Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Act V -- Revenge

Discuss how the theme of revenge is interwoven into this play and finally leads to the tragic conclusion.

24 comments:

peace to my homies (love Nicoal, Shannin, and Kailee) we said...

Yo Yo! my homies with luv i say dis

here's a lil rap for y'all about revenge:
Revenge is bad
It makes me sad
Hamlet's family dies
from Claudius's lies
Laertes too
becuz Hamlets a foo (l)
Ham kills polonius
hidn' behind the abyss

Why can't we be friends
and make ah - mends
we will all be left dead
like Horatio will have said
to fortinbras men
head'n fo Po-len (duh)

What a bout Rosecrantz
he wasn't killed by ants
Guildenstern as well
the two men fell
All be cause a word
used by shakepeare (nerd!)

REVENGE!

word-

Anonymous said...

Throughout the play Hamlet wants revenge on Claudius for killing his father, Fortinbras wants revenge on Denmark for his father's death and laertes wants revenge for his fathers death as well. hamlet's inability to seek revenge is what set up the deaths of many of characters. when Claudius plan to kill hamlet backfired set up the tragic conclusion
Quinn

Anonymous said...

This play is all about revenge. Hamlet seeks revenge over Claudius murdering his father. He also wants to punish his mother for betraying her former husband. Hamlet's accidental murder of Polonius causes Laertes to seek revenge on Hamlet. Also Fortinbras wants revenge over his defeat by Hamlet's father. All of this together sets up the tragic ending where the revenge leads to the punishment of everyone who sought it, with the exception of Fortinbras who got what he wanted after the events unfolded.

Matt

Anonymous said...

The dramatic ending of multiple deaths is a conclusion to the various characters searching for revenge. Fortinbras is in search of revenge over the king for his fathers death. This is the only character to technically recieve hsi revenge as he becomes the next king of Denmark. Hamlet wants revenge upon Claudius for killing his father. It is also obvious that Hamlet is trying to find emotional revenge on his mother for her disloyalty to his father. Laertes wants revenge for the death of his father. All of the anger and hatred builds up and leads to each characters (with the exception of Fortinbras) death. Each has their own plan to get revenge and they intermingle and none are executed correctly.

Marissa

Patrick "Filipino" Leick said...

Revenge is the reason why everyone has died. The first case of revenge was Hamlet wanting revenge because he killed his father to be king. Hamlet, blinded by revenge, accidentally kills Polonius, Laertes' father. Laertes then wants revenge on Hamlet for the death of Polonius. While, Hamlet and Laertes were fighting, Claudius accidentally poisons the queen, the mother of Hamlet. With everyone one dying everyone wanted revenge. In short terms, Laertes kills Hamlet but not before Hamlet gets revenge by killing Laertes, and Claudius for the deaths of his parents.

Anonymous said...

Throughout the entire story everyone is always trying to avenge someone else's death and then someone else is trying to kill them. There would have not had to be any revenge if Claudias hadn't been so eager for the crown and killed his own brother. Since that happened, Claudias then wanted Hamlet dead, Hamlet wanted Claudias dead but accidentally killed Polonious and then Laertes wants Hamlet dead so he has Guilenstern and Rosencrantz beheaded and Ophelia kills heself due to all the drama. This mess was all started by Claudias.
Ali~

Anonymous said...

The theme of revenge starts with the Ghost who tells Hamlet about his murder. After they play, Hamlet his bent on revenge as well. He mainly wants revenge for his father's murder but is also upset about his mother's hasty marriage. When he goes to talk to her about it, he kills Polonius who was spying on them. This drives Laertes to want to kill Hamlet. Hamlet also aranges Rosenkranz's and Guildenstern's death in revenge for their betrayal. All the while Fortinbras of Norway wants revenge for his own father's death at the hands of King Hamlet. In the final scene, both Hamlet and Laertes kill each other, Hamlet kills the Claudius who managed to kill Gertrude. By the time Fortinbras shows up there is no one left to kill and he becomes the king of Denmark-Norway. All the revenge was completed.

Ben

Anonymous said...

There are three people that want revenge for their fathers' deaths: Laertes, Hamlet, and Fortinbras. Hamlet wants to kill Claudius because he killed his father. The entire play is written around Hamlet and his plots to exact his revenge. There are multiple times who could've had revenge, but failed. When Claudius was praying Hamlet couldn't kill him because then he would go to Heaven instead of Hell where Claudius belongs. Ham Ham then tries to make Claudius feel guilty by performing a play related to the death of King Hamlet. When that doesn't work, he finally kills Claudius with the poisoned blade and makes him drink the poisoned cup. Claudius, in a way, set him own demise. Laertes wants revenge on Hamlet for killing his father, Polonius. King Claudius, who also wants Hamlet dead, helps Laertes with his revenge and gives him a poison tipped blade for the dual against Hamlet. Unfortunately, Laertes gets stabbed by sed blade and dies of his own means. Fortinbras wants revenge on the Hamlets because they killed his father King Fortinbras. When he attacks to get his revenge, Hamlet is already dead, so Fortinbras claims the throne.
-Maddy-

Anonymous said...

This is very likely Shakespeare's best tragedy. Through out the play, the characters become more and more entangled with each other, and the concept of revenge envelopes the entire stage. As the different characters seek to fulfill various goals involving the death of other characters, the plot becomes increasingly suspenseful. In the end, the plotting of the king and Laertes ends in tragedy and very quickly, the queen, the king, Laertes, and Hamlet all lie dead. I think Claudius was ultimately responsible for setting the gears in motioin however, and can be held ultimately responsible for his own death.

Anonymous said...

Ethan

Anonymous said...

Without the ghost of Hamlet's father, there wouldn't have been any revenge. Hamlet wants to kill Claudius, who killed his father. Then Hamlet kills Polonius, so Laertes wants to kill Hamlet. Fortinbras wants revenge for his father's death, but he's not in most of the play. It's kind of a circle that was set in motion by the kings. Pretty much everyone dies, as should a good tragedy.
Paige

Unknown said...

Revenge is definitely the most powerful theme in Hamlet. Because of it, many of the characters tragically die in the end. Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras are want to seek revenge for the murders of their fathers. Hamlet's father killed Fortinbras's father, and Hamlet killed Laertes' father. Claudius also killed Hamlet's father. They are in such a closely related situation that if they stopped for a second and thought about what was happening, they could have collaborated and many of the deaths in the end, such as Polonius, Ophelia, the queen, rosecrantz, guildenstern and other's deaths could have been prevented.

Anonymous said...

Revenge serves as the major motivator through out the play. Hamlet feels the need to revenge his father, and Fortinbras his father and Laertes his father. If one of them had the courage to forego revenge maybe the play wouldn't have to be a tragedy. Once one character has revenge, a different character must seek vengeance. It's like killing your loved one's killer is the only way to prove your loyalty and retain honor. Hamlet doesn't necessarily want revenge but feel he must have it and it drives him crazy. In the end no one is really revenged, everyone is just dead. This seems similar to a lot of the Medieval literature. A unstoppable cycle of violence ensues. At the end Hamlet acts responsibly by recommending Fortinbras and seems to attain peace which makes the ending less tragic.

Anonymous said...

^
caitlin

Anonymous said...

Clearly Shakespeare wasn't hugged enough as a child. In order to extract revenge on those who didn't hug him as a child. Revenge is a terrible motivator. The story should have gone like this: Hamlet was very sad about his father's death so he went to Ophelia for comfort. Making out with his mother never crossed his mind because he's a normal person unlike those crazy Hollywood people. Ophelia was like Juliet and a bit flighty and didn't listen to her father like a normal young adult. She and Hamlet chilled in the woods to plot a way to escape from the court and be together. A mystical unicorn approached. The unicorn's name was charlie. Charlie took Ophelia and Hamlet to candy mountain. They lived in a magical happy land of sugared sweets. Laertes ran off with his art teacher. King Claudius met karma. He tripped on a rug and his sword stabbed him in the ear. Everyone else lived happily ever after. The End.

Cameron Collard said...

Revenge is the motivation behind Hamlet's actions, Laertes', and I think it's safe to say that Claudius was probably just getting back at his older brother for a wedgie or something. If Laertes had not taken revenge for his father's death upon Hamlet, then it would not have been tragic: Gertrude may still have died, but our main antagonist Hamlet would have achieved his goal of killing Claudius, and would eventually have reached a state of happily ever after, probably involving unicorns. As it is, though, Laertes continues the cycle of killing, eye-for-an-eye style. Not very happy.

Anonymous said...

Revenge causes many of the characters to act blindly through anger and emotion. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet were all looking to avenge the deaths of their fathers.They all acted on emotion driven by the want for revenge for their father's deaths, and this led to the downfall of two, and the rise of one (Fortinbras). Claudius plan to kill King Hamlet backfired when the Queen drank the poison instead. Therefore Claudius being more upset, tried to seek more revenge on Hamlet. So, with the backfire of his conclusion, it resulted in a tragic conclusion with several people being killed.

Brett

Hannah Vogel said...

Most characters are related by a plot of revenge. Hamlet seeks revenge on his Uncle for killing his dad but then when Hamlet kills Polonius, Laertes seeks revenge on Hamlet. Then because Rosencratz and Guildenstern betrayed Hamlet's trust Hamlet switches the letter that the king wrote for Hamlet's death (revenge for finding out he killed the king) with a letter for their deaths. Finally in the end all the revenge unfolds, and each kills the person they want revenge against.

Anonymous said...

Revenge is a big theme in this play because three of the main characters want reveng. Hamlet wants to revenge his father's death against Claudius. Fortinbras wants revenge for Hamlet's dad defeating Fortinbras dad. Laertes wants revenge against Hamlet for killing his father by accident. Fortinbras gets his revenge by becoming the king of Denmark in the end of the play. Everyone has a small part in revenge because once someone dissapoint another person then that person wants to get back at them it might be over stupid things but it seems to be an anger issue they all seem to have. In the end they all died because they all got caught up in everything. Hamlet kills Laertes and Claudius before Laertes could kill Hamlet. The Queen drank out of a poisioned cup and dies. The only person that got something out of their revenge, besdies death, was Fortinbras because he could the throne.

Kaitlyn Pierce

Anonymous said...

Revenges is a constant theme throughout the play. Hamlet wants to get revenge on Claudius for killing King Hamlet and marrying the queen. Hamlet is not sure how to do it, but comes up with idea to have a play staging King Hamlet's death to try and prove Claudius guilt. In a way it works, but it only proves to Hamlet, not anyone else, that he killed the king.

Laertes also wants to get revenge on Hamlet for killing his father, Polonius. Laertes follows Claudius's advise and poisons the tip of a sword and gets Hamlet to fight him. If this were to fail, they had poison in a cup for Hamlet to drink. Well the queen ends up drinking it and dies, Hamlet stabs Laertes with the poison sword and he dies, Hamlet figures out it was all the kings idea to poison him and kills him with the poisoned sword. Then Hamlet himself dies from a deadly encounter with the poisoned sword.
Everyone got their revenge but at a cost.
Kaylie

Anonymous said...

Throughout the play, Hamlet is trying to find a way to put revenge on his now stepfather. He begins with producing a play to show if the suspicion of the killing of his father is true, and leads to him almost killing Claudius during the scene in which Claudius is praying. At the same time, when Claudius discovers Hamlet knows, he tries to put revenge on him by sending him to London and by trying to kill Hamlet. By the end of the play, the characters' own revenge kills them all, showing that revenge isn't always what it is made out to be.

Stephanie Stanczyk-

Anonymous said...

Throughout this play there are multiple people seeking revenge for one reason or another. Hamlet is trying to avenge the death of his father and make his mother realize that Claudius is the one that killed the late king. Laertes wants revenge for Hamlet murdering his father because he doesn't know the reason behind Hamlet accidentally killing him. I think that Hamlet not being able to get the revenge that he feels he needs and people not hearing his story is part of the reason it ended up being so tragic. In the end Fortinbras takes the thrown which is kind of ironic because his father was killed by the late King Hamlet and everyone else who was seeking revenge for the death of their fathers ends up dead. All of the tragic things happened because everyone wanted revenge.

Jasmine

Greg said...

Hamlet is a play almost entirely centered on revenge. Firstly, the central character Halmet is intent on gaining revenge both on Claudius; for the murder of Halmet's father, and also his mother, Gertrude, for so soon forgoing her marriage vows and marrying Claudius with little or no remorse. Revenge again surfaces with Laertes, who was in a similar situation as Hamlet, after losing Ophelia and his father Polonius, Laertes wants to gain revenge on Halmet, who was the accidental murderer of Polonious. Other plot lines follow the thread of revenge, including early in the play with Fortinbras intention to attack Denmark to avenge his fathers death at the hands of King Hamlet. Clearly revenge is the critical theme throughout the play.

Unknown said...

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. See the link below for more info.

#revenge
www.ufgop.org