While a revenge tragedy by definition, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is first and foremost a play concerning memory. The importance and effect of memory and the ars memoria could not be stressed more. Memory, remembrance, or, in some cases the lack there of, frame much of the dialog throughout the work and are therefore unmistakable themes of the play. In Act one, scene five, the ghost of old king Hamlet uses memory as a call to arms, “Mark me…Remember me,” he commands his astonished son (1. 5. 2, 91). This supernatural encounter, with its simple directives to memory, changes everything for Denmark. Memory becomes Hamlet’s foundation for avenging his father’s murder. However, his dwelling in the past soon proves problematic and his memory of the phantom’s words becomes warped. Hamlet regrettably suffers from selective memory when it comes to his father’s directives. This corrupted recollection of the ghost’s instructions develops into the core conflict of the tragedy. While Hamlet is ultimately able to reach his vengeful goal, it is not in a timely manner and certainly not without added bloodshed; making each casualty of the play a result of Hamlet’s inability to follow orders, to remember correctly.
Mnemonic devices hold particular importance to Hamlet. Most critics begin examining his use of these devices in his speech following the ghost’s exit. But, the ghost himself acts as one such device. Ross Poole, in his article, Two Ghosts and an Angel, discusses how the appearances of ghosts in literature are not always prophetic. On the contrary, in many cases the ghosts only appear to bring messages to light that were already within the characters’ subconscious. He hypothesizes that “They [ghosts] do not bring news…Their role is to r...
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... but it is really revenge if no one is around to appreciate it? Ultimately, it proves a fitting end that the only thing of Hamlet to live on, with the Horatio’s help, will be his memory.
Works Cited
Andrews, Michael Cameron. ""Remember Me": Memory and Action in Hamlet." Journal of General Education. 32.4 (1981): 261-270. Print.
Cohen, Adam Max. "Hamlet as Emblem: The Ars Memoria and the Culture of the Play." Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies . 3.1 (2003): 77-112. Print.
Lewis, Rhodri. "Hamlet, Metaphor, and Memory." Studies in Philology. 109.5 (2012): 609-641. Print.
Poole, Ross. "Two Ghosts and an Angel: Memory and Forgetting in Hamlet, beloved, and the Book of Laughter and Forgetting." Author Journal compilation. (2009): 125-149. Print.
Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. Second. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. 288-303. Print.
Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport: Greenwood, 1998. Print. Literature in Context.
Manning, John. "Symbola and Emblemata in Hamlet." New Essays on Hamlet. Ed. Mark Thornton Burnett and John Manning. New York: AMS Press, 1994. 11-18.
Findlay, Alison. "Hamlet: A Document in Madness." New Essays on Hamlet. Ed. Mark Thornton Burnett and John Manning. New York: AMS Press, 1994. 189-205.
A great chain of events in "Hamlet", Shakespeare's great revenge tragedy, leads to Hamlet's own demise. His necessity for subterfuge allows him to inadvertently neglect is main objective, revenge. So much so that the ghost of his dead father appears to stipulate Hamlet's reserved behavior towards his fathers revenge. "Do not forget.
Manning, John. "Symbola and Emblemata in Hamlet." New Essays on Hamlet. Ed. Mark Thornton Burnett and John Manning. New York: AMS Press, 1994. 11-18.
Although many different positions could be taken on writing an essay for this Shakespearian play, the author took it upon himself to write about Hamlet’s grief. His grief is obvious from the beginning of the play and he continues to grieve althroughout the play. Within his twenty-one-page essay, I chose this line to represent that I agree with his outlook on the play. “…his focus is on his grief and the profound impact in which the ghost has upon it. (Hamlet pg.18 paragraph 3)
Boklund, Gunnar. "Hamlet." Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.
Mack, Maynard. "The World of Hamlet." Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996.
Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a complex and ambiguous public exploration of key human experiences surrounding the aspects of revenge, betrayal and corruption. The Elizabethan play is focused centrally on the ghost’s reoccurring appearance as a symbol of death and disruption to the chain of being in the state of Denmark. The imagery of death and uncertainty has a direct impact on Hamlet’s state of mind as he struggles to search for the truth on his quest for revenge as he switches between his two incompatible values of his Christian codes of honour and humanist beliefs which come into direct conflict. The deterioration of the diseased state is aligned with his detached relationship with all women as a result of Gertrude’s betrayal to King Hamlet which makes Hamlet question his very existence and the need to restore the natural order of kings. Hamlet has endured the test of time as it still identifies with a modern audience through the dramatized issues concerning every human’s critical self and is a representation of their own experience of the bewildering human condition, as Hamlet struggles to pursuit justice as a result of an unwise desire for revenge.
Throughout Hamlet, each character’s course of revenge surrounds them with corruption, obsession, and fatality. Shakespeare shows that revenge proves to be extremely problematic. Revenge causes corruption by changing an individual’s persona and nature. Obsession to revenge brings forth difficulties such as destroyed relationships. Finally, revenge can be the foundation to the ultimate sacrifice of fatality. Hamlet goes to show that revenge is never the correct route to follow, and it is always the route with a dead
In Hamlet Shakespeare is able to use revenge in an extremely skillful way that gives us such deep insight into the characters. It is an excellent play that truly shows the complexity of humans. You can see in Hamlet how the characters are willing to sacrifice t...
Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. Print.
Like all Shakespearean tragedies, Hamlet’s ending is no different in end-result. Hamlet’s separation from society and his self-imposed confusion caused by over-thinking results in the unnecessary deaths of most of the major characters. In turn, Hamlet’s pre-occupation with factors inessential to his mission of revenge slows down his action. It is this internal struggle that illustrates the intensity and complexity of Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy, something that is often looked at from a psychological perspective.
...World of Hamlet.” Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967.
A common motif in Shakespeare’s many plays is the supernatural element, to which Hamlet , with the presence of a ghost, is no exception. The story of Hamlet, the young prince of Denmark, is one of tragedy, revenge, deception, and ghosts. Shakespeare’s use of the supernatural element helps give a definition to the play by being the catalyst of the tragedy that brings upon Hamlet’s untimely demise. The ghost that appears at the beginning of the play could possibly be a satanic figure that causes Hamlet to engage in the terrible acts and endanger his soul. The supernatural element incorporated into the play is used as an instigator, a mentor, as well as mediation for the actions of the protagonist that ultimately end in tragedy, with the loss of multiple lives, as well as suscept Hamlet’s soul to hell. Shakespeare’s portrayal of the ghostly apparition causes a reader to question whether the ghost is a demonic force on the basis of its diction, conduct towards others as well as Hamlet, and it’s motive to kill.