Abstract
Hamlet is well-known for being one of the most popular plays by Shakespeare (1564-1616), the famous English playwright and moreover his only revenge play. To understand plainly his work, we must focus on some dimension such as the main themes he underlines in the play. It is easy to notice that Shakespeare has an original way to deal with revenge in his tragedy and especially with all the behaviours that seeking for revenge implies. These behaviours and especially intensity and inertia are the concept on which we will focus our study. To be able to comprehend the whole terms of intensity and inertia, we have to define them. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, intensity is "The quality of being intense; a strained or very high degree (of a quality, condition, or action, or of the characteristic quality of something); extreme force, strength, depth, brightness, etc.", in other words, a kind of peak that can be reached, or "High-strung quality of personal feeling or emotion; strenuous energy of action." which is linked to something really powerful that a human being can experience.
According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, inertia is the "lack of movement or activity especially when movement or activity is wanted or needed", in other words, a kind of incapacity, or "a feeling of not having the energy or desire that is needed to move, change, etc.." which is related this time to the lack of resources to act. It can also be for the Oxford English Dictionary "Inactivity; disinclination to act or exert oneself; inertness, sloth, apathy." which is linked to the willpower not to act in a way or another. Thus, these two terms include very different meaning which seem hard to link to each other. But it seems that in Shakespeare's play they are closely related to each other all along the story throughout the writing of Shakespeare; these motives being broached by character's behaviours, the story's plot or the way characters use the language, the words, the meaning to be understood.
