Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a deep, dark tragedy about the Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, and his quest to avenge his father’s death. In this play, Shakespeare uses many literary devices and themes, in addition to his elegant vocabulary, to help paint a picture for his audience. Hidden throughout the play one can find the use of allusions, a few soliloquies, and alliterations as well. One of the main themes brought forward in Hamlet is revenge and the consequences it brings, where Shakespeare uses the mental instability of Hamlet, the characters speech and also their actions to bring this about.
With one of the main themes of the play being the consequences of revenge, Shakespeare uses the mental state of Hamlet to present this to the reader. After …show more content…
This is when Hamlet decides he will present a play in front of Claudius, and if he were to act guilty then that is when Hamlet would kill him. Once the play happens, and Claudius is clearly disturbed, Hamlet and Horatio agree he is guilty. When presented with an opportunity to then kill Claudius, Shakespeare instead has Hamlet present another soliloquy giving an excuse as to why he cannot kill Claudius:
Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;
And now I 'll do 't. And so he goes to heaven;
And so am I revenged. That would be scann 'd:
A villain kills my father; and for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To …show more content…
Instead, Hamlet wants to get proper revenge where he can suffer. The next scene Shakespeare presents an example of how the revenge is causing madness as Hamlet acts without thinking, killing a hidden Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius instead. The quest for revenge ends when Hamlet takes on Laertes in a sword fight originally planned by Claudius as a way for Laertes to kill Hamlet. Instead, the plan goes awry, Gertrude ends up dead from the poisoned goblet, Laertes dies from the poisoned sword, and just Claudius and Hamlet are left. Hamlet then stabs Claudius and forces him to drink the rest of the poisoned goblet, killing him. Before he dies from his own wounds, Hamlet then delivers his last lines –
O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o 'er-crows my spirit:
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras: he has my dying
With one of the main themes of the play being the consequences of revenge, Shakespeare uses the mental state of Hamlet to present this to the reader. After …show more content…
This is when Hamlet decides he will present a play in front of Claudius, and if he were to act guilty then that is when Hamlet would kill him. Once the play happens, and Claudius is clearly disturbed, Hamlet and Horatio agree he is guilty. When presented with an opportunity to then kill Claudius, Shakespeare instead has Hamlet present another soliloquy giving an excuse as to why he cannot kill Claudius:
Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;
And now I 'll do 't. And so he goes to heaven;
And so am I revenged. That would be scann 'd:
A villain kills my father; and for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To …show more content…
Instead, Hamlet wants to get proper revenge where he can suffer. The next scene Shakespeare presents an example of how the revenge is causing madness as Hamlet acts without thinking, killing a hidden Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius instead. The quest for revenge ends when Hamlet takes on Laertes in a sword fight originally planned by Claudius as a way for Laertes to kill Hamlet. Instead, the plan goes awry, Gertrude ends up dead from the poisoned goblet, Laertes dies from the poisoned sword, and just Claudius and Hamlet are left. Hamlet then stabs Claudius and forces him to drink the rest of the poisoned goblet, killing him. Before he dies from his own wounds, Hamlet then delivers his last lines –
O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o 'er-crows my spirit:
I cannot live to hear the news from England;
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras: he has my dying