A reaction to news like that could consist of almost anything. Although in Prince Hamlet’s case, he learns of his father’s murder from his father himself, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder, Murder? Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural” (I,V, 30-33). Hamlet is told to avenge the murder of his father by the ghost of King Hamlet. Although he simply plans to put on an anti-disposition and eventually kill whom he believes to be the murderer of his father, Claudius.
If that [has] not avenged me, I can do no more!" (Hawthorne 122). Chillingworth is obsessed with taking personal revenge on Dimmesdale, but lets the community revenge itself on Hester. Puritan society persuades Chillingworth into evil, making him do anything to punish the couple who have sinned. Nonetheless, the revenge takes over Chillingworth’s life describing, "…That old man's revenge [is] blacker than my sin.
An example from Oedipus occurs in scene four, when he comes to the realization that he had murdered his own father, and married then his mother. Recognition -- when combined with reversal of the situation -- is said to trigger the emotions of pity and fear (Aristotle 199) this combination is what makes a suitable plot for a legitimate tragedy. A good tragedy must also include character in order to express the purpose of an individual. A good character must be true to life (Aristotle 201). Oedipus is a character that displays trueness to life, for the fact that he is a good person, but he is not perfect.
In Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus Aaron the Moor doesn’t really have a real motive (unlike Tamora or Titus) to seek revenge for something. “Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.” "Aaron the Moor" is Tamora's secret lover and the diabolical mastermind behind the plan to destroy the Andronicus family. It’s pretty clear that Aaron seeks "vengeance" for something, the question, however, is this: What is it, exactly, that Aaron seeks revenge for? Does he have any real or justifiable motives? Because he wants to help his lover, Tamora, get revenge against Titus?
Hamlet first learns from the ghost of his father that his death was actually a murder . Even though he swears to avenge his father, indecision overcomes Hamlet and he has to test the king’s sincerity. When the king’s true ambition is revealed to Hamlet, he affirms his choice to take violent action against the king. However, Hamlet would only kill the king once he caught him in the act of doing something villainous. At the end of the play, Hamlet learns that the king was to blame for poisoning the blade.
Giles Fraser explains in his article that when Jo Berry wanted to seek revenge on Patrick Magee, the man who killed her father but reminds us that revenge is inflicting pain on others but only hurt ourselves. In King Lear Shakespeare makes it clear that Edmund is a Bastard, not just because the way he is born but the way he acts throughout the play. The audience understands the feeling you will get if you went to a party and your dad said “Oh, here is my son his mother is a harlot, but we had fun together so here he is” who would not be mad. Also with the bastard name that follows him, Edmund does retaliate with schemes states “Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law, my service are bound. Wherefore should I, Stand in the plague of custom and permit, the curiosity of nations to deprive me,” (Shakespeare 1.2.1-4) so Edmund punish his father for the lack of respect he has gotten over the years.
Everyone became more cautious and many had lost the trust of foreign societies, even society itself. This concept is modeled by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where immense adversity shapes the character of young Hamlet in his search for vengeance in his father’s name. In the play, Hamlet is first confronted with adversity when a ghost explains that his father was murdered by his uncle. This situation shifts his identity and forces the already mourning Hamlet into a deep depression where he is hell bent on revenge. At the start of the play, Shakespeare introduces Claudius as a wise and confidant ruler with no apparent flaw.
The murder was driven by lust for the queen and also a desire for power, two factors which remain with the king until the final moments in the play. “Mine crown, mine own ambition and my queen. Can one be pardon’d and retain the offence?” Claudius’ deceiving nature is central to the plot of the play, and is the catalyst for the betrayal of many other characters, such as Polonius, Hamlet and Laertes. Hamlet himself is not immune to corruption, and he himself deceives those around him in his actions and in his words. Following the revelation from the Ghost, Hamlet assumes an “antic disposition”, in order to distract those surrounding him from his suspicious behaviour.
Hamlet believes the his uncle Claudius who is now the King of Denmark, murdered his father taking both the throne and his mother. This Idea comes to Hamlet when he speaks to a ghost that has been wandering the castle late at night. When Hamlet sees the ghost it beckons him to follow it so they may speak privately. The ghost claims to be the spirit of Hamlet's dead father: “ I am thy father spirit.” ( I.V.10-20). The ghost tells Hamlet that he was killed by Hamlets uncle: “Ay, that incestous, that aldulterate beast, with witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts.” (I.V.43-80).
Hamlet faced himself with a painful loss and feels the betrayal towards his mother due to the reason that she married the murderer of her husband. Hamlets emotions start to change drastically due to the indecision of how to proceed his situation. Should he go towards revenge and fallow his duty as son or fallow his duties and expectations as Prince. Hamlet finds a way in which he could fallow his duty as son by killing Claudius in a manner in which he would not find fault in. Hamlet gathers evidence against Claudius and then has the right to comply with his revenge towards Claudius but also stays as Prince to fallow his responsibility.