Shakespeare s Hamlet The Fall Of Man And The First Murder

Shakespeare’s Hamlet alludes to two of the most prominent stories in Genesis: the fall of man and the first murder. The allusions to Cain and Abel sit on the surface of the play, and are backlit by the presence of subtler allusions from the story of the fall of man, such as the serpent and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This imbedded breadcrumb trail of archetypal allusions simultaneously supports and deconstructs the revenge plot of Hamlet. Although these allusions function separately from one another within the play, they also work together in a subversive manner, thereby undermining the dichotomy of good and evil – a destabilization that perpetuates the cycle of murder and revenge. The three most exterior allusions to Cain and†¦show more content†¦Both Hamlet and Claudius regard the story of Cain and Abel as an omen of uncontrollable destiny – a temptation that lives within the human condition. The play tries to reason this fated exposure to temptation by reasoning Claudius’s murder as ‘evil’ and Hamlet’s quest for revenge as ‘good’ in order to situate murder and revenge as two opposites on a spectrum; however both murder and revenge are revealed to be poisonous at the core. This idea of poison carries the play full circle, and creates a domino effect of death that mirrors God’s warning of, â€Å" ‘ [†¦] anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over’ † (NIV, Gen. 4.13-16). The curse of Cain therefore proves that death – be it by murder or revenge – welcomes the same outcome. With this logic, murder and revenge become synonymous. Moreover, this similarity is supported by the fact that both the murderer and the avenger fulfill their quest for death with the same weapon: poison. Murder and revenge are no longer counterparts because they rely on the same apparatus to inflict dea th. Poison functions as a symbol to demarcate the two not as opposite acts, but as equal ones. Hamlet’s quest for revenge would not be set in motion without the knowledge of his father’s murder; such knowledge is poisonous because itShow MoreRelatedThe Death Of Hamlet By William Shakespeare1427 Words   |  6 Pagesa ghost, Denmark is on the verge of damage. Directly following King Hamlet s death, the widowed Queen, Gertrude, remarried Claudius, the King s brother. Prince Hamlet optically discerns the joining together of his mother and uncle as a hasty and incestuous act (Charles Boyce, 232). He then ascertains that Claudius is responsible for his father s perfidious murder. His father s ghost asks Hamlet to avenge his death and Hamlet concurs. 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