Revenge

Question 1

When us the theme of revenge first introduced in the play, using a quote to support

Answer 1

• young Fortinbras wants revenge on Denmark as only king hamlet killed his father
  “Young Fortinbras, of unimproved mettle hot and full”

Question 2

How does hamlet subvert traditional Elizabethan revenge tragedies

Answer 2

• removed typical physical obstacles preventing revenge, thought + moral questioning prevent his revenge

Question 3

Explain why hamlet struggles with religious consequences when enacting revenge + how he is prevented from revenge during (3,3)

Answer 3

• acording to Christian doctrine revenge is a sin that leads to eternal damnation
  > hamlet prevents killing polonius while he’s killing so polonius doesn’t go to heaven

Question 4

The ghosts instructions for revenge to hamlet (1,5)

Answer 4

“Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder”
- regicide, fratricide,

Question 5

What quote shows hamlets Renaissance thinking show n his response to his fathers wish for revenge

Answer 5

“I with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love,/ May sweep to my revenge”
- angelic, ethereal imagery
- unsuited to the role of a traditional revenge hero

Question 6

Finish the quote from the end of 3,2 where hamlet reaches a turning point after hamlet is sure of Claudius’s guilt: “Hell itself breathes out contagion to the world. …

Answer 6

… Now I can drink hot blood” > metaphor as he seeks revenge
> “contagion” = disease imagery, rotten motif as hamlet adopts bloodthirsty Machiavellian tone he is fallen victim as there is a shift in morality

Question 7

4,4 last soliloquy: “spur my dull revenge” > “my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth”

Answer 7

• seeing Fortinbras army incoming army shifts hamlets perspective >
• turning point marking the end of his renaissance thinking, becomes determined and turns to action as he views his past inaction and constant thinking as failure & letting down his fathers honour
• structural end to his thinking as his last soliloquy

Question 8

What does Claudius say “revenge should have …” in 4,7

Answer 8

“Revenge should have no bounds”

Question 9

How does Laertes plan to kill hamlet in revenge with the help of Claudius in 4,7 and what significance does this have

Answer 9

“An unction” = poison
- ironic as this is the way the play began, the death of a royal using poison > creates the potential for a cyclical structure > revenge as a constant cycle, one it is enacted it has the potential to constantly continue
- poison seen as a feminine and cowardly > this is juxtaposed by Laertes immediate seek for revenge in contrast to hamlet portraying ambition > ambition and violence as a mask in Machiavellian men