Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature

Hamlet 925

be brought to justice for their offenses against King
Hamlet and Hamlet himself.
A second motive for revenge is introduced late in
the play when Claudius, worried that his nephew is
aware of his crime, secretly orders Hamlet’s friends
to take Hamlet to his death. These friends, Ros-
encrantz and Guildenstern, have already betrayed
Hamlet by spying on him for Claudius. Their deaths
will avenge their betrayals of honor and friendship.
Hamlet’s cruel rejection of Ophelia may be
attributed to his “madness,” as Gertrude would
like to believe, triggered by the death of his father.
Alternatively, he may be losing his mind as he
tries to accept the ghost and his murderous tale as
real and to resolve to take physical action against
Claudius. After all, Hamlet has been a student, and,
as such, he is a contemplative man. He has been
trained in combat as any prince would be, but he is
not living that role when the play opens. Further-
more, he cannot come to grips with the notion that
his mother may have been complicit in his father’s
killing. Hamlet’s pitiless attacks against Ophelia
and Gertrude are, of course, unpleasant but, in
and of themselves, not reason enough to demand
blood justice. For example, after he famously orders
Ophelia to “Get thee to a nunnery” in act 3, scene
1, he asks her this question: “Wouldst thou be a
breeder of sinners?” The logic here may be under-
stood to mean that “breeders” are mothers, and we
have a glimpse of Hamlet comparing Ophelia to
Gertrude in horror. Perhaps, Shakespeare wants us
to consider whether she might come to be com-
plicit in Hamlet’s future murder. Further, Hamlet
explains that men are born of women, and men are
sinners. While he describes himself as “indifferent
honest,” even he could be made out to be a sinner
who wishes he had never been born and, therefore,
Ophelia should take an oath of celibacy to prevent
more monstrous men from being born.
Ophelia has, in fact, rejected Hamlet on her
father’s advice, and perhaps she feels responsible
for driving him off balance. Still, Hamlet’s angry
response to her is wildly out of proportion to her
refusal. Later, Laertes returns to Elsinore in a
rage against Hamlet’s treatment of his sister, and
Ophelia does finally commit suicide, ostensibly
because of Hamlet’s behavior and his murder of

their father, Polonius. While the murder was a case

of mistaken identity, justice must be had. Laertes,

then, is a secondary character in the play who has

his own motives for revenge. He joins forces with

the evildoer Claudius against Hamlet because it is

expedient, but Laertes is living up to his code of

honor, thereby allowing the court and royal family

to break up.

In the heat of his accusations against his mother,

Hamlet has finally begun to act on his conviction

that Claudius has wrongfully murdered King Ham-

let. Thus, the end of act 4 brings us solidly into the

third movement of the revenge tragedy. It has taken

Hamlet so long to arrive at this moment that the

forces of evil and chaos have had time to coalesce,

promising a bloodbath. We are not disappointed.

In a portrayal of absolute right and wrong, Ham-

let’s former friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,

have died for obeying Claudius’s order and betraying

Hamlet. Ophelia has died by her own hand for not

following her heart, thus contributing to Hamlet’s

anguish. Polonius has been stabbed for meddling,

and his death has been avenged by Laertes. Laertes

has been cut by his own poisoned sword as punish-

ment for scheming with Claudius against Hamlet.

Gertrude dies by innocently drinking from the poi-

soned cup Claudius has brought to kill Hamlet, sat-

isfying all questions about her ostensible guilt, either

through complicity with Claudius or through her

own weakness. Hamlet avenges his father’s ghost by

murdering Claudius, and he dies twice over through

being cut by the poisoned sword and by drinking

the dregs of the poisoned cup. Justice is completely

served as Horatio relates the events to Fortinbras,

who takes command and restores order to Denmark.

Ellen Rosenberg

Love in Hamlet

If Hamlet is a veritable bouquet of death and ven-

geance, then the garden from which it was cut was

watered with love. Love is the premise and motive

that drives the play’s dramatic actions and circum-

stances. Had Hamlet not loved and honored his

late father, for example, he would not have been so

powerfully pressed to avenge his death. The theme is

presented in a variety of forms in a range of intensi-

ties: love within families, the passionate and driving