The Role Of Revenge In Hamlet

As the old saying goes, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot,”. That is a well known-saying because it addresses something that everyone has to end up dealing with at one point or another. Revenge has been around for as long as anyone can remember. At some point in time, everyone has tried to get revenge on another person. There is something in humans that makes them want to avenge people that have done them wrong in any way. There are always times where people feel they have been wronged and need to bring justice into the situation. Sometimes, it is simply taking back something that a person stole. However, other times it goes farther than that. These ideas of revenge, no matter the degree, are evident …show more content…
The time period that Hamlet was written in plays as role in the way it was written. Hamlet was written by Shakespeare during the time of the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a time of religious confusion. People did not know if they should focus on the traditional pagan ideals or Christian beliefs; “The Renaissance was characterized by an uneasy alliance of classical and Christian elements...no single issue was more perfectly calculated to expose the inner tensions of the age than revenge,” (Cantor 25). In Hamlet, Hamlet himself does not know how to balance the beliefs; “Given the hybrid nature of Renaissance culture, dramatists in the era were able to explore the issue of revenge with particular awareness of the range of ethical responses it can evoke,” (Cantor 25). There are two roads to choose from. The first includes the classical view of revenge being heroic. Pagan’s believed that getting revenge on someone who did wrong was correct. Hamlet knows that his uncle killed his father and promises the Ghost that he will avenge Old Hamlet’s death; “As he vows to drink hot blood, Hamlet comes closer than ever before to the conventional role of