Hate and revenge are an ongoing theme in the play Hamlet. All of the main characters show some type of hate in the play. Hamlet's hate for Claudius is the main focus during the entire play. There are lots of other characters that hate each other in the play, like Laertes hate for Hamlet at the end and the hate shared between Claudius and Hamlet. The main cause that triggered all of this hate and the wanting of revenge came when the ghost of the dead king tolled Hamlet about his murderer. Once Hamlet discovers that Claudius is the one responsible for the death of his father, thoughts of revenge and feelings of hate overwhelm his mind. From then on the only care that he has is to avenge his father's death. This then triggers a chain reaction of lies, betrayal, and deceit. .
The thought of revenge on Claudius drives Hamlet crazy. He pushes people around him away and becomes a loner. Claudius notices the change in Hamlets behavior and immediately becomes suspicious of him. Claudius is then forced to become sneaky to try to uncover what it is that is making him act so weird. Claudius then goes around manipulating people around him to gain information and also to keep the truth hidden from Hamlet. He uses Polonius as a puppet to find out things about Hamlet. He tells Polonious comforting things such as, "thou still hast been the father of good news," (97) to give him a sense of companionship so that he will continue to talk of Hamlet's madness. He lies to Polonius to make him think that he is important so that he will do what he tells him to. Claudius calls Polonius, "a man faithful and honorable" giving Polonius a false feeling of acceptance. He also turns Hamlet's friends against him. He asks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to try to find out if Hamlet knows about what he did to his father. By going and talking to Hamlet for Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are betraying their friendship with Hamlet.