Topical Analysis of Hamlet and Henry IV part 1 - Essay Example

Topical Analysis of Hamlet and Henry IV part The century in which the great poet and literary scholar Shakespeare wrote was the 16th century. In 16th century the world was moving towards a change but was still in the realms of conservativeness. The palace of United Kingdom was still in place and Queen Elizabeth was the queen of that palace. In these times when people were afraid to pass certain comments on certain topics, Shakespeare had the courage to use his skills and write on the particular subjects which were not common in those days. In those times the topic of love was more commonly portrayed in literary works rather than subjects like betrayal, greed, robbery, threats, war, sex, humor and tragedy. In the times when all these topics were impossible to write on Shakespeare made a great move and wrote on these topics with immense care. This essay would further describe how Shakespeare used all these topics in these times with his skills so that these topics became acceptable not only on the page but also on the stage. Henry IV Part I is a story about a King and his rebellions. It revolves around the greed for the kingdom and the betrayal of king. King Henry leads the story as the king but soon faces problems at the hands of the people because of whom he has reached the throne. King Henry is not content with the actions of his son Prince Harry who is more diverted towards the materialistic world. Prince Harry not only does involve in drinking but he also makes friends with liars and burglars. This creates a gap of misunderstanding between the King and the Prince. However the change in the plot takes place when one of the loyal noblemen of the King betrays him and shows his greed for the attainment of the throne of King Henry. Hotspur is the name of the character that betrays the King and forces a civil war to pertain in his kingdom. Furthermore, he also gathers allies in order to fight the army of the King and defeat him, but it is later known that most of his allies refuse to take part in the war. Seeing the situation of a civil war in the state King Henry calls upon his son to fight in the battle. Prince Harry comes back to the throne only to fight and win the war for his father. Hotspur is defeated by the army of King Henry with the help of his son and both the father and son get back on good terms. In this sequel Shakespeare tells about the greed one has for the throne and the inner conflicts which a kingdom can face. However in those times it was impossible to point out at the royal kingdom and the greed which people have for the throne. But this was greatly portrayed by Shakespeare in this sequel with his skills of love and affection. He showed how both the father and son joined to achieve one common goal of defeating the army of Hotspur. The story also tells about the fading relationships of the King and his son and the activities that the son has indulged into. These activities of drinking and being in the wrong company were seen as a sign of disgrace and could not be pointed out on the royal Kingdom. However Shakespeare again with the help of his skills portrayed it beautifully. He pointed out how mistakes are committed in the royal Kingdom and how they can possibly be rectified. Shakespeare with the help of love, humor and affection showed how one can indulge in bad activities and how one can be made to avoid doing these things. He further in the sequel Henry IV described a scene in which the son of King Henry is involved in a burglary set up. In those times it was not acceptable to read in the books or watch on the stages such type of immoral acts. However Shakespeare with the help of humor covered the act. He showed that Prince Harry only indulged in the activity to make fun of Falstaff by stealing the very loot that he looted. Shakespeare beautifully used humor in Henry IV and showed burglary in those times. Similarly the betrayal of Hotspur was portrayed beautifully by Shakespeare in terms of love as when the son of King is called upon by the King for a war, he comes upon to help his father. The act of betrayal is covered up by Shakespeare by the fact that the son of the King comes to his help even when they are not on good terms. The greed for the throne is also seen in this play as different alliances join hands together to defeat King Henry. However, once again this greed is not emphasized upon by Shakespeare and covered up by the love showed in the play. The greed prevalent in the kingdoms was showed through this story beautifully by Shakespeare and it was not even objected for when read or watched on the stage. Shakespeare used different skills to portray the story in a different way which was acceptable to the overall society in the sixteenth century. Acts which could not be shown openly in that century were covered by major themes of the essays. Humor was added to the play to cover up the acts of robbery, while love and affection to cover up greed and betrayal. On the other hand another play known as Hamlet was also written in the sixteenth century by William Shakespeare. This play revolves around the death of King Hamlet in Denmark. After the death of King Hamlet the throne is taken over by his brother Claudius and he also marries the widowed wife of King Hamlet. As the play moves ahead it is known that King Hamlet was intentionally killed by his brother Claudius to inherit the throne. When Prince Hamlet comes to know about the killer he decides to take revenge from his uncle. But seeing the situation he decides to take the revenge on the right time. The fact that his uncle killed King Hamlet is further confirmed when Prince Hamlet arranges a play in which the King is killed by his brother for the greed of the throne. As the play reaches the stage at which the brother is killing the King, Claudius leaves the theatre. This shows that Claudius is filled with guilt for killing his brother. Different misunderstandings occur in Hamlet which leads Prince Hamlet to kill Polonius and this results in the banishment of Prince to England. Similarly after the death of Polonius his son decides to avenge his fathers death by killing Prince Hamlet. A fight is arranged between Polonius’s son and the Prince in which the sword of Polonius’s son is poisoned so that Hamlet can be killed. Furthermore the uncle of Hamlet also arranges a poisoned goblet for Hamlet to drink in case he wins the fight between him and Polonius’s son. But the whole plot of the story changes when different events take place and the poisoned goblet is drunken by Hamlets mother i.e. Gertrude. Polonius’s son strikes Hamlet with the poisoned sword but later dies because Hamlet strikes him with the same sword. Before dying Polonius’s son reveals to Hamlet that Gertrude died because of the plan designed by his Uncle Claudius. And this makes Hamlet kill his Uncle before dying himself. Hamlet in the end of the play is honored as a soldier of war by the Fortinbras who takes over the throne. In this story Shakespeare has used different techniques to cover up the events which were not desirable in the sixteenth century. The story revolves around greed for power, family betrayal and deaths. All these incidents quoted in the play are directly adapted to the kingdom in Denmark and it showed the reality of how one can kill his family for gaining power. Shakespeare has amalgamated tragedy in the story to make the play readable and watchable. In those times any kind of bad remark against the kingdom was not bearable but Shakespeare put the family betrayal in such a way that tragedy mounted as the main subject of the play. The plays reached the stages in those times only because Shakespeare portrayed them in such a different way. If a similar type of play had been showed without emotions and tragedy it would not have been liked by the crowd in that century as the palace was the most respectable place in those times. Shakespeare with the help of emotions, revenge and vengeance portrayed a whole different set of play which could be showed openly on stages. He used the help of different literary aspects and made the play’s theme different than that objecting the royal kingdoms of those times. When Prince Hamlet was avenging his fathers death it was showed by Shakespeare that he did it solely for the purpose of avenging his fathers death. Whereas family betrayal for power was a reality of those times it could not be openly made into plays. But Shakespeare had the courage to write play of such nature amalgamating the play with different literary mechanics to leave the particular message amongst the readers without harming the integrity of their thinking. It can be said that Shakespeare wrote such plays which would not harm the royalty of kingdoms but would leave a message amongst the crowd about the different realities of life. Tragedy and humor were used beautifully by Shakespeare in both these novels to leave an impact on the readers and watchers of the play. Bibliography Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Champaign, Ill: Project Gutenberg, 1990s. Shakespeare, William. King Henry IV. Part I.A Tragedy. London: Pub. for the Proprietors, by W. Simpkin, and R. Marshall [etc.], 1822. Read More