‘Hamlet is preoccupied with the ethics of revenge.’ Discuss

As an integral component of Hamlet, revenge provides the impetus for much of the play’s action and the foundation for the play’s philosophical debate. Yet to argue that the ethics of revenge are the play’s preoccupation is to dismiss the myriad of philosophical and psychological questions posed by Hamlet and those that surround him. Hamlet, like all tragedies, is a play of opposites. Contrasting the ideal of an ordered life with the complexities of life tainted by human weaknesses, it presents what is best and worst in humanity. Life and death, love and sexuality, salvation and damnation, justice and revenge, reality and performance: each theme is considered and contrasted during the course of Hamlet, creating a fascinating and disturbing account of the nature of humanity. This essay attempts to identify how the mechanisms of revenge influence the overall theme of life that preoccupies Hamlet the character and permeates Hamlet the play.

“The most tolerable sort of reven...