ghost of Hamlet\u2019s father appears to him<\/a> and tells him that king Claudius has poisoned him. Prince Hamlet mourns both his father\u2019s death and his mother remarriage to the new King Claudius which happened a few weeks after the late king\u2019s death. Hamlet then seeks out to find out the real truth about his father\u2019s death and plot revenge. In the process of finding out the truth, Hamlet acts mad and deceives a lot of people in order to mask his true intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Major Characters in Hamlet<\/h2>\n\n\n\nPrince Hamlet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The protagonist in the play, Hamlet was the prince of Denmark and son of the late King Hamlet of Denmark and nephew to the present King Claudius. In the beginning, Hamlet meets King Hamlet\u2019s Ghost and learns that King Claudius murders his father and this was the trigger that starts his plot for revenge. Part of his plan required him to pretend to be mad in other to distract and hide his intentions from those around him and particularly the King. Hamlet distrusts and rejects almost everyone around him because of his unreasonable belief that they are spying on him for King Claudius. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His plan works and everyone believes he was mad then to confirm his suspicions of the King; Hamlet changes the lines of a play and got people to act it in front of King Claudius. The changes he made in the play made it cunningly tell the story of the murder of King Hamlet. This play made King Claudius uncomfortable and helps Hamlet confirm his suspicions about the murder of his father. Hamlet was also in love with Ophelia who is the daughter of Polonius. After his pretence of madness, Hamlet found out that Ophelia betrays him which hurt him deeply. In his quest for revenge, Hamlet kills Polonius, Ophelia\u2019s father accidentally. In the end, Hamlet dies the sword of Laertes but he makes sure that he kills King Claudius before his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
King Claudius<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
He was Hamlet\u2019s uncle and the King of Denmark who was the antagonist of the play. Claudius murders the previous king of Denmark to satisfy his ambitions and replace him as king and he took his wife in the process. Two months after he murders the king, he marries Queen Gertrude and prince Hamlet did not approve of this marriage. After Hamlet starts his pretence of insanity, King Claudius sent Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Ophelia to go and spy on him as he believes Hamlet\u2019s intentions were not clear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When King Claudius notes that Hamlet is a threat, he intends to kill him–but Hamlet survives. When Hamlet returns to Denmark and King Claudius found out that he wasn\u2019t dead, he tries to trick Laertes into poisoning Hamlet as Laertes at that time was looking for a way to kill hamlet to avenge the death of his father Polonius. At the end of the play, King Claudius\u2019s plan to poison Hamlet fails as he kills his wife queen Gertrude instead. Then Hamlet kills King Claudius with a poisoned sword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Queen Gertrude<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Gertrude was Hamlet\u2019s mother and the Queen of Denmark. She was married to the dead king Hamlet and after he passed away, she went on and married Claudius who was the brother to the King Hamlet and the present King of Denmark. Gertrude loved Hamlet deeply but disappointed hamlet when she got married to Hamlets uncle not long after her husband\u2019s death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Queen Gertrude later realises her mistakes when Hamlet scolds her and she promised to not sleep with the uncle anymore. When she found out that Hamlet wasn\u2019t really mad, she helped him to continue his pretence of insanity. In the end, Queen Gertrude was killed by the poisoned drink which was meant for Hamlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lord Polonius<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
He was the father of Laertes and Ophelia and also the Lord Chamberlain of Claudius\u2019s court. Polonius owns his duty to kind Claudius. When he hears about Hamlets madness, he believes his daughter was responsible for that and warns his daughter to stay away from prince Hamlet. He later uses his daughter to spy on the prince and this hurt him deeply. Polonius was later killed accidentally by prince Hamlet when he was caught eavesdropping on a conversation between Hamlet and his mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ophelia<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ophelia was hamlet\u2019s love interest and the daughter to Polonius and sister to Laertes. Hamlet deeply loves Ophelia, but she never marries him. She listens to her father\u2019s advice and avoids Hamlet when she thought of him as mad. Her father then uses her to spy on Hamlet but Hamlet knew this and it disturbs him deeply. After Hamlet kills Polonius and leaves Denmark, Ophelia turns mad and takes her own life by drowning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laertes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
He was Polonius\u2019 son, assuming a minor part in the play until the death of Polonius. After finding out that prince Hamlet kills his father, he set out to avenge his father\u2019s death by killing Hamlet. His plan was to kill him in a battle with a poisoned sword but King Claudius advised him to kill the prince with a poisoned drink. Laertes went with his original plan of using the poisoned sword and succeeded but was also killed by Hamlet in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Theme of Revenge in Hamlet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Revenge is the major theme in the play. The major events of the play portrays different characters showing their intent to revenge previous deeds by someone against them and this set up the tragic conclusion of the play as revenge most times leads to tragedy. Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, sought revenge on his uncle, the present king of Denmark, for killing his father the previous king of Denmark. Hamlet decides to act mad in order to achieve his revenge but in the process kills Polonius, Lord Chamberlain and the father of his friend Laertes accidentally, as a result of mistaken identity with Claudius the king. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, Laertes plots with King Claudius to kill hamlet by poisoning, to avenge his father\u2019s death although King Claudius also wanted to kill Hamlet for his own personal reasons. Hamlet\u2019s father killed the king of Norway, and his son Fortinbras the prince, also sought revenge on Denmark but later becomes the only one to avoid revenge and therefore being the only survivor of the tragedy and became the future king of Denmark. Most believe that all this took place because of the death of king Hamlet. In the plot of revenge, innocent souls die and Shakespeare uses the theme to explain that the quest for revenge often leads to tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion: Revenge in Hamlet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hamlet is a tragic play. The appearance of the dead King\u2019s ghost marks the beginning of the tragedy as after persuading Hamlet to avenge his death, everything fell apart in Denmark. In the process of killing King Claudius, who was responsible for the King\u2019s death, some innocent people also died. King Claudius\u2019s marriage to Hamlet\u2019s mother, Queen Gertrude disturbs Hamlet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time Denmark is under threat of attack from young Fortinbras. The late king Hamlet kills Fortinbras’ father, and thus he sought to avenge his father\u2019s death. In the end, every major character died except for Prince Fortinbras of Norway who ended up being the only heir to the throne of Denmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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