In the book Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, each of the characters is consumed by two kinds of poison; a physical and spiritual one. In the physical sense, at the end of the play, each character dies either by reason or accident. Laertes died by accident when he and Hamlet switch swords, however he realizes this when he says, "I am killed with mine own treachery" (V:ii, 286). All these characters have ideas in mind that backfire on them, and in the case of Laertes it was his obsession for the revenge of his father's death that lead him to his death. Another character who died and not by her own fault, was Gertrude when she drank the poisoned wine meant for Hamlet [V:ii]. She was indirectly tricked by Claudius and it really plays out on the fact that Hamlet never took physical revenge on her, rather the man she had married for wrong reasons. Hamlet dies because his quest is fulfilled when he kills Claudius and his obsession with revenge is fulfilled, but he does not know what do to with his last minutes so he quickens the process by drinking the wine. The death that surrounds Act V in Hamlet shows Shakespeare's great use of irony and physical revenge. .
The other type of poison found in Hamlet was spiritual poison, or poison which is found in words throughout the play. Laertes was poised by the ideas of Claudius and midway during the fight he says to himself, "And yet it is almost against my conscience" (V:ii, 273). This realization shows how the obsessions of Claudius took over Laertes, and his own revenge quest prevented him from seeing Claudius" deceit. Hamlet is facing twice the poison when he is fighting Laertes, however Hamlet is another character blinded with his own quest for revenge. A character who realizes that deceit might be reason is Gertrude when she says, "His father's death and our o"erhasty marriage" (II:ii, 57). Gertrude is poisoned by Claudius greedy obsession for power.
