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Hamlet and His Quest for Revenge

This study will dispute the statement that "so long as Hamlet actively pursues his revenge and lays careful plans, he never succeeds, but once he comes to accept situations as they are offered and meets them as best he can, he achieves his revenge." To the contrary, what actually occurs in Shakespeare's tragedy is that Hamlet stalls, delays, meditates, contemplates, schemes and investigates Claudius, heaps up evidence as long as he possibly can, and then, when there is simply no other way out, he takes the action which is finally inevitable. It is inaccurate to suggest that this man, the screws of fate tightening on him day by day and hour by hour, suddenly relaxes in some way and "goes with the flow" and thereby finds success.

Shakespeare is certainly not suggesting that we can succeed much more quickly and smoothly by going with the flow, at least not in this play. He is suggesting that when we put off doing what we must do, especially when it is something we do not want to do, the outcome may be far more tragic than what would have happened had we acted when we first knew we had to act.

After all, it might be argued that Hamlet was merely going with the flow when he ran his sword through the curtain, believing that the situation had presented him with the opportunity to kill Claudius, who he thought was hiding there. Instead, going with the flow, he inadvertently slays the idiot Polonius.

In fact, nothing in the actions of Hamlet can be said to be representative of "success." The nature of tragedy is that there is no success, that the tragic hero must choose among what are more accurately seen as various unpleasant if not horrifying alternatives. In any case, can we humanely or sanely claim that what happens in this play is a success of any sort? Hamlet certainly wins his revenge, but bodies of the innocent litter the stage before that revenge is won. In addition, the government and the nation are certainly thrown into...

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Hamlet and His Quest for Revenge. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 16:07, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1682590.html