Revenge is an act of vindictiveness that causes one to act unconsciously through rage. The tragedy of Hamlet is consummated by the ever-present theme of revenge.

Revenge is an act of vindictiveness that causes one to act unconsciously through rage. The tragedy of Hamlet is consummated by the ever-present theme of revenge. It is this very theme that sets the mood at the beginning of the play and leads to the pyrrhic victory at the end.

Shakespeare uses three (3) significant characters – Fortinbras, Prince of Norway; Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; and Laertes, son of Polonius – to depict this theme of revenge. It is through these three characters and their thirst to avenge their fathers’ deaths (all of whom have been murdered), that the tragedy in the play is created. Their emotive actions lead to the demise of two and the rise to power of one.

Young Fortinbras, whose father was murdered by the deceased King Hamlet, seeks vengeance towards the entire kingdom of Denmark. Fortinbras, in an infuriated state, attempts to forcefully re-conquer the land that was captured by King Hamlet. “As it doth well appear unto our state, but to recover of us by strong hand and terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands so by his father lost …” (I. I. 101-104). Fortinbras is the only character of the three who is able to release himself form the enfeebling force of revenge. He, unlike the other two characters, is able (under the guidance of his uncle) to put aside his desire for vengeance, and in the end, is extensively rewarded.

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For revenge to truly corrupt oneself, there must be a transformation from a magnanimous state to one of pure evil. It is because of this that Hamlet, of the three sons, is the most tainted by this ‘infectious disease’ (that of revenge). Hamlet, at the beginning of the play, is a noble-minded, innocent character. However, this shift of darkness becomes evident when he becomes aware that his uncle murdered his beloved father. “O, what a noble mind is here o’er-thrown! The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword, Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state, the glass of fashion and the mould of form, Th’ observ’d of all observers” (III. I. 153-157). Hamlet is the most difficult of the three sons to be influenced to act vindictively. It is his father’s ghost that tells him “to revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I. V. 25). Even though murder and revenge were acceptable norms in the Elizabethan society, a sorrowed and wrathful Hamlet finds it difficult to kill Claudius. Along his quest for vengeance, he procrastinates, and is bounded by a stream of bad decisions, and it is this that leads to his demise at the end of the play.

Laertes puts the least amount of thought into his revenge and is the most easily influenced of the three sons. On hearing of his father’s death, Laertes immediately confronts Claudius. Claudius tells Laertes of his father’s real murderer – Hamlet. Laertes, overcome with rage, vows to quench his thirst for revenge. “Let come what comes, only I’ll be revenged most thoroughly for my father” (IV. V. 134). He quickly makes plans for Hamlet’s death. “To cut his throat I’ the church” (IV. VII. 127). It is Laertes’ firm desire for vengeance that leads to his carnage at the end of the play.

In conclusion, Shakespeare, in Hamlet, suggest that revenge is an enervating impetus and the ‘pursuit of it can infect the most noble of all souls’. Through the play, he forces us to examine our own opinions of revenge and its legal and moral views in each society and era. It can be seen where the theme revenge in Shakespeare’s Hamlet sets a different and more enigmatic view to the play than that of other tragedies. The play is more ambitious than most revenge tragedies in its exploration of revenge as a process and its recognition that such behavior is neither normal nor easy, particularly for a human being who is capable of ‘thought’ and ‘conscience’.