Theme of Revenge in Hamlet

The theme of revenge that dominates Hamlet is set forth when the Ghost appears to Hamlet and tells him of murder most foul, obliging him to "Swear" to undertake the revenge. In the text, the successive apparitions are an aspect of and consistent with the apprehension experienced by the guardsmen of the first scene and, more generally, with the vague feelings of unease accompanying the fact that "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (I.iv.90). In the film, these feelings are conveyed not by actors' lines but rather by the camera's ominous movement across the scenes of Gertrude's abject grief at the elder Hamlet's funeral and again across the stark scenery of Elsinore in contrast to what turns out to be the celebration of the wedding. Drake refers to the film's Elsinore as "a visually rugged, majestic and uncompromising dominion, aptly more English than Danish, and matched by the toughness of its inhabitants. The climate seems right

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sic morality of regicide, although as we have seen Hamlet does express directly Christian concerns about his own soul vis-a-vis the Ghost. His concern is rather to show Hamlet's larger sense of the fitness of things, despite repeated warnings from the Ghost to get on with the revenge. The manner of killing Claudius becomes as important as the fact of the killing. Just as Claudius and Gertrude insist on Hamlet's comportment as an aspect of a certain way and station of life, so does Hamlet insist on a comportment that reflects a certain way of death. It is a profoundly idiosyncratic sensibility that has the effect of asserting a cosmic significance to an otherwise squalid act of murder. In context, these are the lineaments of destiny, suffused with revenge. This in no way conflicts with the later fact that the shock of Gertrude's death, compounded by Laertes's public blaming of the King and Hamlet's realization that his own death is imminent, eliminates his need for further information, analysis, or public comportment. It is perfectly appropriate that, at that moment, in full public view, in the full flush of extreme emotion, and in the fullness of his prerogative as injured son and prince, Hamlet rushes and kills the king. Freud's
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3878
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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