The Seven Characteristics of Revenge Tragedy - Hamlet - Essay Example

The Seven Characteristics of Revenge Tragedy-Hamlet The first characteristic of a revenge tragedy is… Is therevenge for a father by a son or vice versa, the revenge directed by the ghost of the murdered? This is seen in Act 1, scene 5. Marcellus and Barnado are on guard over the castle, Elsinore, when they see what appears to be the dead King Hamlet. Unsure of themselves, they ask Horatio, an educated man and Prince Hamlets best friend to join them on the watch the next night. When Horatio is told of what they had seen for the prior two nights, he does not believe them. Marcellus tells Barnardo, “Horatio says tis but our fantasy/ and will not let belief take home of him.” Horatio agrees to join them on the watch the following night. When they all meet the ghost appears before them. Marcellus says “Peace, break there off, look where it comes again.” Then Horatio confirms that the phantomresembles the deceasedruler Hamlet. Horatio questions it “What art thou that ursupst this time, together with that fair and warlike form to which the majesty of Denmark did sometimes March?” When Horatio finally agrees to meet them on guard, he does that so he can proof or disproof whether or not the ghost actually appears. When they meet that night, Horatio and the guards do see the ghost appear, but strangely they will not say a word at all, and then he just leaves. After that, Horatio and the guards decide to tell Hamlet that a ghost appeared the previous night, but could not say a word. So at that point, in time, Horatio decides to tell the guards the story about young Fortinbras. King Fortinbras and King Hamlet have a signed treaty that states that the one who loses the war gains the others conquered land because of the war. Now young Fortinbras has come back “however, to get back of us, through firm hand and conditions compensatory, those foresaid soils so by his father lost.” After that encounter, there was another one with the ghost. Horatio and the guards are on watch again. Moreover, the ghost appears again but is still silent. Horatio and the guards quickly debate on whether or not to spear the ghost. Meanwhile, Horatio wants answers from the ghost about something, whether it is the country’s fate or something of mere importance. The ghost is still silent and again refuses to speak and then just leaves. Horatio and the guards decide to tell Hamlet which they hope to find the next morning (Luebering 12). Meanwhile, in Act 1, scene 2, Claudius made a speech to all regarding that he is mourning his brother’s death. Claudius also stated that he had married his former sister-in-law, Gertrude, the Queen. He also states that young Fortinbras is underestimating the strength of Denmark and he is imagining that the death of the King has thrown the country into turmoil. Young Fortinbras dreams of getting the better of him and he never stops pestering him with demands that he surrender the territory his father lost to the elder Hamlet. In Act 1, scene 4, Horatio is on watch with the guards, and Hamlet. All of a sudden, the ghost enters and Hamlet remains surprised. Hamlet tries to speak with the ghost and motions him to come with him, but Horatio and the guards tell Hamlet that he should not, “what if it tries you to the direction of the torrent, my noble, or to the dreadful summit to the cliff.” Finally, Hamlet and the ghost exit together. In Act 1, scene 5, the ghost and Hamlet engage in a conversation. The ghost starts to tell Hamlet that he is the ghost of his father, who remains troubled for a definite time to walk the earth at night while being trapped in the fires of purgatory. The ghost tells Hamlet that he could take revenge for the horrible murder of his father, “revenge his fool and unnatural murder”. The ghosts’ life remained deprived by Brother Claudius and all is taken from him, including his crown and his queen. The ghost says Claudius poisoned him with a sap in a vial. He poured it into his ears as he was sleeping in his garden. The poison immediately erupted through his skin in a torturous way. He died so fast that he could not afford to repent for his sins before he died. The ghost says “No reckoning made, but sent to my account with all my imperfections on my head, oh, horrible, oh, horrible, must horrible!”(Luebering 32). The second characteristic is real and/or pretended insanity. Horatio and Marcellus call to Hamlet as they approach him. They ask Hamlet what news was, but Hamlet resists telling them at first. Hamlet raises his sword and asks them to swear upon it that they will not reveal what they saw that night. And “than are dreamt, of in your philosophy, but come, here, as before, never, so help you mercy, how strange or add so ever I bear myself- as I perchance here after shall think meet to put an antic disposition on.” Horatio, Marcellus, and Hamlet speak again, Hamlet makes them swear once more, and this time the ghost does too. In Act two scene 1, Ophelia who in Act 1 scene 3, remains forbidden to ever see Hamlet again, by her father Polonius, and warned by her brother, Laertes in Act 1, scene 3. Hamlet confronts Ophelia as she was sewing in her room, Ophelia said Hamlet confronted her with his clothes unbuttoned, missing some of his clothes, very dirty, she described it as if he’d been to hell. This is a form of pretended insanity on Hamlets behalf. As Ophelia says, “he seemed to find his way without his eyes.” Another way that Hamlet decides to fake insanity, is when he was talking to Polonius and says “excellent well, you are a fishmonger.” When Hamlet was in the room with Ophelia, he was verbally abusing her. Hamlet is constantly playing with Ophelia’s head saying” I did love you once” and Ophelia believed him and then Hamlet said “I loved you not.” Polonius thinks Hamlet is acting this way because he is madly in love with Ophelia. “Get thee to a nunnery,” Hamlet says to Ophelia so that she would not give birth to sinners. Later on that day, Hamlet goes to talk to his mother; little does he know that Polonius has hidden behind the curtain to hear what Hamlet and the queen are discussing. Polonius says, “My lord he’s going to his mother’s closet. Behind the arras, I’ll convey myself to hear the process” (Luebering 56). The third characteristic constitutes thought of or real suicide. As the child of a killed father, Hamlet suits wonderfully into the chain of Kydian retaliator, despite not being as vigorous as youthful men. Similar to several avengers, Hamlet has a friend, Horatio, whom he finally informs his coverts. “I prithee, when thou seest that act afoot, even with the very comment of thy soul observe my uncle” as in act 3.2. In addition, Horatio has the role to tell the listeners concerning what has occurred prior to the real commencing of acting and he will stay alive to satisfy Hamlets desires. Nevertheless, as the full acting goes past the indigenous sequence of the vengeance play, in addition its champion is not a simple avenger. In the trait of Hamlet, the features of a well-learned scholar, a foolish and distressed individual, a prince, and lastly, the retaliator come collectively. In addition, in Hamlet’s issue, the listeners or the reader sympathizes with him at least up to the period when he kills Polonius, which can have regards as the part in the acting where he commences to reform from fine to wicked (Luebering 74). On one side, he is a fine man who struggles for fairness; however, on the other side, he is in addition wicked. This is clear when he kills Polonius (Act 4.3). His internal puzzlement becomes apparent in his soliloquies, for example in the third act when he appears prepared to accomplish his role, “Now could I drink hot blood…………” in act 3.2, nevertheless, once more pauses in the subsequent praying episode. Hamlet has a division between the religious and moral norms of the period and the pledge he has uttered the phantom of his dad, and is thus steadily looking for a means from this impasse. Due to the killing of Polonius, Hamlet turns to be the casualty of vengeance following his duty of an avenger. Normal for the champion of a vengeance disaster is the avenger’s insanity, which either may be ideal or invented. This foolishness remains demonstrated through Shakespeare in a very complex manner. Hamlet remains assumed to have gone crazy by everyone, however, in the real sense, he extremely makes up to be mad to enable successful organization of his vengeance quietly. In addition, he has difficulties to cover up his understanding and the vision of the ghost and applies the insanity to let go his internal stress. Whereas the other actors attempt to look for the cause of his funny mannerism, for example, Polonius in act 2.2, Hamlet himself previously shows in scene 1.5 that he possibly will “put on an antic disposition”. In several passages of Hamlet, the protagonist reasons about the lack of logic in life and concerning suicide: “You cannot, sir, capture from me something that I will further eagerly separate withal-excluding my life” ,“To exist, or not to exist…” About his external look, Hamlet in addition suits into Kydian technique, since he remains fully clothed in black, act 1.2, and reads a lot. Like it always occurs to the avenger, in addition Hamlet goes through a certain reform. When he returns from England, he becomes more grown up and composed than previously, which is demonstrated in the episode at the burial ground. He appears to have knowledge of his existence and going back to Denmark like an indication of God and attempts to reunite with Laertes and his mother. However, to accomplish the sequence of the Kydian revenge acting, and the anticipations of the Elizabethan listeners, Hamlet, like all the other avengers, has to be no more finally, act 5.2, regardless of how much pity is felt for him (Luebering 83). The fourth characteristic is the hesitation that prolongs the play. In Hamlet, the key stage of impediment of the real avenge happens and even stays up to the fifth scene. Further, the verification episode does in addition emerge in Hamlet. To deal with his disbeliefs, Hamlet plans his action “The Mousetrap”, act 3.2, whereby he faces Claudius ultimately with his action. Further, the argument episode, in which Hamlet has the chance to murder the criminal but does not come out victorious, happens in the third act. Hamlet has to hold on up to when he may be certain concerning Claudio’s blame, and on top of all, has to bear with the full condition. In addition, his conscience has to handle the anonymous between the mandate and its unfairness. In this section of acting, the listeners become sensitive of the feelings load the avenger has to handle. The stress remains made evident by Hamlet’s grieving and his reformed mannerisms towards his previous beloved Ophelia. The normal blame episode of an avenge disaster may be found in the initial act, where the phantom informs Hamlet concerning the killing and asks him for thoughtful deeds for the country of Denmark and his mother. The impediment in Hamlet is abnormally extended, what is in addition because of Claudius’s intrigue versus the champion. In order to deal with Hamlet, he sends him to England where he supposed to be murdered. However, Hamlet succeeds to go back to Denmark and the revenge is almost about to remain staged (Luebering 95). The fifth characteristic is that of the villains. To deal with Hamlet, Claudius commands the English to murder his nephew, act 4.3: “The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England…” After his arrangements have failed, he commences a second trial to murder Hamlet with the aid of Laertes, act 4.7, which finally leads to his own death. What seems exclusive in Hamlet is the reality that the listeners as well Hamlet himself cannot be certain of Claudiu’s guilt up to when he agrees it in the third act: “O, my mistake is position, it stinks to paradise. It hath the primal oldest blight upon’t – A brother’s murder”, act 3.3. This forms a great degree of enthusiasm. Like it is normal for the villain of a vengeance drama; in addition Claudius contains various companions, who assist him to deal with Hamlet like Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern, Laertes or Osric. As it is normal for an avenge disaster, likewise in Hamlet, the criminal’s action forms the foundation of the complete play, since Claudius has murdered his brother so that he takes over the throne and wed Gertrude. Alternatively, he is finally murdered through the similar bat he had tried to use murdering Hamlet, which is a popular episode in revenge plays. The criminal’s conspiracies versus the champion in addition fit in to the sequence started by Thomas Kyd. In Hamlet, the villainous deeds are at the similar period leading in the decline of Claudius. The sixth characteristic is the philosophical soliloquies employed in the play to make it entertaining to the audience. An inner section of the play is occupied with delay of the real avenges. Further, the corresponding anti-action of the criminal to the deed of the champion emerges in Hamlet, in which the two actors establish conspiracies and arranges against one another. In these similar threads, it appears evident that Hamlet and Claudius are both extremely clever and amusing, which makes the strife between the both enemies even much interesting. What is exceptional in Hamlet is the reality that the major deed possesses both avenges conditions (Luebering 102). Hamlet’s killing of Polonius leads to a more thread of action possessing the struggle for revenge of Laertes versus Hamlet himself. As to the major deed of Hamlet, the play suits extremely well into the sequence started by Thomas Kyd. With the tale concerning Polonius’ household, which wraps a very huge section of the play, Shakespeare even integrates a second plan in the play, despite every character of the household is linked to Hamlet, for example, in act 1.3, act 2.1. This turns the deed of the play further complicated than in several avenge disasters. Because the fifth scene of Hamlet covers the reality, the struggle suits into the Kydian sequence, even if Hamlet performs more submissively than the normal avenger does. In addition, in ‘Hamlet’, the outside political condition includes an outline for the play, despite the major deed isn’t affected through it. However, the concessions between Denmark and Norway and the final leadership of Fortinbras over Denmark form up the bigger background of the play. With consideration to smaller episodes, only very less of them can be found in ‘Hamlet’. Nevertheless, Shakespeare applies the insanity motive occasionally. Hamlet’s artificial insanity plays a bigger part in the disaster and in addition, Ophelia’s actual madness, which eventually causes her death, remains widely demonstrated. At the same period, a love episode does not appear, because the love between Hamlet and Ophelia cannot endure the total condition. Since he considers his mother’s mannerism as insult, Hamlet’s feeling towards women in common vanishes. Moreover, his love emotions to Ophelia remain not conformable to the role of revenge, which lies before him. Significant, nevertheless, is the episode of the graveyard, where Hamlet is deeply confused with Ophelia’s death and his thoughts, act 5.1. In this episode, he becomes sensitive of the humanity of life and desires to come together with his mother and Laertes (Luebering 108). The seventh and the last characteristic is that of the murderers on stage, which covers the characters. A special feature about the play is that it remains acted by expert characters, which changes the play to a further elaboration and offers it a further inner place in the play. Moreover, it undermines Hamlet’s learning as a dramatist and critic, because he takes part in the scripting of the play and has a specific understanding concerning the Shakespeare’s plays. “He that fools around the king….; the Adventurous Knight….; the lover…” act 2.2. To expand further, this expertise work stresses that Hamlet conceives his personal life like a play, in which he performs and the rest are the listeners. “That are however speechless or spectators to this act” act 5.2. The coming into view of actual characters further triggers a conversation between Polonius, Hamlet, and the characters on theatre and drama, act 2.2. Shakespeare integrates two plays in the disaster, which include the speech of Pyrrhus, act 2.2, and “The Mousetrap” act 3.2. The initial play serves the role of reminding Hamlet of his mandate of revenge, as the speech of Pyrrhus in addition, constituting the theme of vengeance. The second play on the other side is planned by Hamlet to portray Claudius’s guilt through organizing a deed, which is extremely near to ideality. What is not common in ‘Hamlet’ is the reality that Hamlet did not murder Claudius immediately, or even during the acting, however much later. Also, unusual in the play is the minor quantity of major actors. This is because Shakespeare concentrates on the feature of Hamlet and links all the major actors with every other, as there remain majorly two households, which have participation in the deed. The play contains hero Hamlet together with his rival Claudius and their partners. Next to the significant actor of the ghost of Hamlet senior, the two women, Gertrude and Ophelia, participate in the deed (Luebering 112). Summary The play revenge tragedy is the current and interesting for many of the audience. The enthusiasm formed by revenge actions remains not only because of the sight of blood and crime, however, because of the anonymous of the theme, which demanded one to focus on plot. The play has seven main characteristics highlighted that enabled it to stay so enticing and lively to watch and listen. The first characteristic talks about the revenge carried by the son because of his father, where the ghost of the dead father instructs the son to revenge for his country and his mother. The ghost reappears several times to remind Hamlet of his duty. The second characteristic, which highlights the real or pretended insanity, elaborates on the madness, which Hamlet had pretended in order to accomplish his mission quietly. However, through his words, someone can understand that Hamlet is just pretending to be mad yet he is not.The real madness is that of Ophelia which causes her death eventually after Hamlet reduces his affectionate to her. The two types of madness explain the features of the two characters in the play. The third characteristic is that of the thought of real suicide where Hamlet after following Polonius for so long in a bid to avenge for his father finally decides to kill his uncle. The act however, does not come so easily and Hamlet faces various dilemmas before finally deciding to kill Polonius (Luebering 12). The fourth characteristic is that of the delay that prolongs the play. Hamlet plans to kill his uncle to avenge for his father from the start of the play, however, he delays killing his uncle and this lengthens the play. For example, at one point when he stages the play to prove the guilt of Polonius, Polonius moves out at the middle of the play and Hamlet is sure that he is the murderer of his father. Nevertheless, after following him outside he finds him praying and decides not to kill him when talking to God as he might go to heaven as his sins would be forgiven. The fifth characteristic is that of the villains Hamlet and Claudius who plan evil against each other. Hamlet is not aware of the plan by Claudius to kill him and at the same time Hamlet plans to kill Polonius. The sixth characteristic is that of the philosophical soliloquies applied by Shakespeare in ‘Hamlet’ revenge tragedy. The soliloquies talked about in the discussion include the intelligence, wittiness, and madness. The soliloquies help the play to become more attractive and lively to the audience. The last characteristic is that of the murderers on stage, which covers the characters involved in the planning of death disaster. These characters form the major part of the play and they are the key actors. That is the flow of the seven characteristics of revenge tragedy by Hamlet (Luebering16). Work cited Luebering, J E. English Literature from the Old English Period Through the Renaissance. New York, NY: Britannica Educational Pub., in association with Rosen Educational Services, 2011. Print. Read More