The first time we see evidence of revenge is when the ghost of King Hamlet appears. Before the ghost appears Hamlet is obviously upset over the death of his father and his mother’s marriage to his uncle. The ghost warns Hamlet “so art thou to revenge when thou shalt hear.” Hamlet also suspects murder. “I doubt some foul play.” He however has no proof of it until the ghost appears. “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” The ghost reveals that the murderer was Claudius “the serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown” and although Hamlet still does not have any real proof he sees it as an “honest ghost” and vows revenge on his Uncle. He does not initially question the validity of what the ghost has told him. “I’ll take the ghost’s word for a thousand pound.” Even though Horatio points out to Hamlet that the ghost may only desire to harm him, “what if it tempt toward the flood, my lord”, Hamlet’s craving to speak to his father one more time seems to take precedence over his rational thinking. “I do not set my life at a pin’s fee”. Hamlet asks the ghost “be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d”. But he decides that it doesn’t matter to him because the ghost appears to be King Hamlet. “Thou com’st in such a questionable shape”. This means that we do not know whether the ghost’s intentions were good or evil and indeed Hamlet at least does not seem to press this question any further.
Somewhat related to the role of revenge is that of madness. After the appearance of his father’s ghost, Hamlet begins to act strangely as if the trauma of his father’s death has caused him to descend into madness. “I am to much in the Sun.” the ghost’s appearance may be partly to blame for Hamlet’s “madness” even though the ghost warns Hamlet “taint not thy mind”. The ghost does however say, “one may smile, and smile, and be a villain”. To the audience this could look like the ghost is suggesting that Hamlet feign madness in order to avenge his father. However we do not ever find out truly if Hamlet is mad or simply feigning it. The audience is aware that Hamlet may be using madness as a cover in order to get people to let their guard down when talking to him. Hamlet’s appearance changes also after he becomes “mad”. For example Ophelia describes Hamlet coming to see her “with his doublet all unbrac’d, no hat upon his head, his stockings foul’d”. This appearance could also be seen as a sign of Hamlet’s madness. Perhaps Hamlet’s state of madness provided Hamlet with the ability he required to kill his uncle, Claudius.
Hamlet’s relationship with Gertrude is affected greatly by the death of King Hamlet. Hamlet obviously cannot understand why his mother would marry again so quickly. He feels that she should still be in mourning. The ghost however, warns Hamlet “taint not thy mind nor let thy soul contrive against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven”. He struggles to do this. Shakespeare uses the line “ You are the Queen, your husband’s brother’s wife. And, would it were not so, you are my mother”, to create a double meaning which can be interpreted in two different ways, depending on where the actor pauses. If the actor decides to pause before the “would it were not so” the meaning of the sentence alters, so that Hamlet is wishing Gertrude was not his mother. Whereas if the pause is taken after the “would it were not so” the sentence’s meaning shows that Hamlet wishes Gertrude was not married to Claudius. During this scene the ghost appears again “to whet thy almost blunted purpose”. Hamlet immediately asks the ghost whether he has come to scold him for not fulfilling the ghost’s request. “Do you not come your tardy son to chide”, so he is obviously aware that he is procrastinating. The ghost also again orders Hamlet not to hurt Gertrude. “O step between her and her fighting soul.” Gertrude however, cannot see the ghost and says, “Alas, he is mad”. Hamlet insists that he is not but Gertrude seems not to believe him and straight after Hamlet leaves she goes to Claudius to report that Hamlet is “mad as the sea and wind when both contend which is the mightier”. Hamlet tries to explain he is not actually mad but simply “mad in craft.” Although Hamlet is stating that he is in fact feigning madness, there is no proof. The audience is aware that Hamlet may well be mad and simply giving Gertrude an excuse for his behaviour. There is a suggestion that perhaps Hamlet felt jealous of Claudius because Hamlet felt that Claudius was separating him from his mother. There is also a suggestion of the Oedipus complex, which would obviously have made Hamlet crave revenge even more.
Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia is also greatly affected by his desire for revenge and his “madness”. At the beginning of the play it is clear to the audience that Hamlet is very fond of Ophelia. “He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders of his affection to me.” Polonius does not like his daughter seeing Hamlet and forbids her to talk to Hamlet. Although this is a very difficult thing for Ophelia to do, she is a dutiful daughter and essentially she does what she is told. The next time she sees Hamlet he looks dishevelled which could be interpreted as an outward sign of madness. She tells her father of this encounter with Hamlet and he immediately resolves to tell Claudius. He is extremely loyal to the King and it is as if he cares more about Claudius then he does his daughter. Hamlet however obviously cares for Ophelia even when he is “mad”. He even tells Polonius to “let her not walk I’th’sun.” Polonius takes things at face value and assumes that Hamlet is mad because he thinks his love for Ophelia is unrequited. The audience however, knows that Ophelia is being instructed by Polonius not to talk to Hamlet so there is a sense of dramatic irony.
Later on in the play we learn that Ophelia herself has been driven to madness. The cause of her madness is either of loss of Hamlet’s love or the dead of her father: Polonius. However, the reason behind this is never completely clear as Shakespeare integrates Ophelia’s speech with double meanings. “No, no, he is dead”, for example could mean either her father is dead, or Hamlet is dead. Again the audience knows that Hamlet has managed to escape his execution in England, and the use of dramatic irony is obvious because Ophelia does not realise that Hamlet is still alive. Shakespeare again uses dramatic irony to good effect when Ophelia drowns, although it is not clear whether she committed suicide or not because of the great detail, which Gertrude goes into when reciting the story of Ophelia’s death. The vast detail would suggest a possible eyewitness that then leads us to ask why didn’t the witness stop Ophelia from drowning? There is a parallel at this point between “Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet” as Ophelia kills herself because she thinks her lover Hamlet is dead, so Romeo kills himself because he believes that his lover Juliet is dead. The audience can see that Ophelia is making a mistake by killing herself because she has succumbed to her madness unlike Juliet. This adds great tension to the play because we know that Hamlet is still alive. Ophelia feels that she has lost Hamlet’s love and can see no reason to continue living herself.
Laertes is physically responsible for Hamlet’s death, which is ironic because at the beginning of the play both himself and Hamlet were good friends. Even when Laertes challenges Hamlet to a fight Hamlet still has respect for Laertes and even remorse. “But I am very sorry that to Laertes I forgot myself”. Laertes’ lust for revenge is immediately apparent after the deaths of Polonius and Ophelia but his desire for revenge is manipulated by Claudius who himself wishes Hamlet dead and conscripts Laertes to do the actual deed for him. Claudius uses consoling words in order to befriend Laertes. “I lov’d your father”. Laertes is understandably angry over the death of Polonius and “his obscure funeral”. His desire for revenge is fuelled more when he witnesses Ophelia’s madness. “A sister driven into desp’rate terms”. Shakespeare’s use of metaphors is apparent here as Claudius kills King Hamlet with poison into his ear, and Claudius is speaking poison into Laertes’ ear. Although Laertes desires revenge on Hamlet, it is mainly because Claudius was able to manipulate Laertes and poison his mind into thinking that Hamlet was solely to blame for Ophelia and Polonius’ death. Hamlet however, is still able to forgive Laertes just before the poison takes effect. Hamlet obviously does not blame Laertes for wounding him with the “envenomed” sword. Hamlet places the blame onto Claudius after Laertes warns Hamlet “the King’s to blame.” Hamlet is able to strike Claudius with the poisoned sword and pour the poisoned “potion” down his throat.
Shakespeare leaves many things unclear throughout Hamlet. For example when Gertrude drinks from the poisoned cup it is not clear whether she does not realise it is poisoned or whether she wishes to commit suicide. Both interpretations can be reinforced. “Gertrude, do not drink.” “I will, my lord, I pray you pardon me”, can be interpreted that she is apologising in advance to Claudius for her suicide. However she offers the cup to Hamlet after drinking herself, which could also be interpreted as she didn’t actually know there was poison contained in the cup until it was too late.
Throughout the play there are various moments where Hamlet seems to sit back and resign himself to fate. He takes on the belief that if he really is destined for something there is nothing he can do to change it. “But come, for England. Farewell, dear mother.” However there are also some places where Hamlet is seen to “defy augury.” This theme could be due to the fact that fate was widely believed in when Hamlet was written. For example the belief that you would either go to Heaven or Hell was widespread.
The play ends in a state of catharsis. Hamlet has taken revenge on Claudius and Laertes has taken revenge on Hamlet, although forgiven him afterwards. Fortinbras has not taken revenge directly onto King Hamlet but he has managed to conquer Denmark and claim the throne. All three revenge plots run throughout the play, with Fortinbras’ plot in the background and all three plots coming together at the end of the play. Therefore the theme of revenge is a fundamental one throughout Hamlet.