Essay On Revenge In Hamlet

One of the most iconic and used phrases in the English language is, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” English speakers learn it from a young age and continue hearing it for years to come; it permeates well-known pieces of literature, articles of media, and quite a few lectures from parents and guardians to their young ones. But how often to people really think about what the phrase means? Is it conveying that one can only truly find revenge if they have “cold” hearts, or does it mean that revenge is only for those who have only the “coldest” intentions? Famous playwright William Shakespeare attempts to give his audience insight into the meaning of this age-old phrase through the rich velvet anomaly that is the tragedy, Hamlet. Through primarily …show more content…
When the play opens, we learn that Hamlet’s father is recently deceased, and Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude, was quick to marry Hamlet’s uncle, who thus becomes King Claudius and Hamlet’s stepfather. The ghost of Hamlet’s deceased father shows up at the night of King Claudius’s and Queen Gertrude’s wedding, appearing before the guards. After the wedding, Horatio is then introduced, telling Hamlet about his father’s ghost. Hamlet still stung by his mother’s haste actions and his father’s recent death leaves to seek the ghost. The ghost of his father proves itself to Hamlet by telling him that it was the now King Claudius that killed Hamlet’s father (by poison to the ear whilst the King dozed in his garden, as he normally did) before giving Prince Hamlet the cryptic message to seek revenge for his deceased father’s …show more content…
Perhaps it is because he began to have second thoughts on what the deleteriousness of his actions had begun to do to his character. Perhaps he felt it would not fulfill his insatiable desire for revenge if he were to take the King’s life in such a swift manner. Prince Hamlet wanted the King’s wrongdoings to be brought to light before the Queen, the people, and everyone else. Tabassum Javed, author of the piece “Perfect Idealism in Shakespeare 's Prince Hamlet”, and Phillip Goldstein, author of “Hamlet: Not a World of His Own” both discuss their takes on Hamlet’s inability to act. Javed writes, How is Hamlet to avenge his father and why does he do so in so inefficient, disastrous and suicidal a manner? Hamlet 's hesitations show that he is not free to face his own personal problem and solve it on his own account. His life is one to be lived under the imposition of a great task, an imperious demand from outside. (Javed)
Essentially, I agree with Javed’s idea that Prince Hamlet, having been imposed a daunting task by the man he so wishes to avenge, has lost himself, and with that, the ability to think on his own accord. Goldstein, however, provides a bit of historical logic to back up his reasoning behind Prince Hamlet’s inability to act when he