English Assessment Task: Analytical Essay (FINAL COPY)
Year 9 - Unit: Hamlet
PROMPT: John Marsden’s, Hamlet, suggests that revenge is never justified. Discuss
Occasionally revenge can be justified but there are also many situations where it is not acceptable. Wanting satisfaction by causing harm or pain to someone to ‘get even’ with them could be rightful if, it is justified with a legitimate reason. It is human instinct to want justice after someone’s wrong doing has affected you or the people around you. Wanting justice is not wrong as long as it doesn’t ruin the person inside and it is done under the laws conditions if not, then it is definitely not worth it.
Vengeance can be justified as long as it’s done under conditions that follow authority and the …show more content…
Hamlet’s impulsive behaviour and ruthlessness generated a chain of destructive events. His need for revenge lead him to kill Polonius, who wasn’t even involved in the situation but was an innocent and loyal advisor to Claudius. Hamlet killing Polonius affected Ophelia, Polonius’ daughter and Hamlet’s lover, leading her to lose her mind and drown herself after the absence of her father and Hamlet being sent off to England for his behaviour. When Laertes returned with the news of his father’s and sister’s deaths, it fuelled his retribution towards Hamlet. ‘My father was loyal to me and I return that loyalty now. I don’t care if I stand in the deepest pit of the fiercest furnace- as long as I get revenge.’- Laertes, (Page 165, chapter 25). Laertes’ loyalty towards his family instigating the duel, which caused the chain of deaths that including: Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius and Hamlet. ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and the whole world would soon be blind and toothless’- Mahatma Gandhi. This goes to show that wanting people punished by having the same thing done to them cannot be justified as it leads to more
Year 9 - Unit: Hamlet
PROMPT: John Marsden’s, Hamlet, suggests that revenge is never justified. Discuss
Occasionally revenge can be justified but there are also many situations where it is not acceptable. Wanting satisfaction by causing harm or pain to someone to ‘get even’ with them could be rightful if, it is justified with a legitimate reason. It is human instinct to want justice after someone’s wrong doing has affected you or the people around you. Wanting justice is not wrong as long as it doesn’t ruin the person inside and it is done under the laws conditions if not, then it is definitely not worth it.
Vengeance can be justified as long as it’s done under conditions that follow authority and the …show more content…
Hamlet’s impulsive behaviour and ruthlessness generated a chain of destructive events. His need for revenge lead him to kill Polonius, who wasn’t even involved in the situation but was an innocent and loyal advisor to Claudius. Hamlet killing Polonius affected Ophelia, Polonius’ daughter and Hamlet’s lover, leading her to lose her mind and drown herself after the absence of her father and Hamlet being sent off to England for his behaviour. When Laertes returned with the news of his father’s and sister’s deaths, it fuelled his retribution towards Hamlet. ‘My father was loyal to me and I return that loyalty now. I don’t care if I stand in the deepest pit of the fiercest furnace- as long as I get revenge.’- Laertes, (Page 165, chapter 25). Laertes’ loyalty towards his family instigating the duel, which caused the chain of deaths that including: Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius and Hamlet. ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and the whole world would soon be blind and toothless’- Mahatma Gandhi. This goes to show that wanting people punished by having the same thing done to them cannot be justified as it leads to more