The three vigilanties

Hamlet is quite possibly the most analyzed and scrutinized character in literature to date. Through his victories and failures, Shakespeare successfully portrayed the image of a man lost in a world dominated by emotions that spin dangerously out of control at times. Shakespeare’s play has proven one of the most significant questions pressing humans: is moral retribution possible in a spiritually ambiguous world? Hamlet is driven by the vengeance or his father’s most unautural murder throughout the play. Like Hamlet, Fortinbras is driven by the same source, revenge and retribution for the death of his father. Both of these men wage war on their adversaries, but these two wars differ dramatically in nature. Hamlet’s warfare is a psychological one waged on his uncle, the king. Fortibras’ warfare is that of physical war, brought not only upon the person responsible for the demise of his father, but upon the entire country. Like the two aforementioned, Laertes seeks vengeance for th...