Revenge in Hamlet Revenge is one of the main themes of Hamlet's tragedy. Revenge causes one to act blindly through anger, rather than through reason. It is based on the principle of an eye for an eye, but this principle is not always a smart theory to live by. Young Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet were all trying to avenge the death of their fathers. There were three main families in the tragedy of Hamlet. These were the family of King Fortinbras, the family of Polonius, and the family of King Hamlet. The heads of each of these families are all massacred during the show. Fortinbras, king of Norway, was killed by King Hamlet; killed by the sword during a man-to-man fight. "our brave Hamlet, for so this part of the known world esteemed him, slew this Fortinbras." This entitled King Hamlet to the land that was owned by Fortinbras because it was written in a sealed pact. Polonius was an advisor to the king and father of Laertes and Ophelia. He was nosy and arrogant and didn't trust his children. He was killed by young Hamlet on the eve of a conversation between Hamlet and his mother. "So what? A mouse? Dead, for a ducat, dead!" King Hamlet was the king of Denmark and Hamlet's father. He had killed King Fortinbras, only to be killed by his brother Claudius. "My offense is vulgar, it stinks to high heaven; The murder of a brother" Each of these events had the same effect on the children of the deceased, made them furious. Each of the three eldest children had one thing in common: they all wanted revenge for their slaughtered father. At the time this play is set, avenging a father's murder was part of honor and had to be done. All three sons swore revenge and then took action to avenge their fathers' deaths. Young Fortinbras was deeply enraged by his father's death and wanted revenge against Denmark because of this event. Fortinbras wanted, by force, to regain the lands that had been lost by his father to Denmark. "Now, sir, young Fortinbras presents himself well to our state, but recover from us, with strong hand and compulsive terms, those lands foretold so lost by his father" Claudius sends messengers to speak with Fortinbras' uncle, the new king of Norway. He forbade Fortinbras from attacking Denmark, and instead convinced him to attack the Poles to vent his anger. "His nephew's levies, which appeared to him to be a preparation against the Poles; but upon further examination, he found indeed to be against Your Highness on Fortinbras; which he, in short, obeys, receives rebuke from Norway, and, finally, he vows before his uncle never again to bear witness to Your Majesty. Laertes learned of his father's death and immediately returned home. He confronted the king and accused him of the murder of his father Laertes that Hamlet was responsible for his father's death. He then decides to kill Hamlet to avenge his father's death. He and Claudius hatch a plot to kill Hamlet. Hamlet dies from the wounds caused by the poison-tipped sword used by Laertes. Hamlet, you have been killed. The treacherous instrument is in you, restless and poisoned" Hamlet was deeply saddened by the death of his father. He spoke to a ghost, and this ghost declared that his father's death was murder, at the hands of his uncle Claudius. “The serpent that stung your father's life now wears his crown.” Hamlet was amazed and then swore revenge for his father's death. Then he tried to prove his uncle's guilt, then killed him while he himself was dying from poisoned wounds inflicted by Laertes during their duel "The point is, too.