anyone wanna read my hamlet timed essay I wrote in an hour for 10% of my English grade (it contains many inaccuracies because I had not looked at the source material for like 2 months and didn’t have access to it during the essay) (formatting was lost sry)
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the title character experiences injustice in many forms. Most pertinent is the unjust killing of his father, King Hamlet. This killing is done by the King’s brother, Claudius, to seize the throne of the kingdom of Denmark. Hamlet learns of this injustice when the ghost of his father appears to him and tells him to seek revenge. This demand is heavily influential to how Hamlet understands the meaning of justice. Throughout the play, Hamlet sees many opportunities where he could have killed Claudius and exacted revenge, but he decides not to follow through for any number of reasons. Eventually, after his own death has been sealed and so he therefore has nothing left to lose, Hamlet kills Claudius and then dies himself. In Hamlet, Shakespeare utilizes the motif of missed revenge and the plot device of a final justice to illustrate a title character who believes that justice is defined by revenge to such a severe level that it prevents him from exacting it at better times.
Throughout the play, Hamlet had many opportunities to avenge his father by killing King Claudius. One such event was when Claudius was praying, with his back turned to Hamlet. Notably, Hamlet heavily considers killing him, but changes his mind when he realizes that if Claudius was praying, he would then go to heaven. This is unacceptable to Hamlet, as he wants the worst fate possible for his father’s murderer. Hamlet’s lack of observance of the situation leads to a much worse fate, however. If he had listened closer to what Claudius was saying, he would have realized that Claudius himself did not believe his words were reaching the heavens, and therefore could not be considered to be praying. Therefore, if he had been killed at that moment, it is implied that Claudius would have gone to hell, which was Hamlet’s desired fate for him. Because of Hamlet’s lack of inspection of the situation, he does not realize this, and therefore waits to kill Claudius. Hamlet’s desire for the worst possible fate for the man against which he is taking revenge drives him to wait until a moment where it puts his own life in the balance, as well. Since Claudius did, in fact, die, Hamlet’s revenge can be observed as successful with a strict definition. However, this is to be debated. Since Hamlet died in the process, he left a stranger instead of himself to seize Denmark’s throne. This would make his revenge partially but not fully successful. This defines a character who understands justice as only revenge, and whose search for that revenge leads him to his own demise, as well. This is considerable to the work as a whole in the sense that Hamlet’s continuous drive for revenge keeps the plot going. Realistically, the story could have ended within the first act if Hamlet had killed Claudius at the first opportunity, but his search for the absolute worst fate ends up driving the plot.
In Hamlet, the title character achieves justice in the way he defines it to himself, but at a great cost to himself. Prior to Hamlet and Laertes’ final battle, Laertes and Claudius had conspired to kill Hamlet, as he was considered to be too big of a threat to Claudius. They do this by poisoning a glass of wine intended for Hamlet, and the tip of the sword that Laertes is using to fence with him. It is implied throughout the final battle that Hamlet was aware of this conspiracy, as he refuses to drink the wine and fights especially hard to not get grazed by Laertes’ sword. Eventually, his fatigue gets the better of him, and he falls victim to the sword’s poison. Resultingly, Hamlet and Laertes’ battle turns real, and in the scuffle, they swap swords. Hamlet hits Laertes with his sword, therefore sealing his fate as well. This can be seen as an instance of final justice for the both of them, as Hamlet and Laertes had been in an ongoing conflict, caused by both of their feelings for Ophelia, who was Hamlet’s lover and Laertes’ younger sister. Previously in the play, Ophelia had drowned in a river, which was widely believed to be caused by Hamlet driving her mad. Laertes was furious at Hamlet for this reason, and at Ophelia’s funeral, they fought. Their conflict had remained unresolved even when their final fencing battle began. This conflict was very influential for both of them, but notably for Laertes. His remaining anger towards Hamlet drove him to make a deal with Claudius to make sure of Hamlet’s demise and therefore attain justice for his sister. Meanwhile, Hamlet was furious at Laertes for blocking him from Ophelia. In this way, both of their demises can be seen as a justice for the one who killed them. In the final battle in which these two men are killed, the other instrument of murder, the poisoned wine, never reaches its intended victim. Instead, against Claudius’ wishes, Gertrude drinks the wine and therefore seals her own fate. Claudius had not intended this, and so therefore, the moment of Gertrude’s demise is when Claudius realizes his own wrongdoings. It is too late for Claudius to be forgiven at this point, however. Now having learned of his sealed fate, Hamlet charges towards Claudius, fully intending to kill him with the still-poisoned sword. He is successful in this endeavour, and Claudius dies. Hamlet himself dies shortly after this, partially due to the poison taking effect and partially due to the fact that he has finally completed his mission, and attained justice for the death of his father. There are many final revenges in Hamlet, and they all lead to an attained sense of justice and peace for the exacter. Justice is defined as being revenge, and making sure that the victim perishes and cannot do anything worthy of revenge to anyone else after. In this sense, all the revenges are successful, as the entire royal family of Denmark was wiped out during that battle and the events preceding it.
Ultimately, Hamlet is a play where justice is defined as revenge, and is attained at a great cost to the one who exacts it. In this context, it can therefore be considered as partially successful during every instance. Justice and the search for it are prevalent throughout almost the entirety of the play. After King Hamlet’s ghost’s initial demand of his son to seek justice for him against Claudius, that is his sole mission. Many missed opportunities and distractions along the way and Hamlet’s need to be absolutely sure that Claudius was the perpetrator slow down the plot, but in the end, justice is attained in the way Hamlet defines it, against the most relevant people who had seemingly wronged him.