Comparing the Results of Victor and Hamlet’s Choices

Though the feeling of revenge is meant to motivate a person to retaliate towards someone who did them wrong, it often harms themself in the process. In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley and the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Victor’s devotion to acting on his revenge leads to his death, while Hamlet’s refusal to do so leads to being killed by a man who does take action. This reveals that a person devoted to revenge causes their own death as well as the deaths of people who take too long to act. After Victor creates a monster a spurns it for his appearance, it kills several people close to him, including his brother, best friend and wife. Hamlet meanwhile, discovers via his father’s ghost that his father was murdered by his†¦show more content†¦Like Victor, Hamlet also anticipates an attack from Claudius, though Hamlet shows no desire to fight back. Hamlet knows he should take revenge, but still finds other ways to occupy his time as opposed to taking action. After returning from England, where he was sent by his uncle to be executed, Hamlet reveals to Horatio that Claudius had â€Å"thrown out his angle for [Hamlet’s] life† (5.2.66) and that it would be â€Å"perfect conscience/ to [pay him back] with this [sword]† (5.2.67-68). Hamlet realizes that after trying to kill Hamlet, Claudius deserves to be killed. Despite this, Hamlet talks to gravediggers and Horatio and fences with Laertes as opposed to taking revenge on the king. Even though they are presented with similar opportunities to act on their revenge, Victor chooses to act while Hamlet only finds reasons not to. Victor’s constant decision to act on his revenge leads him to dedicate himself to acting, while Hamlet’s lack of action taken leads him to wait until he is already dying to take his revenge. After the death of his wife and father, Victor vows revenge on the monster and devotes his life to killing it. Considering suicide, he concludes that his â€Å"revenge [keeps himself] alive† (211) and devotes the monster â€Å"to torture and death†¦ until [the monster] or [Victor] perish† (215). By stating that revenge is his only reason to live, Victor further evidences that he needs to kill the monster to restore order in his life.