The play hamlet revenge is usually shortened as the hamlet. It is one of the longest plays of William Shakespeare ever wrote. It is believed that Shakespeare could have possibly written the hamlet between 1599 and 1601. This play is set in the kingdom set up and to be specific it is within the Denmark kingdom. In it the writer tries to recount the revenge that the prince who is hamlet took against his uncle by the name Claudius. This revenge that Hamlet takes against his uncle is due to some actions that hamlet thinks Claudius took and is unfair. Firstly, we find it that the murder of old king hamlet who comes out to be Claudius brother and the blood father to hamlet. Then, after killing hamlets father, Claudius goes ahead to inherit the throne of the father and as if that is not enough, he also marries Gertrude, the widow of king hamlet and the mother of hamlet. In this play, Shakespeare tries to portray madness in every bit. He gives details of feigned and real madness as it does take place in the society. Also he give the real accounts of themes like revenge and what really ignite the, the theme of incest, moral corruption and treachery.(Hibbard, 34)
Basically, there are three early versions of this play that have survived which was very hypothetical.. These versions include the so called the first folio which is normally denoted as F1, the first quarto, Q1 and the second quarto i.e. Q2. The hamlet of Shakespeare is based on the legend of Amleth which he got from the chronicles that were preserved by Saxo Grammaticus of the thirteenth century. This legend was retold a scholar of the sixteenth century by the name Francois de Belleforest. There are also possibilities that Shakespeare could have gotten information from the play Ur-hamlet of Elizabethan which was very hypothetical. (Lott 59)
This play, presents very many characters and I will just highlight on them. Key character of this play is hamlet who is the son of the former king and also the nephew to the present king Claudius. Claudius is the current king of Denmark and the uncle to hamlet. Gertrude on the other hand is the mother to hamlet and the queen to Denmark. These among others are the characters that are prominent in this play.
In this play, the theme revenge is propelled majorly by protagonists who are not able to commit themselves to the revenging act. In the whole story we find that the revenge that hamlet takes against the death of the father is simply a plot that leads to the deaths of several people including Ophelia, Gertrude, Polonius, Guilenstern, Laertes and Rosencrantz. The inability of hamlet to take action in revenge is brought foerth by Shakespeare in a manner that he includes several characters that are willing and able to take that revenge head on. We first see Fortinbras who travels for many miles in order to take revenge and finally gets to conquer Denmark. In another occasion we find that Laertes also plots revenge against hamlet for killing Polonius, his father.(Blits, 28)
When we compare these characters, hamlets revenge is a bit ineffective in that in one occasion we find that he decides to act but do seriously delay till the play ends. However, hamlet is presented as using his delay to build on his complexity of emotions and psychology. In this play, the revenge of hamlet is delayed basically on two or three important perceptions. Firstly, hamlet delays in that he must find Claudius guilty which in act three he did by presenting the murder of the dad in the play. In the event of the play, Claudius storms out of; this was enough to convince hamlet that Claudius was guilty of the dad’s death.( Lilian,15)
Secondly, hamlet delays the revenge in that he had to internalize the revenge strategy and consider all the logistics on its possibilities. He did not want to show rashly actions like those of Laertes and Fortinbras. This comes clearly when he gets the chance to kill Claudius in the act3 the third scene but is jealous that Claudius may go to heaven should he kill him while praying.
Also, it is evident from the play that immediately after the death of Polonius, hamlet is sent to England barring him from accessing Claudius and thus making his revenge almost impossible. This increases his desire to revenge more than he has ever desired.
Despite the fact that hamlet finally managed to kill Claudius when the play ends, we cannot say that hamlet ever plotted revenge but it is Claudius plot that backfires thus killing him.
Conclusion
Considering the theme of revenge in this play, we may be in order to say that hamlet really desired to revenge for the ills that Claudius did to his father and marrying his mother but he could not. He feared taking action that builds the real action in the play for it is the dalliance of hamlet that makes the deaths of other character to come forth.
Works cited:
Blits, J. H. "Hamlet" and the Human Soul Langham, MD: Lexington Books, 2001
Hibbard G.R.(ed.) Hamlet, Oxford University Press, 1987
Lilian W. Hamlet and the Scottish Succession, Cambridge University Press, 1921
Lott, B. (ed) 1970. Hamlet. New Swan Shakespeare. Longman, 1970
