Hamlet

When an event occurred and more than one individual witnesses it, those people that witness the event can tell what happen in more than one way. This is because everyone has a different perception at what occurred. This is also true in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

A character that viewed the end of Hamlet as bloody carnage is Horatio. When Fortinbras and the Ambassadors enter and see the dead bodies Horatio tells them about the bloody and unnatural acts of slaughter that happened (V.ii.350-354). Laertes on the other hand sees the end of Hamlet as poetic justice. It is poetic justice because the poison that was meant to kill Hamlet killed Claudius (V.ii.398). The confusion is with Hamlet because he sees the end as both bloody carnage and poetic justice. It was bloody carnage to Hamlet because Gertrude died by drinking the poison that was meant for him (V.ii.280-281) and Polonius died because Hamlet thought that it was Claudius who was spying on him ( III.iv.25). These two characters who have questionable characters but they should not have died. To Hamlet it is also poetic justice because he finally gets to avenge his father's death by killing Claudius.

Laertes, Horatio, and Hamlet had a different perception of the ending of Hamlet. One saw it as a bloody carnage, another as poetic justice, and in this case it is both bloody carnage and poetic justice. Their different perception of the end of Hamlet made the play interesting.