Hamlet: Vengence

Hamlet is a play about Vengeance and how Vengeance can destroy, well everyone it comes in contact with. It is the driving force of the play. Hamlet wouldn't have taken the actions he did if the specter of his father hadn't demanded Vengeance
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Justice and Vengeance often get confused. the old king of Denmark was murdered and justice should have been served, but justice would have led to  the healing of the community. Vengeance is focused on the payback of one individual who has been wronged. Vengeance destorys the community. Everyone dies at the end of hamlet, all but one are innocent victims; all must be sacrificed on the alter of Vengeance and Vengeance is a Grinch  of a mistress.

Whether the murder of Polonius; the mixed up poisoning of Gertrude; the executions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; or the suicide of Ophelia, each death is connected back to one trapped soul who needs a pound of flesh before it can move on. The selfish specter destroys eight lives, seven of them innocent, and one of them his own son.

This is not to say that the murdered old king Hamlet did not deserve justice, but Hamlet isn't about Justice prevaling over an evil king; it is the story of Vengeance and death.

Tune in next week for Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin.