Shakespeare's Hamlet: Revenge, Religion and Tragedy - Term Paper Example

? No. Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Revenge, Religion & Tragedy Hamlet is one of the masterpieces in English literature. Even after centuries, it can behold its audience and entertain them thoroughly with unpredictable plot and colorful characters; the obsession for revenge, the madness and antic disposition, the balance and human emotions and actions due to sin and salvation are all presented in a thought provoking manner. The themes in Hamlet seem to be alive today in one way or another, modern times have changed the words used, but the meaning remains the same. Plays based on dilemmas are Shakespeare’s specialty, and Hamlet was the best amongst such plays written in a time when religion, revenge, and madness had quite contradictory appeal altogether. Hamlet not only dwells on a struggle of an individual, but reveals the nature of many men filled with the lust for power, sin and revenge. The problem plays are not new for Shakespeare; his similar plays All's Well that End's Well, Troilus and Cressida and Measure for Measure share the theme of revenge and other anomalies. In this play, a saga of love, hatred and betrayal drive the characters of this novel in a manner which is against every definition of reasonableness (Williamsons, n.p.). Hamlet is a play illustrating the confusing games played by human mind. Throughout this play, Shakespeare has managed to illustrate how human mind responds to severe emotions like revenge, extreme sadness and obsession. Where murder of a father was the biggest tragedy which acted as the foundation for the whole play, the obsession of the Prince Hamlet to avenge his father was definitely the aftermath of the revelation of his murder. Shakespeare has weaved the behavioral patterns which are linked to insanity to illustrate the severity of Prince’s emotions. The madness resulting in extreme sadness and melancholy is so obvious that the play surrounds more around the behavior exhibited by the prince instead of the story itself. Before Hamlet’s character can be analyzed, it is important to distinguish between madness and melancholy. According to Burton, melancholy or melancholia is “a mental condition and especially a manic-depressive condition characterized by extreme depression, bodily complaints, and often hallucinations and delusions.” Whereas a definition provided by Oxford dictionaries is the feeling of sadness with no apparent reasoning. On the other hand, madness is the state of having serious mental illness. Considering these two distinguished behaviors, readers find it difficult to identify if Hamlet’s behavior is triggered by his mental illness or is it extreme sadness which makes him act in an abnormal manner. Where sadness is apparently is root cause of the disturbing course of events, madness is also highly obvious in Hamlet. Hamlet feels extreme sadness due to his father’s demise and his mother’s remarriage, therefore his mind refuses to accept the fact that his father has died and thus, he views his father through his imagination. Although it was the appearance of ghost which is treated as the first display of Hamlet’s madness, his saying, “My father – methinks I see my father / In my mind’s eye” clearly displays that he is disturbed by the marriage of his mother, and the stress is making him feel the presence of his dead father (I. ii. 184-185). The play begins with the notion that sadness of melancholy is deeply rooted inside Hamlet, and it is this sadness which is making him view his deceased father. Even Hamlet is aware of the fact that he is being driven by extreme depression, and it is not the revenge but sadness caused by betrayal and sense of loss which is making him avenge his father. He accepts the presence of melancholy inside him when he says, “The spirit that I have seen May be a dev’l, and the dev’l hath power T’ assume a pleasing shape, yea, and perhaps, Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me”. (II. ii. 560-565) Where melancholy provided him the rationale for his revenge, it was the display of violence which provoked Hamlet to display madness. Shakespeare has used melancholy and madness in a manner synonymous to cause and effect. Out of possible trauma, Hamlet does act in an insane manner or deliberately pulls on “antic disposition” at various occasions. When meeting Horatio and Marcellus, he happily shares his views about the meeting the Ghost saying that Ghost’s message is wonderful, however, he is highly keen to maintain secrecy about the details of the meeting. In response to Hamlet’s words, Horatio acknowledges his confusion by saying, “These are but wild and whirling words, my lord” (I. v. 136). Hamlet’s inconsistent behavior is a display of his mental disturbance. Ophelia, on the other hand, is just a victim of extreme sadness or melancholy due to loss of her loved one. Her insane behavior is exhibited in her highly sexual language which is unlikely of a noble woman of Elizabethan era. According to Burton, people can be carried away by extreme emotions, and the resulted behavior can be an extremely violent or digression from a normal pattern (Burton 227). Ophelia’s songs illustrates that she is preoccupied with the sense of extreme loss and sexual depravity, and this sense of loss is exhibited in her songs. Besides madness and melancholy, sins, salvation and damnations are the major themes surrounding the plot of Hamlet. Elizabethan literature contains extensive account of ideas concerning afterlife, and Hamlet is no different. The concept is introduced into the play from the first appearance of the ghost. The ghost claims that he is in purgatory paying for his sins since he did not had a chance to seek forgiveness for his sins. According to Elizabethans, there are three places that one can to after death, hell, heaven and purgatory; purgatory being the place where souls go if they have an unfinished business in the living world (Bloom 230). Complete confession can make one have heaven whereas an incomplete acceptance of sins will result in purgatory where one will stay until unless all his sins are purged. Since the death of the King was unexpected and unforeseen, he could not confess all his sins and he has to stay in purgatory. As the ghost in Hamlet says, “Confined to fast in fires, till the foul crimes done in my days of nature are burnt and purged away (I. v. 11-13). It was also a common belief in Elizabethan era that the ghosts are of various kinds. There are benign ghosts who would lie to the person and lure him/ her to commit more sins and do acts which will cause harm to one’s own self or others whereas there are good ghosts who would tell the truth. Due to this confusion caused by pre-established notions, Hamlet is unable to decide whether the ghost is telling the truth, and he should avenge his father’s death or not. He wants to take revenge and do justice to Claudius; however, he does not want to be misguided by the ghost which would result in eternal loss of salvation. However, when Hamlet learns that the ghost is actually telling the truth, he finds a just reason for him to seek revenge which will not affect his salvation. However, at the time when he attempts to kill Claudius and he is on his knees, a perfect position for praying, Hamlet holds his weapon as he knows that killing Claudius while praying will send him to heaven whereas he wants Claudius to suffer after death as well. This gesture illustrates a typical Elizabethan ideology of after-life which relates to the idea that when a sinner confesses his sins and seeks for forgiveness, he/ she will be sent to heaven. Therefore, Hamlet holds his weapon for he does not want Claudius to have a blissful afterlife only because he was killed during praying. Furthermore, Hamlet does not want to be sent to hell himself because he has killed someone during a prayer. However, while doing so he also doubts the intention behind Claudius’s prayer as well by saying: “To take him in the purging of his soul When he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No. Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent. When he is drunk asleep, or in his rage, Or in th' incestuous pleasure of his bed, At game a-swearing, or about some act That has no relish of salvation in ’t— Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, And that his soul may be as damned and black As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays This physic but prolongs thy sickly days (III.iii.86-97) Regardless of the fact that ghost was real or a fragment of Hamlet’s insanity, it is clear that the presence of this ghost was necessary to heal Hamlet from his anguish of his father’s death, the incestuous nature of Gertrude and take revenge from Claudius. Where Hamlet is highly driven by his views of sins and salvation, Claudius is not different. He also believes that the intention behind prayer acts as the criteria for its acceptance. Although he has a chance to pray and seek forgiveness, his words lack soul and meaning; therefore, his prayers will not be accepted and salvation will not be granted to him. He shows his concern about his prayer by saying, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”(III.iii.98-99) Another Elizabethan concept which surrounds Hamlet is considering suicide as the act which will make one go to hell irrespective of the fact that the person has prayed for forgiveness of his sins or has confessed committing any sins before dying. This notion is well-presented after Ophelia’s death. Since it is established that Ophelia committed a suicide, she does not deserve a proper burial which would make her deprive of heaven till eternity. Same concept is questioned by Hamlet when he says, “To be or not to be”. Hamlet is willing to take his own life away; however, he knows that committing suicide will make him deprive of heaven in afterlife. His fear of resting in hell is displayed when he says, “The dread of something after death, he says (III.i.79). It is this fear which made him progress with the revenge in order seek inner peace instead of killing himself and end the agony offered by life. As far as revenge in Hamlet is concerned, it surely reflects all the characteristics of Elizabethan revenge tragedy plays. Revenge tragedies of Elizabethan era are similar to the work of Seneca. Most of these revenge tragedies were five act plays and had appearance of supernatural character that had a significant impact on the plot of the play. Secondly, one line verbal exchanges and lengthy rhetorical speeches are also attributes of Elizabethan revenge tragedy plays. Other main characteristics of revenge plays are basic plot in which sub-plots are present, presence of a central character who is willing to seek vengeance after the law and religion fails to do justice with those doing wrong (Sobran 58). Most of the Elizabethan plays were based on renege tragedies, and Hamlet is not different. In revenge tragedies, a crime is committed which goes unpunished resulting in distress of the main character. The lead character goes through internal battle and evaluates the rationale and possible outcomes of the vengeance. Like many other Elizabethan plays, Hamlet is driven by several plots of revenge including the main plot surrounding Hamlet and revenge for his father’s death. He undergoes a continuous battle throughout the play, questioning the rationale behind his acts and seeking constant justification. Hamlet also manages to develop a bond with his soliloquies, “To be or not to be”, for instance, which has entranced the readers and viewers even after centuries. In revenge tragedy plays, the main events leading to revenge are always full of violence, which in Hamlet’s case is his father’s murder. The avenger actions are beyond the boundaries of morality, which make the avenger face isolation as well as cause a trauma. Hamlet faces loneliness despite his trusted acquaintances as he is the one who has a war raging inside him. Other characteristics of Elizabethan plays is appearance of ghost, a delay of decision making by the avenger and the possible display of violence and madness which leads the story further. This continuum of revenge tales is synonymous in Hamlet as well. The sheer madness of Hamlet and obsession with revenge from the start of the play is distressing; his anguish on his father’s death and remarriage of his mother to his uncle leaves him vulnerable, suicidal and represents mental instability. In this situation appearance of the father’s ghost motivating him to take revenge on his behalf only gives him a reason to satisfy his grief and kill his mother’s husband, stating, “Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge” (I.v.29-31). Another important attribute of revenge plays is the delay of the actual revenge. Where the avenger makes the decision about taking revenge, the actual event is delayed till the end of the play. Hamlet also shows similar behavior during the play and has delayed the revenge thrice at various stages. He decides not to kill Claudius when he shows his rage and anger after the play staged by Hamlet. The play is a reenactment of the murder of his father which is intended to examine the reaction of Claudius, and he comes out as guilty of doing so. Secondly, he delays killing Claudius while he is praying as he does not want him to go to heaven although he knows that Claudius is just using tactics to delay his death. The third delay took place by accident when he kills Polonius instead of Claudius which further changes the course of events and makes Laertes his enemy (Bloom, n.p.). Where Hamlet can be perceived as the story of a hero who is driven by a ghost; the play is more than just a narration of a superficial character. Its ability to appeal to more educated as well as naive segment of the society makes it an evergreen play which has managed to keep the audience in trance even after a century. Although today’s art and literature do not have characters like kings and queens and bloody wars fought upon revenge and love, but the main emotions remain intact in the modern art, too. Hamlet’s famous dialogue comprising words “to be or not to be” reflects the everyday battles within him that he has to face when he encounters situations in which morality and legality of his actions are questioned. Furthermore, fear of God and religion act as the main directive of this play, and religion still has a strong grasp over common man which makes today’s audience relate to this play. Furthermore, appearance of a ghost is perceived as the conscience by modern audience which provokes him to take revenge resulting in justice served to his father’s murderer (Kastan 40). Hence, Hamlet is considered as completely sane who made decisions which, according to him, were just, but based on revenge and hatred. Shakespeare’s Hamlet has managed to entrance the audience for centuries. The richness offered by this play is a typical trait of Shakespeare’s work. Hamlet has love, romance, revenge, anger, hatred, confusion, and other emotions concerning morality and justification of sinful acts. The play has a structure which is found in Elizabethan plays. Presence of a traumatic and violent event which makes the main character seek revenge, appearance of a supernatural character causing decisive changes in the overall plot, delays in seeking revenge, are few such examples. Where Hamlet displays the basic attributes of revenge tragedies of its times, the play has been under enormous research and consideration over centuries. The main theme of this play is revenge where the main characters are found doing acts resulted by internal trauma and melancholy leading to madness. At the same time, it is still difficult for critics to identify if Hamlet’s madness display as willful and deceitful and whether he has actually fallen prey to hatred and revenge which consumes him completely. The madness of Ophelia displays how loss of loved ones and self-worth can take away sanity. The play further exhibits the strong impacts of religion which was quite common in Elizabethan society and its literature. Actions of Hamlet are also driven by religious motives i.e. avoidance of hell and gaining salvation which resulted in delay and initiation of actual revenge, murder of Claudius and avoidance of suicide. Secondly, Ophelia’s death is also shown as critical event in the eye of religion as she has committed a suicide. Shakespeare’s Hamlet does not only question the viability of religious beliefs, but also portrays how a man is a victim of his internal demon. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Hamlet: Facts on File. New York, NY: Barnes & Noble, 2004. Print. Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy. New York, NY: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1927. Print. Kastan, David Scott. Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Hamlet. New York, NY: G.K. Hall, 1995. Print. Sobran, Joseph. Hamlet. New York, NY: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. 2008. Print. Williamson, Claude H. “Hamlet.” International Journal of Ethics, 33(1):85-100. 1992. Print. Read More