The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, is a prominent example of a typical revenge tragedy, the most significant theme within this play is undoubtedly. Revenge was an extremely popular concept used in Elizabethan Theatre, this ultimately led to the creation of the genre of revenge-tragedy, these plays were pioneered by William Shakespeare and Sir Thomas Kyd.Revenge-tragedies follow the basic formula where, a crime occurs, yet for some reason law and justice doesn’t prevail/occur, so the individual becomes the one who takes the action.
Although revenge-tragedies were popular, during the turn of the 17th Century when Hamlet was written, moral beliefs regarding revenge were reformed. This was brought around when Queen Elizabeth 1 made the killing of another person unlawful, but this genre still remained popular even though it did not reflect what society deemed as acceptable.
Revenge in Hamlet, is centralised around the characters of Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras Each of these characters experienced the sudden passing of their father’s and respectively each want to avenge their fathers. In Hamlet’s case, he wishes to avenge his fathers death, after he learns that his father was murdered by his own brother, the now King Claudius. Hamlet was informed of the events surrounding his father’s death, from the ghost of his father, and of how Claudius poured poison in his ear.
Hamlet finally avenges his father’s death in the final scene, after he wounds Claudius with the poison laced sword, and then forces him to drink from the poisoned cup. Hamlet’s revenge was so vehement that he insisted on killing his Uncle Claudius whilst he was in sin, so that Claudius would immediately go to perdition.
