Discuss Hamlet as a revenge tragedy - Research Paper Example

Thesis statement: The basic elements of the play Hamlet proves its importance as a revenge tragedy (special references to the elements of revenge tragedy like revenge, ghost, hero’s hesitation, madness, capable villains, philosophical content, horror and suicide/murder) Hamlet as a revenge tragedy As pointed out, the basic elements of revenge tragedy are applicable to the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The basic elements of revenge tragedy like revenge, ghost, hero’s hesitation, madness, capable villains, philosophical content, horror and suicide/murder are discussed under. A. Revenge: One can see that revenge is the most important element of the play.

Within this context, Hamlet’s revenge is to be considered as most important because his aim was to regain the lost honor of his father. At the same time revenge leads him towards his ultimate doom at the end of the play. Rebecca W. Bushnell points out that the basic quality of a revenge tragedy is the protagonist’s inability to understand his own self or the outside world (68). From a different angle of view, Hamlet’s revenge can be evaluated as his attempt to escape from mental and emotional trauma originating from his personal feeling/fear of losing his mother.

In short, revenge is the main component of the play which entraps the protagonist (Hamlet) and his enemies. B. Ghost: The basic element of revenge tragedy consists of the presence of a ghost, which curtails the deeds of the protagonist and acts the role of a motivation to take revenge. Within the context of Hamlet the play, King Hamlet’s ghost acts the role of the ghost who deeply influences prince Hamlet to take revenge of his father’s untimely death and the following incidents. The ghost encourages Hamlet by pointing out that “So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear” (16).

One can easily identify that the ghost’s inspiration forces Hamlet to be suspicious about his uncle’s and mother’s roles in the conspiracy against his father. But he hesitates to believe in ghost and tries to ignore. Gradually, the ghost forces his son to destroy his enemies and to regain the throne. In short, the presence of ghost, similar to the other revenge plays, ignites fury in the mind of the protagonist and forces him to take revenge of his father’s death. C. Hero’s hesitation Like other revenge tragedy heroes, Hamlet did not believe in ghosts.

When his father’s ghost tried to influence him, he did not believe in him and hesitated to act against his enemies. Later, his friend forced him to act according to the will of the ghost and to act against his enemies. Paul Arthur Cantor opines that Oedipus complex hindered Hamlet from his actions (21). The hero’s hesitation can be evaluated from different levels. For instance, he was not sure about the presence of his father as the ghost. Later, he did miss more than one attempt to kill his uncle.

This hesitation caused more troubles in his life because he accidentally killed a counselor who was so close to his uncle. This hesitation ultimately led him towards his doom in the end. D. Madness Madness, whether acted or real is one of the most important elements of revenge tragedies. When this element is superimposed to the context of the play Hamlet, one can easily identify that Hamlet’s madness was not real. For instance, Hamlet acted himself as a mad person because he wanted to know more about the deeds of his enemies.

He was aware of