Justice is Served

Act V of "Hamlet" showed the final death and revenge of the characters. At first, I had no idea that all the people in the play died, but I knew that Hamlet and the king died towards the end of the play. Some great person in my class spoiled the ending for me; therefore, I somewhat knew what was going to happen. My question is were the killings done justly or just out of pure hatred?

I analyzed each of the characters in Act V scene ii and how they died, and then I analyzed their situation they were in before this scene. I began with Laertes. His death was only somewhat just. He lost his father and sister because of Hamlet; therefore, all he wanted was to seek revenge. The king knew of this and used Laertes' anger to his advantage for he too wanted Hamlet killed. Laertes had been a good man until this tragic scene occurred. Someone had to die and it just happened to be him who died first. Then I analyzed the queen's death. The queen committed many faults during the play, but she was always good at heart, or at least that is what William Shakespeare wanted us to think when writing this play. She was gullible and a follower. She loved her son but loved her "new husband" more. "KING CLAUDIUS-Gertrude, do not drink. QUEEN GERTRUDE-I will, my lord; I pray you, pardon me. KING CLAUDIUS-[Aside] It is the poison'd cup: it is too late." (Hamlet act V scene ii) In the end she dies by a poisoned cup, which was originally intended for Hamlet. It was the one and only time she disobeys her husband. The play does not reveal why, nor does it reveal if she knew that the cup was poisoned, but we as readers infer that she did, otherwise she would not have said what she said.

Next I analyzed Hamlet. This was a hard death. It was also only somewhat just. He wanted to take revenge for his father. He wanted nothing else but to kill the king for killing his father, taking control of the kingdom, and marrying his mother. He hated every bone in the king's body and he made several attempts previously to take away the kings life. Hamlet ended up killing the king by making him drink from his own poisoned cup, but he is also killed by a venom, which was lathered on the sword so that once it penetrated his skin it would kill him. Hamlet was also good at heart. He wanted the best for everyone around him, but he went mad. He killed other innocent people which became the cause of other deaths. Many would say that he did deserve to die, but I still cannot make up my mind. Lastly, I analyzed the king. I didn't have to go back into the play to know that his death was as just as could be. He was a terrible person, full of greed and hate. He killed his brother, married his sister-in-law, and almost killed his nephew. He made many attempts to kill Hamlet. He even involved other people so that he wouldn't have to do the "dirty work" himself.

The ending of the book fit perfectly. Everyone got the ending they deserved. Although I hate tragedies, this was a book that I could reread in the future. (believe me that is saying alot!) I'm glad to be done with this book as a class assignment, and I'm soooooooo excited to be starting Pride and Prejudice next week!