Violence In Shakespeare's Hamlet And Andre Dubus Killings

The killing of Hamlet’s father, the King of Denmark, leads to the murder of eight people and the death of Matt’s son in Killings leads to the death of one other person. The actions of the main characters lead to destruction both before and after the murders. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Andre Dubus’ Killings, violence has a large impact on the characters’ ability to control their fates which is supported by the major decisions that the main characters have to make overall leading to a negative impact on themselves and the people around them. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet the main character, Prince Hamlet, has to make a major decision that could affect the course of the entire story. In Act I, the ghost of King Hamlet tells Hamlet to “Revenge …show more content…
In Killings by Andre Dubus, the beginning of the story starts out in the graveyard shortly after the main character Matt’s son’s funeral. Frank was killed by Richard Strout, the soon to be ex-husband of his girlfriend, Mary Ann. Strout becomes extremely jealous and shoots Frank. After the funeral, Frank’s brother Steve says, “I should kill him” (Dubus 3). Steve went PUT THE REST OF THE ESSAY IN LITERARY PRESENT back to Baltimore without taking any actions. However, Matt and Willis eventually went to the bar where he knew he could find Strout. Consequently, after Strout murdered Frank, Matt was going to avenge his son’s death, even if he wasn’t completely on board with murdering someone. Matt doesn’t want to become a murder, but he sees how his wife is dealing with the loss of their son, and also he doesn’t want one of his children to take action.“When Strout came around it alone Matt got out of the car, giving up the hope he had kept all night (and for the past week) that Strout would come out with friends, and Willis would simply drive away; thinking: All right then” (Dubus 214-216). First Matt had to decide if he was willing to put his plan to kill Strout into action. After a moment of hesitation Matt decides to go forward with his agenda. “He stopped and aimed over the hood at Strout’s blue shirt ten feet away”(Dubus 217). Putting …show more content…
When Hamlet decided that he was going to get revenge on his uncle King Claudius for the death of his father, that decision impacts his life in a negative way leading to him losing control of his fate. When Hamlet was talking to his mother, he thought Claudius was hiding behind the curtain so he stabbed his sword through the curtain. A major part of Hamlet’s plan was to start acting mad in order for no one to suspecting he was plotting to kill his uncle. “How now? A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead! Kills POLONIUS through the arras”(3.4.24). His plan to murder his uncle had him paranoid to the point where he ended up killing the wrong person. After Hamlet accidentally murdered Polonius, Ophelia’s father, Ophelia blaming herself went mad, and committed suicide. In the beginning of the play Hamlet acted like he didn’t care very much about Ophelia, but Hamlet truly did care about her which is show by what he said in the graveyard; “I lov’d Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers Could not with all their quantity of love Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?”(5.2.265-267). When the death of Ophelia set in, Hamlet realized that his madness had gone too far and he no longer knows how to feel or what to think. Hamlet accidentally murdering Polonius and Ophelia committing suicide