Justice In Hamlet

In Plato’s Republic, there are many topics discussed throughout, such as morality, education, and what happiness truly is. One of the most important topics Plato touches on is justice and revenge. When provoked by Thrasymachus on the meaning of justice, Socrates states that it is when the logic-driven soul controls both the emotions and the desires/appetites. When each part of the soul is in line and does its job, justice occurs because everything is working as it should. Socrates sees justice as a necessity within a city, and as a good and positive thing to strive for. But, when looking at another piece of literature that deals with justice, Hamlet, a completely different perspective is seen. In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet’s uncle kills his father and
In Act 1 Scene 4 when Old Hamlet (his father) returns in the form of a ghost to tell Hamlet he has been murdered and that Hamlet must avenge him. In Hamlet’s eyes, justice is revenge- no more, no less. His dad cannot be at peace or rest until justice has been achieved through the murder of whoever took out his father. This starts Hamlet’s quest for revenge, er, justice. The act of justice is positive in Hamlet’s eyes because he now sees death as a comma in the case of his father who returned from death, and a period because it marks the end of life for the one who killed him, which ended up being his power-hungry fool of an uncle, Claudius. In Hamlet, things get very evil very fast. A few characters die on accident, one “drowns herself” (or did she?), a few get poisoned, plus one gets stabbed AND poisoned. Obviously, the pursuit of revenge did not end well for Hamlet & Company. This is seen in many different cases as well. By viewing justice and revenge in the same light, Hamlet made it a perverse justification of murder to ease his angst-ridden heart. This is a completely different take on justice that what is shown by Plato in