During the Elizabethan era, the philosophy that established social order was known as the “Concept of Order”, stating that everything had its own place and contributed to a certain position. Elizabethans believed that establishing order was the only way for a civilization to function and progress. This philosophy that governed the minds of many individuals seems to have been a prevalent thought in Shakespeare’s mind, the evidence being the recurring theme of the disorganization in social order. The disruption of social order, as described by the Great Chain of Being, was to be avoided, because the consequences would be destructive. The conflicts that arise throughout “Hamlet” are due to a disturbance in the Concept of Order, resulting in a disrupted social hierarchy.
The most apparent violation of the Concept of Order in “Hamlet” is the murder of King Hamlet by his brother, Claudius. The ghost of the deceased King Hamlet appears to his son, and describes his murder as “most foul, strange, and unnatural” (I.v.28). Shakespeare compares the natural, a brother not killing his brother, to the unnatural, a brother killing his brother. Shakespeare uses “unnatural” to describe the disturbance of the natural social order. According to the Great Chain of Being, the king is divinely appointed by God, and is unequivocally below God himself. With the death of King Hamlet, the king is removed from the hierarchy, and the Chain is broken, giving way to disorder. Hamlet, being the rightful king of Denmark, is pleaded by the ghost to avenge him, and in doing so says, “If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not,” “it” referring to the disrupted order (I.v. 81). “Nature” is once again used to describe the divine hierarchal order. The ghos...
... middle of paper ...
...affirms a purposive… order” (Ribner). Shakespeare ends “Hamlet” with Hamlet designating Fortinbras as the future King of Denmark. Thus the impression is given that order truly does triumph.
The “Concept of Order” suggests that everything in life has a specific position and plays a certain role in society, spouting utopist ideals. When something, for example, a person, breaks that pattern, the society becomes uncontrolled and causes a chain reaction of disorder leading to chaos. Until that order is once again restored, whether it is through death, heroic actions, or a mixture of both, the society will continue in a disorganized and turbulent manner. Shakespeare focuses on how a chaotic social order prevents the ability of humans to live in peace. In “Hamlet”, it is when both familial and political order is re-established, that social order is restored.
The significance of the players exceeds the sole purpose of entertainment, as each possesses the power to unveil the "occulted guilt" (3.2.75) and conscience of the King. Hamlet assumes the responsibility to advise these players with precise and adequate direction so that a "whirlwind of passion" (6) may not effectively separate Claudius from personally identifying with the play. Hamlet's enthusiastic approach toward direction may be so that he encourages the players to "suit the action to the word, the word to the/ action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not/ the modesty of nature" (16-18). However, this exercise of caution may justify Hamlet's too often delayed attempt toward the action of avenging his father's murder. His direction confines him to the overflow of words as he experiences imprisonment within the truth of his own identity.
Hamlet tarnishes his image and sacrifices his dignity as a result of his ploy to fool those around him and avenge his father’s murder. Initially, the character of Hamlet is portrayed as “a soldier” and “a scholar” with “a noble mind”. This description by Ophelia is one that the citizens of Elsinore including friends and family of Hamlet would have open-heartedly agreed to. After all, as Claudius said to Hamlet: “You are the most immediate to our throne...” Hamlet must act in a presentable state at all times so can be in favor with the people in the event that he were to become king. However, after the revelation by the Ghost that “The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown,” Hamlet is shocked but at the same time confused. He is forced into a conflict between acting and not acting ...
...ut his lifetime. With all the events occurring, Hamlet goes through so much stress, pain, and suffering from which started with the murder of his father. He has tried to understand his position in life, yet every step he takes, someone always steps in front of him, and it puts him in a worst situation from which he started. A young man like he should be out studying and having fun with his friends, but his two non family related friends betray him, and follow King Claudius' ruling. His mother who he once loves dearly and felt so close to also betrays him by ending her mourn so soon and remarrying to Claudius. Everyone in Denmark has a problem, and the "unweeded" garden is not being kept in good hands, for which bad things have come. The evil in everyone has come out, and Hamlet searched and searched for a reasoning in life, to only come out with one thing, nothing.
Society needs order because it is the keystone that keeps modern civilization from collapsing in on itself. Once removed, society succumbs to its most basic state: emotions. Pure, raw emotions fill the void where logic once dictated and the world falls into chaos. It is this very situation where Shakespeare drew his inspiration for his play, A Midsummer’s Night Dream. In a world with four lovers, hoodwinked by the lord of the fairies and his loyal servant Robin, disorder ensnares the human race and chaos ensues. Through the use of prosody, Shakespeare was able to juxtapose the Athenian nobles, the working class, and the fairy world to create a sense of disarray that demonstrated the human need for order.
The main concept of the Great Chain of Being is that every existing thing in the universe has its “place” in an outlined hierarchical order. Where it is placed depends on the amount of spirit and importance in society it has. The chain commences at God and progresses downward to angelic beings, kings, princes, nobles, regular humans, animals, plants, and many other objects of nature. According to this theory, all existing things have their specific function in the universe, and causing any kind of disorder on the higher links of this chain courts disaster. In Hamlet, Shakespeare dwells on the idea of a disheveled natural social order which restrains human beings’ ability to live peacefully. The society presented in this play is a society of chaos and anarchy that has no light at the end of the tunnel indicating recuperation. The Great Chain of Being is brutally distraught in Hamlet, and until the very end, there is never a point where it is truly serene.
All of the other individuals in the play have their own motives or have thoughts that cloud their thinking, straying them away from what is spiritually and rationally right. Hamlet is the only person seem to see both the lower and higher morality, making him separate from everyone else right at the start. Hamlet’s struggle and eventual acceptance of the higher morality of justice and God. This then makes him the only character to follow the higher morality while everyone else submits to the lower one. William Shakespeare, by making Hamlet stand independently as the only higher morality character and the only mentally sane character, made Hamlet into “a man ahead of his time, as Shakespeare was ahead of his.”
“A leader or a man of action in a crisis almost always acts subconsciously and then thinks of the reasons for his action.” (Jawaharlal Nehru) Leaders throughout history have been idolized as the magnificent humans with the ability to sway the heart of man with both silent and thunderous footsteps. One such man being Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Shakespeare dictates that a leader is cunning, sharp minded, and a caring person who is prepared to dedicate their life to a goal and to the people they care for; the reason be “right” or “wrong”.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet indicates “There’s divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will” [5,2,10] given that “the devil hath power”. [2,2,188] These comments demonstrate that power is often in the hands of those who will abuse it and yet, the abuse of that power will not necessarily bring desired rewards. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that fate will treat the abuser kindly, and ‘divinity’ is in control of how the characters ends are shaped. This power abuse is demonstrated both through Claudius’ manipulation of Hamlet, Gertrude and Laertes in order to maintain his authority now that he is King; and, through Hamlet and Claudius’ use of their implicit power over women, which is an entitlement granted to them simply because they
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.
William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Hamlet invites various interpretations of the structure because of the play’s complexity. Let us in this essay analyze various interpretations of structure.
William Shakespeare was one of the first to introduce many to the distinct divide in social class and those who where in power. Some of Shakespeare 's most famous literatures & playwrights tell the stories and air the dirty laundry of people associated high in power and social class. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet Shakespeare gives many examples of social class and power and how they both can destroy and disrupt when greed and unrighteousness gets in the way. He also proves how both social class and power can break, manipulate, and ruin individuals caught up in the dramas of social class and power. It is without question that William Shakespeare 's Hamlet teaches us the truth about power
Hamlet was written in the early 1600's right before Shakespeare died. This play portrays society in such a way by showing how easily the public is fooled by people of authority. Shakespeare was writing this play as a form of entertainment but it is now seen as how society used to be. All of the deaths and the general setting of the play describes how society was back then and in essence, Shakespeare was just writing it to entertain and not to show how society was. When Hamlet ends up dying in the end of the play, it wasn’t there to show how society was but to merely entertain. Shakespeare showed how Europe was in the late 1500's to early 1600's, but in that time it was for pure entertainment. This so called entertainment showed society the possible uncertainties their lives were based upon.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the influence of Hamlet’s psychological and social states display his dread of death as well as his need to avenge his father’s death. In turn, these influences illuminate the meaning of the play by revealing Hamlet’s innermost thoughts on life, death and the effect of religion. Despite the fact that Hamlet’s first instincts were reluctance and hesitation, he knows that he must avenge his father’s death. While Hamlet is conscious of avenging his father’s death, he is contemplating all the aspects of death itself. Hamlet’s decision to avenge his father is affected by social, psychological and religious influences.
As often associated with a tragedy, a conflict usually ensues between a protagonist and another force in the play. A tragedy is ‘a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror’ (Webster's dictionary). Given its structure and depth in characterization, this play will or can be analyzed and interpreted from various perspectives and beliefs. However, my analysis of the play is conducted on the basis of various components which are: Hamlet as a tragic hero, the ironic message conveyed in the play, the roles of its characters, the role and personification of madness, the role of paranormality, the role of friends and family, the role of inaction, the role of sex and violence, and the role of death as portrayed in the play. Based on literary definitions and portrayal of his character, there is popular belief that Hamlet as the protagonist acted to satisfy his own conscience but could his actions be attributed purely to his desire or was he being influenced by other factors?
An individual’s response to conditions of internal and external conflict is explored throughout literature. In his play, Hamlet, Shakespeare delves into the themes of appearance versus reality, lies versus deceit, rejection versus self doubt and tragedy, and in doing so attacks the frivolous state of humanity in contemporary society. In order to explore these themes, however, he uses several forms of conflict to project his opinions and expand his ideas relating to the themes of the play. Internal conflict, as well as external conflict are dominant features of his works, and in Hamlet are made evident through a succession of dire events which can attack and destroy someone. However perhaps the most captivating form of conflict Shakespeare uses to expand and explore the ideas presented within the text is the conflict between the self and the universe.