Hamlet And Fortinbras example essay topic

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 the murder of his father. His mission, however, is blinded by rage and seems to be without significant purpose. All three sons seek the same goals, but choose different ways of achieving their goals, making each plot for vengeance unique in their own ways. Out of the three men, Hamlet's quest for revenge seems the most legitimate and therefore dramatic. Upon his arrival, Hamlet must cope with the death of his father, the loss of his crown and girlfriend, and the re-marriage of his mother at the same time. Although he has these other things hanging over his head, Hamlet makes it his mission to have retribution for the death of his father.

For the first part of the story, Hamlet is not quite sure if his uncle is truly responsible for the murder of his father, and therefore this time is spent contemplating the possible solutions to the conflict he is faced with. Once he confirms the fact that his uncle is indeed responsible for the death of his father, Hamlet engages in a very elobarate plan to kill his uncle. Hamlet toys with the psychie of his uncle and those in his support, hoping to entwine their minds in too many insignificant intricacies that they overlook the fact that he will strike soon. Hamlet is however, only seeking revenge from one man, and one man only. Fortinbras, on the other hand, is waging war on an entire country. At times, the reader is forced to question the motivations of Fortinbras, and whether he is in actuality seeking retribution for the death of his father, or if he seeks the land he also lost in that tragic battle.

At this same level of thinking, the reader is forced to contemplate the possibility of an alterier motive in Hamlet's plan. It is entirely possible that Hamlet did indeed seek to kill his uncle in order to capture the crown and the kingdom. These two alterier motives bring about one of the play's central themes, and causes the reader to question the possibility of moral retribution in a spiritual ambiguous world. In the end of the play, Hamlet's actions prove to be selfish, because they lead to the demise of the love of his life, his mother, and himself. Of the three, Fortinbras is one with the most to gain.

For Hamel t and Laertes, the retribution they would receive for the death of their fathers would be limited to their own personal satisfaction, yet for Fortinbras, the retribution could lead to his crowning and the takeover of an entire kingdom. As as a result of this, one is forced to question his motives. Fortinbras does not, however, clearly state that his mission's only purpose is to only avenge his father's death. In fact, Fortinbras is the most morally sound of the three, simply because he does not go about seeking the revenge in a deceiving way. Fortinbras, unlike the other two, is straightforward about his mission. The ironic thing is, that in the end, the two who had planned against their adversaries so meticulously and deceivingly ended up dying in their efforts, while Fortinbras, the one who went about his way the most simple, becomes a victor and achieves every one of his goals without any blood on his hands.

When he arrives to Denmark, the blood has already been shed by the others, and the spoils go to him. In fact, he ends up telling his men to carry Hamlet, his adversary, off as a soldier, showing him both honor and respect. This proves that although on the outside Fortinbras may have seemed to be a bit selfish in his actions, he truly was an honorable man, one that was motivated by more than blind rage. Laertes' mission was one that was motivated by pure blind rage. Laertes was very passionate, but blinded by the rage that he had succor to, and this cost him his life.

Unlike the other two, Laertes was very quick to action. He did not hesitate or wait for anything, always keeping in mind the task at hand. The problem with is haste was that it would lead to his own demise, simply because in his haste he chose to trust Claudius, a move that proved to be fatal. Unlike Hamlet and Fortinbras, he does not constitute a plan, he simply comes home and accomplishes his goal. At the end of his life, he realizes his mistake in trusting Claudius and reveals Claudius to Hamlet, in a final attempt to morally justify his actions. Of the three, Laertes proves to be the most passionate about his mission, but also the most bloodthirsty.

Hamlet passed on the opportunity to kill his uncle in prayer because he did not want him to go to heaven, displaying a true hate for the killer of his father, while Laertes merely wants vengeance and the blood of his fathers killer on his hands. Where he goes in the afterlife is of no concern to him. The only thing that matters is that vengeance is his and that he was the one to lay his father's killer to rest. All three of the vigilantes had legitimate reasons to want to kill his adervasary.

Vengeance and retribution were in order for all three, although each came in a very different way. Hamlet finally was able to kill his uncle while he was not in prayer, yet he died in the effort along with his mother and his beloved Ophelia. Laertes lost his own life in the process of avenging his father's death, as a direct result of his haste and blind rage. Fortibras is the only one who survives his quest, due to the simple fact that his mind was the clearest, while the other two were bordering on insanity. Fortinbras thought most clearly and came out of the situation the best of the three. It serves as proof that emotions can intertwine your mind so many times that it does not even work anymore, and you become entrapped in the enigma that is the human psychie.

As Hamlet learned the hard way, emotions can be a very dangerous thing, leading one to think un clearly and make decisions that require much more thought. The only one who chose to think things out and go about his quest for vengeance was the only one who came out alive. He also came out with a kingdom to rule, forcing the reader to again question the possibility of ture moral retribution in a spiritually ambiguous world.