The Theme Of Revenge in Iliad and in Hamlet In spite of the fact that time passes uncontrollably there are some feelings and ideas in the human world remain the same. The place for these feelings and ideas make no difference as well. One of the most important among these is the idea of "revenge." Since revenge is a part of human life, it can be seen in literary texts too. Two noteworthy texts combining their stories with revenge are "Hamlet" and "Iliad". Homer begins his famous work Iliad, which is estimated to have written in 800 BC., with "the rage of Achilles."
Rage- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, …show more content…
According to Kiernan Ryan :
... taking revenge could never settle the matter for Hamlet, because the root cause of his quandary lies deeper than his uncle’s villainy. Because ‘The time is out of joint’, there’s no way he could ‘set it right’ (1.5.188–89) just by killing Claudius... .
In addition , at one part of the play Hamlet plans to kill Claudius in his most vulnerable moment, praying. But fearing that he might end up in Heaven since he dies while praying , he changes his idea. So it can be said that Hamlet wants Claudius to suffer for what he did, killing his own father , the king, and thus replacing him, even in afterlife. But it is good to keep in mind that Hamlet seems to be planning his revenge. He first observes the environment around him. To do this he acts as if he were mad. He wants to kill Claudius in the same way Claudius killed his father. Beside Hamlet, Laertes is another character who seeks revenge since Hamlet kills his father, Polonius, and since he thinks that it is Hamlet who drives Ophelia into madness and causing her death as …show more content…
Hamlet says "conscience doth make cowards of us all." ( Shakespeare 124 ) But conscience at end of the Iliad, in a way, what makes Achilles human again. At the end of Iliad Achilles changes by remembering his own mortality. Priam says these words to Achilles:
Homer describes Priam's emotions in such a way that it makes any of us pity him. And like us, now remembering his own humanity, Achilles also pities him remembering his own father. Revenge of his in a sense melted with his own tears.
He agrees to give Hector's body back. If Achilles were mean to Priam and refused to give the corpse back ,wouldn't he regret and how he will be remembered today? Would it be possible for us to remember him as a hero? ( Feuerbach 20) So, it is conscience what makes Achilles a memorable hero. To sum up, Hamlet and Iliad seem extreme different works. Hamlet is a tragedy while Iliad is an epic. Obviously because of that reason, how they represent the story to the reader is also different from one another. In addition, Iliad was written long before than Hamlet. All of these reasons though, don't prevent reader to grasp the similar point in both works. That is revenge, a feeling resisting time, a feeling in human world so in
Rage- Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, …show more content…
According to Kiernan Ryan :
... taking revenge could never settle the matter for Hamlet, because the root cause of his quandary lies deeper than his uncle’s villainy. Because ‘The time is out of joint’, there’s no way he could ‘set it right’ (1.5.188–89) just by killing Claudius... .
In addition , at one part of the play Hamlet plans to kill Claudius in his most vulnerable moment, praying. But fearing that he might end up in Heaven since he dies while praying , he changes his idea. So it can be said that Hamlet wants Claudius to suffer for what he did, killing his own father , the king, and thus replacing him, even in afterlife. But it is good to keep in mind that Hamlet seems to be planning his revenge. He first observes the environment around him. To do this he acts as if he were mad. He wants to kill Claudius in the same way Claudius killed his father. Beside Hamlet, Laertes is another character who seeks revenge since Hamlet kills his father, Polonius, and since he thinks that it is Hamlet who drives Ophelia into madness and causing her death as …show more content…
Hamlet says "conscience doth make cowards of us all." ( Shakespeare 124 ) But conscience at end of the Iliad, in a way, what makes Achilles human again. At the end of Iliad Achilles changes by remembering his own mortality. Priam says these words to Achilles:
Homer describes Priam's emotions in such a way that it makes any of us pity him. And like us, now remembering his own humanity, Achilles also pities him remembering his own father. Revenge of his in a sense melted with his own tears.
He agrees to give Hector's body back. If Achilles were mean to Priam and refused to give the corpse back ,wouldn't he regret and how he will be remembered today? Would it be possible for us to remember him as a hero? ( Feuerbach 20) So, it is conscience what makes Achilles a memorable hero. To sum up, Hamlet and Iliad seem extreme different works. Hamlet is a tragedy while Iliad is an epic. Obviously because of that reason, how they represent the story to the reader is also different from one another. In addition, Iliad was written long before than Hamlet. All of these reasons though, don't prevent reader to grasp the similar point in both works. That is revenge, a feeling resisting time, a feeling in human world so in