Though the feeling of revenge is meant to motivate a person to retaliate towards someone who did them wrong, it often harms themself in the process. In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley and the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Victor’s devotion to acting on his revenge leads to his death, while Hamlet’s refusal to do so leads to being killed by a man who does take action. This reveals that a person devoted to revenge causes their own death as well as the deaths of people who take too long to act. After Victor creates a monster a spurns it for his appearance, it kills several people close to him, including his brother, best friend and wife. Hamlet meanwhile, discovers via his father’s ghost that his father was murdered by his uncle, now king Claudius. Both promise that they will get revenge. Despite this, Hamlet constantly delays his revenge, while Victor often chooses to act on his feelings. Eventually, Hamlet acts on his revenge when he realizes he is dying nonetheless, contrasting with Victor, who dedicates his life to fulfilling his revenge after his wife’s death. Because of his late action, Hamlet is killed by his uncle, who takes action before he does, unlike Victor who eventually wears out and dies because of his own long quest for revenge. Hamlet and Victor’s fates are first determined by their decisions as to whether or not to act on their feelings of revenge. After agreeing to create a mate for his monster, Victor takes his first action of revenge on the monster when he decides to destroy the new creation, seeing its dangerous potential after the first monster’s murders. While in his laboratory putting the finishing touches on his second monster, Victor recalls that the first creation’s “unparalleled barbarity [has] desolated [Victor’s] heart and filled it forever with the bitterest remorse” and that the new monster may “delight, for its own sake,