The Shakespeare Book

196

Ophelia is

drowned.

Gertrude and

King Hamlet

are poisoned.

Polonius is

stabbed through

a tapestry.

HAMLET

The tragedy spirals out of control
because the characters within
the world of Denmark make poor
choices that lead to a catalog of
even worse outcomes. Not only
does Hamlet defer taking revenge
on Claudius, but he accidentally
stabs Polonius, which leads Laertes
to seek vengeance against him.
He rejects Ophelia in such a
humiliating and devastating way
that, when she learns of her father’s
murder at the hands of her former
lover, she loses her sanity and,
potentially, her dignity. Polonius,
too, is no blameless character. He
exhibits poor judgement when
he dispatches a spy to France to
trail his son, when he convinces
Ophelia to trap Hamlet, and
especially when he proposes
hiding behind the arras in order
to eavesdrop on Gertrude’s

conversation with her son. Add

to these tragic events Ophelia’s

drowning, Claudius’s poisoning

of the wine goblet, Gertrude

accidentally drinking it, and

Laertes being wounded by his own

poisoned blade, and this tragic

world is riddled with fateful

accidents. Both the characters’

choices and their fortunes do

indeed seem outrageous.

Revenge

First and foremost, Hamlet is a

tale of revenge. The revenge motif

repeats throughout the play, not just

in having three avengers all seeking

the same thing, but in the terrible

cycle of destruction and grief that

proceeds from any desire to exact

vengeance on an enemy.

As a revenge story, Hamlet

follows conventions established by

the English playwright Thomas Kyd

in The Spanish Tragedy (1587),

which was one of the most popular

revenge tragedies of the period.

Shakespeare includes a ghost, a

play-within-a-play, and a deathly

object in the form of Yorick’s skull,

to echo the revenge tradition. The

DEATH TOLL

Hamlet, Claudius,

and Laertes are

stabbed and poisoned.

Rosencrantz and

Guildenstern

are beheaded.

O, what a rash and bloody

deed is this!

Gertrude

Act 3, Scene 4