Nobility In Hamlet

The Shakespearean era started when William Shakespeare started his writing. This coincided with the Elizabethan Age. Both of these eras display many of the same characteristics and themes. The exception being the Shakespearean era ended in 1613 when he wrote his last play, The Two Noble Kinsmen, rather than 1603 when the Elizabethan Age ended. When Hamlet was written, 1599-1601, both eras were still going on. This paper is going to approach the themes of the Shakespearean era, and explain them through the work: Hamlet. The areas that will be analyzed through this paper are nobility, revenge, and insanity of the mind, mortality, and religion in tragedies of the Shakespearean era. This paper will prove that Hamlet embodies the major elements

of a tragedy in the Shakespearean era. The method that this paper will take is to provide support of these themes through the utilization of quotes from the work, from ideas of published writers, and the parts of history from the Shakespearean era. This paper is going to establish that Hamlet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in the Shakespearean Age, and how it displays the themes of nobility, revenge, insanity, mortality and religion.
Hamlet is a about a prince who tries to get revenge for his father’s death. In the end, the majority of the characters die. A tragedy is a play that deals with events that usually end in catastrophe or a downfall of a main character. Hamlet is a renaissance tragedy that derives less from medieval tragedy than from the Aristotelian notion of the tragic flaw, a moral weakness or human error that causes the protagonist’s downfall. It includes subplots and comic relief, which is what differentiates it from a classical tragedy. (Shwartz, Shakespearean Tragedy) The major theme of a tragedy is death. In this play, death is not the only major theme; there is nobility, revenge, insanity of the mind, and religion as well.
Nobility is the quality of being honorable in one’s character, mindset, or rank. The Shakespearean era displays the theme of nobility throughout many of its works, mainly in the history plays, but as well in the tragedies. William Shakespeare used the theme of nobility in works such as Macbeth, Henry IV, and Hamlet. In Hamlet, there is a king, a queen, and a prince. This in itself is a form of nobility; royalty is the highest ranking of the nobles. Hamlet was the son of a king and queen, grew up in a castle in Denmark, and went to university at Wittenberg. He had a very privileged life and that alone makes him noble.
The theme of nobility has a subtype, nobility of the mind.

Nobility of the mind is brought up often within the work of Hamlet. To be noble of the mind is the have a good moral. When the ghost speaks to Prince Hamlet and refers to him as “thou noble youth,” it exhibits how people see Hamlet as a noble man. Hamlet cares about his family and the respect for his father so much that he refuses to accept his uncle did not kill his father. He goes above and beyond, pretending to be insane, to vengeance for his father’s death. This proves how much he cares and how good his morals are. Even when Hamlet passed on, he got noted as a morally good person when Horatio commented, “Now cracks a noble heart.” (Act 5, Scene

2)
Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain to King Claudius. She is the love interest of Hamlet, and often questions her own nobility as well as his. She refers to her own nobility when she returns her gifts to Hamlet. She did not want to accept these gifts because it would be immoral for her to take them from an immoral person. When Hamlet starts his madness, she states “Oh, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword, Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state, the glass of fashion and the mould of form, Th’ observed of all observers, quite, quite down!” (Act 3, Scene 1) She talks about how he was once so noble, but he has lost all of his grace and fell low. In Act 3 scene 1, Ophelia sees that the nobility and appearance he once had, is now lost by madness.
Hamlet did not approve of his uncle becoming king.

But since he was elected, there was not much he could do. King Claudius was not a noble man. He just won his votes from parliament. This is portrayed in scene two of act five, when Hamlet says “He that hath killed my king and whored my mother, popped in between th’ election and my hopes, thrown out his angle for my proper life.” King Claudius has all the opposite qualities of moral. He states how he did all of the wrong just for his own personal gain in scene three of act one when he says “Of those effects for which I did the murder: My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.” He was selfish, and that is not what nobility of the mind is

about.
Fortinbras is another character that is noted within the theme of nobility. Prince Hamlet admires Fortinbras and his army for being willing to risk death by fighting over a worthless piece of land. (Rosenblum, 741) Fortinbras also praises Hamlet for his nobility. In scene two of act five, Fortinbras says that if Hamlet had lived he would have proved most royal. Fortinbras respected Hamlet for his nobility and gave him the proper burial he deserved as a noble.
Revenge is the retribution towards someone who committed a wrong or criminal act. Revenge is shown throughout Hamlet, mostly through the prince for getting back at his uncle for killing his father. It all starts when the ghost tells Hamlet he wants revenge for his murder in scene five of act one. When Hamlet becomes aware of the fact it was a murder, he becomes determined to carry out the Ghost’s demand for revenge. (Rosenblum, 741)