# data[].attributes.body
SparkNotes editors. “No Fear Hamlet.” SparkNotes.com, SparkNotes LLC, 2005, www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/hamlet/.

# data[].attributes.headline
What is the Overraching Theme in Hamlet?

# data[].attributes.subject
What is the Overraching Theme in Hamlet?

# data[].attributes.body
In my opinion, the theme of revenge is the biggest theme in the play. It is the primary driving force, and the whole play revolves around Hamlet's plan to take revenge on Claudius.

# data[].attributes.body
King Claudius is a power-hungry, intelligent man, with an aspiration to get rid of his nephew after finding out that Hamlet knows that Claudius murdered the rightful king to marry Gertrude and take the throne.

After the wedding in act 1, Claudius tells Hamlet that he must stop mourning his father. “We pray you, throw to earth/ This unprevailing woe, and think of us/ As of a father.” (1.2.106). Claudius starts as somewhat of a redeemable character. He seems to show actual concern towards Hamlet, and tries to help him by telling him to remain in Denmark. At this point in the play, nobody knows exactly how King Hamlet died, so they still see Claudius as a great person. When Hamlet starts suspecting Claudius of his father’s murder, he begins to show his true nature and becomes more aggressive.

After the reenactment of the murder, Claudius is seen repenting his crimes. “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Word without thoughts never to heaven go.” (3.3.98). Here, we can see that Claudius does have a bit of sense in him, praying for forgiveness and making the audience think of him as a regretful man. However, Claudius himself does not believe to be worthy of forgiveness.

Through all the sins he’s committed, Claudius knows that his end is near. He says “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” (4.5.76). He tells Gertrude that “like to a murdering place, in many places gives me superfluous death”. (4.5.95). This quote reveals Claudius’ feeling of guilt and fear of death. This fear is what drives him to plot against Hamlet and have him dead.

When Hamlet fights Laertes and gets a hit, Gertrude drinks the poisoned cup. Claudius yells at his wife to not drink, but forgets to mention that the cup is poisoned. “Gertrude, do not drink!” (5.2.286). This quote shows that Claudius is so focused on his plan that he does not want to risk ruining it by telling Gertrude why not to drink the cup with the pearl in it. His greed and selfishness gets Gertrude killed, and Laertes exposes Claudius’ plans after he gets stabbed.

To conclude, Claudius seems like a competent ruler, but his selfishness and carelessness towards other people get the best of him, and he is forced to pay with his life.

# data[].attributes.body
Hamlet is a disturbed character right from the beginning of the play.

At the wedding of Claudius and Gertrude, Hamlet considers himself unworthy of living, and hopes that suicide is a forgivable sin. “O, that this too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.” (1.2.129). Here, Hamlet is very upset at the fact that his mother remarried so quickly and without proper grieving. This is the first sign of his mental state, which gets progressively worse as the play goes on.

He is told that Claudius killed his father by the ghost shortly after this in act 1. Hamlet feels the sudden urge to take revenge and kill Claudius on his own. This is shown by the quote “haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift/ as meditation or the thoughts of love/ may sweep to my revenge.” (1.5.29-31). He then decides to act like a madman, saying “ How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself/ (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on)”.(1.5.171-173). Hamlet’s behaviour makes the audience question whether his state of madness is real at this point.

His suicidal thoughts worsen when he becomes full of self-doubt in his second soliloquy. As well as calling himself a coward, Hamlet shows the audience that he is a very indecisive person. He is unsure of what is true, and seeks proof before committing murder. “The spirit I have seen May be the devil. And the devil hath power T’assume a pleasing shape.Yea, and perhaps out of my weakness and me melancholy, as he is very potent with such spirits, abuses me to damn me.” (2.2.579-581). Because he’s so emotionally distraught, he’s questioning whether or not he actually saw the ghost, and whether or not the encounter with it actually happened. At this time, Hamlet knows he is depressed, and his sanity is questionable.

Hamlet’s third soliloquy is again a question of suicide and existence, starting with “To be or not to be? That is the question” (3.2.57). Hamlet questions life, and his uncertainty shows in a more serious manner. He decides that he wants to live because the afterlife might be even scarier.

Hamlet’s hesitation gets in the way again when he doesn’t kill Claudius and instead chooses to wait. “To take him in the purging of his soul when he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No. up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent.” (3.2.86-89). Hamlet is uncertain and doubtful once again, blowing a very easy opportunity to avenge his father. He hates himself for being indecisive, and in an attempt to be more proactive, kills Polonius. This causes Ophelia to lose her mind, and eventually commit suicide. Hamlet descends further into misery and depression after her funeral, and eventually takes his own life even after being fatally stabbed.

# data[].attributes.body
“The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing.” (4.2.25). Hamlet reveals to his friends that he has killed Polonius, and they send him right to Claudius.  After they have a talk about Polonius’ death, the king orders Hamlet to be sent to England right away due to the jokes he makes about the killing. Ophelia has gone insane because of her father’s death, and tells everyone that her brother is coming in to avenge them. Laertes arrives in Denmark and is told that the murder was not committed by Claudius, and so the two men make their plans to kill Hamlet. Shortly after, Ophelia commits suicide by drowning herself in a lake, and Laertes is even more mad. Following the funeral, the plans for Hamlet’s death have been made; he will die in a fencing match, with Laertes’ sword being poison-tipped. As a backup, Claudius will offer Hamlet a poisoned drink. As the two fight, Hamlet refuses the drink, but Gertrude takes it and dies. Hamlet then grabs Laertes and stabs him with his own sword, and Laertes begs for mercy before his death by unveiling the plan to kill Hamlet, and Claudius serving as the leader. Claudius is stabbed by the same sword right after, and he is now dead as well. Hamlet, in shock of what just happened, decides to drink the poison and die, but not before asking Horacio to tell his story to the next king. The play ends with Fortinbras seeing all the dead bodies, and saying “Let four captains bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage. For he was likely. Had he been put on, to have proved most royally.” (5.2.400). Hamlet has died a hero’s death, and all else is tragedy. The falling action is the fight between Hamlet and Laertes, because it resolves several problems at once. Claudius has been wanting to kill Hamlet for a long time, and this is his chance. Obviously things don’t go his way and he ends up dead along with everyone else. The end of the play is Fortinbras proclaiming Hamlet a hero, as he wants the king and the people to know exactly what happened on this day.

# data[].attributes.body
The theme of revenge is resolved in this act, because in a way everyone gets their revenge on each other. At the beginning of act 4, Laertes is determined to avenge his father and sister.  "I am satisfied in nature, / Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most / To my revenge: but in my terms of honour / I stand aloof". (5.2.232-234). In the end, the obsession with revenge has everyone dead. Hamlet kills Claudius. Laertes kills Hamlet, getting his revenge as Hamlet’s death avenges Polonius and Ophelia. Here, the theme of revenge shows that one person’s obsession causes suffering for everyone, including the innocent.

# data[].attributes.body
Hamlet officially breaks up with Opheila, telling her he never loved her and sending her to a nunnery. Claudius and Polonius spy on them, and realize that Hamlet is mad for a different reason. He is ordered to be sent away to England to get out his mental state. After this encounter, Hamlet once again questions life, and if he is worthy of living. “To be or not to be, that is the question!” (3.1.56).  During the play, Claudius gets up when the scene of the murder is played, proving to Hamlet that he did indeed kill his father. Shortly after, Hamlet finds Claudius in his room praying, which makes him very vulnerable. As Hamlet pulls out his sword for the kill, he realizes that praying for forgiveness will send Claudius to heaven, and not hell.  Gertrude and Hamlet discuss his madness, while Polonius hides behind a curtain and listens. When Hamlet hears a sound from the curtain, and kills Polonius thinking that it is Claudius spying on them. This act is the climax of the play because it proves Hamlet’s indecisiveness and mental instability, while the main conflict remains unresolved. As he misses the opportunity to kill Claudius, Polonius then suffers Hamlet’s rage and pays the price with his life.

# data[].attributes.body
Revenge in this act is the center point of all of Hamlet’s actions. He doesn’t kill Claudius when he has the chance because sending him to heaven is not vengeful enough. “Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; / And now I'll do't. And so he goes to heaven; / And so am I revenged" (3.3.73-75). Yet his determination for revenge leads him to murdering innocent Polonius, and leading Ophelia into insanity and Laertes to vengeance.

# data[].attributes.body
In this short act, Hamlet enters Ophelia’s room and starts grabbing her viciously. They have broken up for good. Polonius, suspicious of Hamlet, thinks that he has gone crazy because of his love for Ophelia, and warns Claudius of this. Meanwhile, Hamlet asks a group of arriving actors to change their performing play to one that reenacts King Hamlet’s death, as part of a plan to expose Claudius to the public. “O, what an ass am I! This is most brave, that I, the son of a dear father murdered, prompted to revenge by heaven and hell, must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words and fall a cursing like a very drab, a scullion!” (2.2.560-565). Hamlet sees himself as a coward for not killing the king right away, and he voices this in a soliloquy talking about his mental state and anger. He will use the new lines in the play to catch Claudius' incriminating reaction, and hopefully make him admit to his crimes. This serves as the rising action in the play as Hamlet is now completely ready to commit the crime, but is taking precautions and extra steps to shame Claudius before he is killed.

# data[].attributes.body
The theme of revenge is present in this act as well. Hamlet starts his preparations for his revenge in act 2, and uses Ophelia as a way to make Polonius and Claudius suspect him less by changing his behaviour. The actors are hired to provide proof to justify Hamlet’s revenge. “The play’s the thing /Wherein i'll catch the conscience of the king.” (2.2.584). Hamlet is hoping that Claudius’ reaction to the play will reveal his guilt, proving that he should be killed.

# data[].attributes.body
The play begins with the fact that the king is dead, and his brother Claudius has taken the throne. The guards have seen a ghost several times, and they bring in Horatio to try and speak to it. The king’s wife, Gertrude, remarries and is now wife to King Claudius. The day after the wedding, after a brief statement from his friend Horatio, Hamlet goes to see the ghost and learns that Cladius was the one that murdered his father. Hamlet starts to make a plan to avenge him and kill his uncle. Afterwards, Hamlet makes Horatio and the guards swear by his sword that they did not see anything and will not tell anyone. Marcellus and Horatio reflect on what is happening in the country, and Marcellus says “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” (1.4.94). They understand that Claudius gained power in a very odd way, and the society is now corrupt. This quote also foreshadows what’s to come in the next acts. The inciting incident in this act is when Hamlet goes and sees the ghost. This is because prior to this moment, the audience and the characters did not know how the king died. Hamlet is eager to avenge his father right when he hears what happened, as shown by this quote, “haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift/ as meditation or the thoughts of love/ may sweep to my revenge.” (1.5. 29-31). This act supports the plot structure of the play because the whole play is driven by Hamlet’s desire to take revenge and kill the king.

# data[].attributes.body
The theme of revenge begins here. After having the conversation with the ghost, Hamlet is determined to take revenge on the king, and starts formulating a plan as the play goes on. This is shown by the quotes “Revenge his most foul and unnatural murder.” (1.5.25). and “haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift/ as meditation or the thoughts of love/ may sweep to my revenge.” (1.5. 29-31). This idea of revenge is what drives Hamlet’s actions from this first encounter, proving that it is a major theme in the play.