Both Mine Enemy is Growing Old by Emily Dickinson and Hamlet by William Shakespeare both share very similar themes. Both the poem by Dickinson and the play by Shakespeare deal with revenge. Dickinson writes about how taking revenge is not nearly as satisfying as you picture it to be. Shakespeare deals with the idea that revenge is something that can ultimately destroy you. Both deal with the same theme but approach it in different ways, but ultimately share the same message about revenge and how in the end revenge is never something that is worth acting upon. 

Mine Enemy is Growing Old describes how once someone has acted upon their thoughts of revenge, the satisfaction is not what you envisioned it to be. In the first stanza Dickinson writes “the palate of the hate departs/if any would avenge” (Dickinson 3-4). Here she is saying that after acting upon her thoughts of revenge, your hate dissipates. Once you have taken revenge, you no longer have anger towards them and may not understand why you took revenge against them in the first place. She goes on to write “the viand flits/it is a faded meat” (5-6). Her hunger for revenge is now gone, and it is something that is not enjoyable. Faded meat is bland, tough and overall not an enjoyable experience to eat. If the meat is rotten, then after you eat it your stomach is unsettled and you are uncomfortable. Just like with revenge once you have done the act and you no longer have a hunger for revenge, you are not happy with what you did. Once you succumb to your anger you no longer have an appetite for revenge. If you do not act upon anger, then you will constantly be thinking about the anger you have towards someone and how you can hurt them to make them understand how they wronged you. Mine Enemy is Growing Old takes the stance that taking revenge leaves you empty; revenge only feels good when you are plotting, but once the revenge has been taken you are left hollow. 

Hamlet deals with taking revenge upon Hamlets uncle who has murdered Hamlets father, taken the throne and married Hamlets mother. Hamlet wishes to kill Claudius, his uncle, to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet devises a plan to kill Claudius, and the entire time he has such anger towards his uncle. He contemplates when he should kill him and misses opportunities because of his indecisiveness. At the end of the play, Hamlet’s revenge ends up with Claudius dead, but also Hamlets mother and himself dead as well. Although Hamlet spent the entire play plotting how to kill Claudius, once he finally did he was left with a disastrous aftermath. Revenge cost Hamlet everything, himself included. The throne he was trying to protect and get revenge for ends up in the hands of a country Denmark had waged war with. 

If Dickinson and Shakespeare were to discuss what they thought about revenge, they would both say that revenge at first is an over whelming feeling that people feel the need to act upon. At the first sense of revenge you feel consumed, all you can think about is getting that revenge. When Hamlet finds out that his father has been murdered he is consumed in rage an automatically decides to take revenge upon his uncle. Dickinson would agree that when someone starts to plot their revenge they are consumed by the revenge they feel. It is a hunger that a person feels the need to satisfy. Both Hamlet and Mine Enemy is Growing Old support that at the beginning revenge is all consuming and something that people have a strong urge to act upon. 

Both of these texts deal with the theme of revenge and although they both take the stance that revenge does not lead to good things, Dickinson is more concerned with the fact that revenge leaves you empty while Shakespeare deals with the aftermath of destruction that revenge can lead to. Dickinson says that plotting revenge is the only part that feels good. Shakespeare may not completely agree with the idea that plotting revenge is enjoyable. Hamlet goes through a deep depression and gives the eloquent soliloquy “to be or not to be” (Shakespeare 154) in which Hamlet questions everything about himself and what he is doing. To be or not to be, to live or not to live. Hamlet contemplates suicide. Shakespeare would not agree that plotting is the best part of revenge; he shows that plotting revenge and thinking about taking revenge on someone can literally tear someone apart on the inside. Dickinson does not take that stance and believes that the only good part of revenge is plotting; plotting revenge is the only time you feel happiness throughout the process. 

The similarity of these two texts comes with aftermath of revenge. In Dickinson’s poem, she describes the emptiness one feels once they actually act on the revenge. Shakespeare’s aftermath of revenge addresses that revenge can only end poorly. Hamlet tries to do the right thing by taking revenge on Claudius for killing his father yet even though he plots to take revenge to do the right thing, it still ends disastrously. If Hamlet had not plotted to take revenge, his mother and he himself may still be alive. Dickinson and Shakespeare both agree that after you take revenge you will feel empty and realize that the revenge was not fulfilling. 

Both of these texts support that revenge is an overwhelming feeling. Although they agree that revenge is something that people are deeply consumed by, the differ slightly in the plotting of revenge. Dickinson’s poem described the plotting of revenge is the only happiness someone can get out of the process of taking revenge. Shakespeare describes the torment one feels while plotting revenge. He describes the feeling of is this worth it. Hamlet does not know whether he can take revenge upon his uncle and has severe depression because of it. He even questions if he should stay alive and get revenge. Both of these authors describe he aftermath of revenge as deflating and disastrous. Dickinson says that revenge is a hunger and that once you feed the hunger it’s over and you do not feel satisfaction. Shakespeare describes a catastrophic situation where revenge destroys everything. In either case, both authors agree that revenge in the end is not worth it. 