Hamlet Theme Of Justice And Justice In Hamlet

To do or not to do? That is the difficult question young Hamlet must face after his beloved father’s death. In The Tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the characters are motivated to seek revenge in order to get what they believe is justice. Shakespeare’s main character, Prince Hamlet, is both clouded by his passion for vengeance and his responsibility to revive a sense of justice to Denmark, which evidently creates the ultimate tragedy of the play.
Undoubtedly, the theme of revenge and justice is present throughout the entire play, from the moment young Hamlet is confronted by the ghost of his father to the very end of his life. The passion for revenge is sparked when the Ghost informs Hamlet that his tragic death was not an accident
Laertes is too seeking vengeance for his father who was murdered mistakenly by Hamlet, “Let come what comes, only I’ll be revenged/ Most thoroughly for my father” (4.5.133). Hamlet did not intend to kill Polonius, he believed the one spying on him and his mother was the King and thought it was the moment he will be able to avenge his father’s murder. Now, in comparison to Hamlet, Laertes did not simply talk about avenging his father’s death, he took immediate action, meaning that his words of taking revenge for his father were honest, regardless of who was behind the murder, unlike Hamlet.
With the chaos of Hamlet’s passion for revenge also comes his responsibility to bring justice back into the kingdom of Denmark. Having a ruler who committed incest and murder brings a cloud of corruptness to the kingdom, meaning that Hamlet’s duty to return justice to Denmark begins. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (1.5.90), with such corruptness it is not only felt by Hamlet who knows everything, but also by other characters who don’t even have a clue of the secrets of the king, making Hamlet’s responsibility absolutely necessary for the sake of