Anti Essays :: Free "Hamlet Revenge" Essay
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Submitted by dane2089 on April 29, 2008
Hamlet says to the Ghost, "Speak; I am bound to hear." He means that it is his duty to listen to the spirit of his father. The Ghost replies that it is also his duty to take revenge: "So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear"(1.5.7). [Scene Summary]
A moment later, the Ghost repeats the message, but more strongly. He says that if Hamlet ever loved his father, he will "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (1.5.25). Hamlet promises to prove his love and do his duty. He tells the Ghost to tell the story of the murder, and the revenge will follow: "Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge" (1.5.29-31). [Scene Summary]
When the players come to Elsinore, Hamlet asks for a speech, and First Player delivers a description of the killing of old, white-haired King Priam. The killer, Pyrrhus, swings his sword at feeble Priam, and misses, but Priam falls to the ground anyway. Just at that moment a tower crashes to the ground. For an instant, with his sword held above Priam's head, Pyrrhus listens to the rumble of the falling tower, but "after Pyrrhus' pause, / Aroused vengeance sets him new a-work" (2.2.487-488). Then Pyrrhus proceeds to butcher the helpless Priam.
"Vengeance" is revenge, but Pyrrhus doesn't have the same kind of personal motivation that Hamlet has. He is a Greek and King Priam is a Trojan. The Greeks made war upon the Trojans because the Trojan Paris stole beautiful Helen from the Greek Menelaus. The Greeks as a group are taking vengeance for Helen's abduction, so Pyrrhus' revenge is not a personal matter at all. [Scene Summary]
By the time the players come to Elsinore, it's been a while since Hamlet promised the Ghost that he would take revenge. Then the First Player weeps as he tells the story of Queen Hecuba's grief for her murdered husband. This makes Hamlet ask himself (in his second soliloquy) why he hasn't carried out...
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