, this play could have stopped a few

other characters from dying. “Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt, Do not itself unkennel in

one speech, It is a damnèd ghost that we have seen, And my imaginations are as foul As Vulcan’s

stithy.” (Act 3. Scene 2, 86-89). If Claudius hadn’t reacted to the play the way Hamlet and

Horatio intended him to then Hamlet would have believed that the ghost wasn’t actually his

father and Claudius would have gotten away with his murder. “Thus conscience does make

cowards, And thus the native hue of resolutions sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And

enterprises of great pitch and moment, With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the

name of action.” (Act 3. Scene 1, 91-96). Hamlet starts to think about the results of being

associated with Clauidus’ death if he kills him, making Hamlet scared to follow through with it.

It also says that we fear doing something that is morally wrong due to our own morals. If Hamlet
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let these thoughts get the best of him then Claudius wouldn't have died and Hamlet wouldn’t

have avenged his father’s death.

The Tragedy of Hamlet can relate to our lives many times. Maybe not the killing part, but

definitely the revenge part. Many of us like to seek revenge to get back at someone who maybe

did something or caused something to happen to us. Overall, we should not seek revenge, but

instead, forgive them for their actions. Matthew 6:14 says, “For if you forgive other people when

they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” We need to understand that we

aren't meant to get back at others, but instead we are meant to spread kindness, love, and

forgiveness toward one another just as God made us to.

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet. Shakespeare, 1600.