Name: _______
Teacher: _________
Class: _______
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Year 8 English Assessment for Learning
Critical Essay
The human experience is a complex idea that revolves around the concept of an individual’s
personal experiences in life. It is through the receiving of unique encounters, humans become
more aware of themselves and their shared human experiences. In this essay, the play
‘Hamlet’ written by William Shakespeare will be broken down to see how the play is able to
portray the aspects of revenge, corruption and lastly, love. These themes are important
because all humans can relate to these factors on a personal level.
Revenge is a common human experience that many humans undergo during a certain
experience. It is the action of inflicting retribution on another. As shown in the play, Hamlet
is blinded by his rage and sorrow that he goes on to kill Claudius as a means to have his
father’s wrongful death atoned for. Hamlet’s hatred for Claudius is so deep that he constantly
seeks for the perfect time to murderer Claudius that he delays the act so often. In the end of
Act 3 Scene 3 where Hamlet finds Claudius kneeling to pray, in his soliloquy he says, “Why
this is hire and salary, not revenge”. Hamlet believes that killing Claudius during prayer is not
enough because he will not suffer and if he does this, this will mean Hamlet will fail in
avenging his father’s death. The audience can witness a son who is driven by anger to
commit a terrible deed for revenge.
Corruption is considered to be dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power. In the play,
Claudius is a corrupt politician whose main weapon was his ability to manipulate others
through his skillful use of language. Claudius’s monologue in Act 1, Scene 3 is an example of
his suave use of words in front of the court to mask his nefarious intentions. “Yet so far hath
discretion fought with nature that we with wisest sorrow think on him together with
remembrance of ourselves”. Throughout this monologue Claudius states that though it is
