Shakespeare ruminates the complexity of human nature in the revenge tragedy Hamlet, by conveying multifaceted universal themes that effectively captures the attention of audience members with cathartic emotions of suspense and anticipation. The themes of corruption, deception, fatal flaw and misogyny are expressed via the integration of tragic Senecan and Kydian conventions, coupled with dramatic literary devices and contextual inspiration contributing to it textual integrity. As a result, Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most critically acclaimed work that continues to engage audiences because of its remarkably modern exploration of the deep concerns of humanity. The application of universal themes has significantly amalgamated the textual integrity …show more content…
Shakespeare continued to establish Denmark’s dysfunctional state using extended metaphors and motifs of disease and decay, “tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed.” In Hamlet’s first soliloquy, his character development gives the audience a glimpse into his state of mind and perversive vision as he mourns for his father which simultaneously implies corruption to the monarch was triggered by a disruption in the great chain of being as a result of Old King Hamlet’s death. The development of the motif is solidified in the famous metaphorical line, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”, where the concept of body politic from the Elizabethan era is used to establish that the state of the nation is dependent on the monarch’s condition. Therefore, the court of Elsinore can be read as a commentary on Shakespeare’s own contextual setting due to the rising tensions induced by the transition from Catholicism to Protestantism that gave rise to an onslaught of societal …show more content…
By extending the scope of the theme to an extreme by involving most of the main characters, while introducing the concept of feigned madness through Hamlet’s character, the playwright successfully encapsulates the complexity of the notion within his work. The ghost’s demand for Hamlet to seek revenge upon Claudius is the pivotal event of Act 1 setting the main plot of the play into motion. In a metaphorical reflection of his Protestant humanism values, “the time is out of joint. O cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right!” Hamlet is cursing his fate and his subsequent decision to feign madness in order to devise the most appropriate revenge plot. However, despite his filial obligation to his father’s spirit, Hamlet considers the legitimacy of the ghost in the Act 2 soliloquy, “out of my weakness and my melancholy, as he is very potent with such spirits, abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds more relative to this”. The protagonist’s refusal to act based on his emotional angst reflects his humanist values inspired from the playwright’s milieu, while indicating he is still impassive to the rising corruption of the state and any form of deception. This application of Aristotle’s virtuous characteristic of a tragic hero for Hamlet builds his character as noble, successfully gaining the audience’s
Within ‘Hamlet’, Shakespeare makes a number of references to Denmark's degraded state due to the deceit that lies within. These references are made by Hamlet, Horatio as well as the apparition, thus enforcing the strong theme of death, decay and disease.
Hamlet also corrupted by the ghost of his father. After his father’s death, Hamlet mourned over his father and was left dark and bitter. Without even getting an adequate time to mourn he is approached by the ghost of King Hamlet. With Hamlet caught off guard by the ghost and its demands put Hamlet into turmoil. With thoughts of revenge and death, Hamlet is hesitate to make a resolve. The longer it takes for Hamlet to make a decision the greater the corruption takes control of him. The vengeance of the ghost sinks into Hamlet making is madness greater every moment that passes. Hamlet gripped with his own madness withdraws from the world. Unable to make up his mind, he hides from Claudius and won’t reproach him till his resolve is absolute. The crippling madness o...
Hamlet’s sanity began to deteriorate when learned that his father’s death was not an accident, but rather a foul deed committed by the newly crowned King of Denmark. “If thou didst ever thy dear father love – Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” [Act I, v l .23-25]. As a mysterious ghost appeared in the terrace, Hamlet learned of a murderer that would prove his fealty towards his father. As he contemplated the appalling news recently brought to his attention, the control Hamlet had over his actions was questioned. “O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables meet it is I set it down, That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain. At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark,” [Act I, v l. 106-109]. Hamlet’s hatred toward his father’s killer caused him to relate the tribulations between murder and the aspects of Denmark as a country together. As with most of the conflicts Hamlet faced, his lack of ability to avenge his father’s death, furthered the deterioration of his life and surroundings.
William Shakespeare’s enduring play The Tragedy of Hamlet; Prince of Denmark (1600) continues to resonate with and engage modern audiences through its dramatic treatment of human nature as it explores philosophical queries regarding the human condition and experience. Despite various interpretations of Hamlet, the text preserves its foundational meaning, allowing it to preserve its textual integrity in any contemporary context. Shakespeare’s manipulation of his revenge tragedy from plays a central piece in allowing him to place emphasis on various concerns regarding human condition such as the conflict between humanism and fate and the corruptive nature of loyalty. The dramatic treatment of the dynamics of human nature evokes philosophical
The question of why Hamlet delays in taking revenge on Claudius for so long has puzzled readers and audience members alike. Immediately following Hamlet's conversation with the Ghost, he seems determined to fulfill the Ghost's wishes and swears his companions to secrecy about what has occurred. The next appearance of Hamlet in the play reveals that he has not yet revenged his father's murder. In Scene two, act two, Hamlet gives a possible reason for his hesitation. "The spirit that I have seen / May be a devil, and the devil hath power / T' assume a pleasing shape" (2.2.627-629). With this doubt clouding his mind, Hamlet seems completely unable to act. This indecision is somewhat resolved in the form of the play. Hamlet comes up with the idea of the play that is similar to the events recounted by the ghost about his murder to prove Claudius guilty or innocent. Due to the king's reaction to the play, Hamlet attains the belief that the Ghost was telling the truth the night of the apparition.
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet revolves around Hamlet’s quest to avenge his father’s murder. Claudius’ first speech as King at the beginning of Scene 2, Act 1 introduces the themes of hierarchy, incest and appearance versus reality and plays the crucial role of revealing Claudius’ character as part of the exposition. The audience is left skeptical after Horatio’s questioning of King Hamlet’s ghost in the first scene of the play. By placing Claudius’ pompous speech immediately after the frightening appearance of Hamlet’s ghost, Shakespeare contrasts the mournful atmosphere in Denmark to the fanfare at the palace and makes a statement about Claudius’ hypocrisy. Through diction, doubling and figurative language, Shakespeare reveals Claudius to be a self centered, hypocritical, manipulative and commanding politician.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably one of the best plays known to English literature. It presents the protagonist, Hamlet, and his increasingly complex path through self discovery. His character is of an abnormally complex nature, the likes of which not often found in plays, and many different theses have been put forward about Hamlet's dynamic disposition. One such thesis is that Hamlet is a young man with an identity crisis living in a world of conflicting values.
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.
Theater audiences and literary enthusiasts are not spared of Shakespeare’s astonishing ability to capture the human spirit in his play Hamlet. The story of the tormented prince who desires revenge but is unable to take action delves deep into the human mind than plays before it. While some uninformed readers may write off Hamlet’s behavior to poor writing, it is clear that the Oedipus complex is the true driving force of Hamlet’s actions when delaying his revenge.
Throughout the plot of the story there are consistent informalities and orthodox behaviors presented that ultimately leads to the tragic of this story. Hamlet portrays the characteristics of a tragic hero. In Aristotle’s’ views Hamlet possesses characteristics of being born noble, hamartia, anagnorisis,
Up until this point the kingdom of Denmark believed that old Hamlet had died of natural causes. As it was custom, prince Hamlet sought to avenge his father’s death. This leads Hamlet, the main character into a state of internal conflict as he agonises over what action and when to take it as to avenge his father’s death. Shakespeare’s play presents the reader with various forms of conflict which plague his characters. He explores these conflicts through the use of soliloquies, recurring motifs, structure and mirror plotting.
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedies. At first glance, it holds all of the common occurrences in a revenge tragedy which include plotting, ghosts, and madness, but its complexity as a story far transcends its functionality as a revenge tragedy. Revenge tragedies are often closely tied to the real or feigned madness in the play. Hamlet is such a complex revenge tragedy because there truly is a question about the sanity of the main character Prince Hamlet. Interestingly enough, this deepens the psychology of his character and affects the way that the revenge tragedy takes place. An evaluation of Hamlet’s actions and words over the course of the play can be determined to see that his ‘outsider’ outlook on society, coupled with his innate tendency to over-think his actions, leads to an unfocused mission of vengeance that brings about not only his own death, but also the unnecessary deaths of nearly all of the other main characters in the revenge tragedy.
Hamlet vows to affect madness—puts “an antic disposition on”—to wear a mask that will enable him to observe the interactions in the castle, but finds himself more confused than ever. In his persistent confusion, he questions the Ghost’s trustworthiness. What if the Ghost is not a true spirit, but rather an agent of the devil sent to tempt him? What if killing Claudius results in Hamlet’s having to relive his memories for all eternity? Hamlet agonizes over what he perceives as his cowardice because he cannot stop himself from thinking. Words immobilize Hamlet, but the world h...
Aristotle, as a world famous philosopher, gives a clear definition of tragedy in his influential masterpiece Poetics, a well-known Greek technical handbook of literary criticism. In Aristotle’s words, a tragedy is “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude, language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play, the form of action, not of narrative, through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions”(Aristotle 12). He believes that a tragedy should be serious and complete in appropriate and pleasurable language; the plot of tragedy should be dramatic, whose incidents will arouse pity and fear, and finally accomplish a catharsis of emotions. His theory of tragedy has been exerting great influence on the tragedy theories in the past two thousand years. Shakespeare, as the greatest dramatist in western literature, also learnt from this theory. Hamlet is one of the most influential tragedies written by Shakespeare. The play vividly focuses on the theme of moral corruption, treachery, revenge, and incest. This essay will first analyze Shakespeare’s Hamlet under Aristotle’s tragedy theory. Then this essay will express personal opinion on Aristotle’s tragedy theory. The purpose of this essay is to help the reader better understand Aristotle’s theory of tragedy and Shakespeare’s masterpiece Hamlet.
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.