Hamlet Correspond to Classical or Medieval Notions of Tragedy

Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy: Hamlet is one of the most famous tragedies ever written, and in many respects, it exhibits the features traditionally associated with the tragic genre. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy In addition to the play ending with the death of Hamlet and a host of others, Hamlet himself is a classic tragic protagonist. As the Prince of Denmark, Hamlet is a figure whose actions matter to an entire kingdom, which means the play’s events reverberate through the entire world of the play. Like other tragic heroes, he displays many admirable traits. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy Hamlet may have a reputation for moping around Elsinore Castle with a melancholy disposition, but this is because he grieves his beloved father’s untimely death. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy Despite his sadness, Hamlet is an intelligent young man of great potential, as many other characters recognize. Fortinbras says as much in the final lines of the play: “he was likely, had he been put on [the throne], / To have proved most royal” (V.ii.373–74). Finally, part of the reason Hamlet sets out down the dark path to destruction is that he succumbs to increasing isolation. His isolation amplifies his inwardness, and it also has tragic effects on others. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy His rejection of Ophelia, combined with his murder of her father, drives her to madness and, presumably, to suicide.

Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy: For all that it resembles a traditional tragedy, Hamlet also strains the usual conventions of the genre. One notable example is in the “dark path” that Hamlet embarks on that leads to catastrophe. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy In most tragedies it’s clear that the hero is choosing to pursue something they shouldn’t—in the case of a revenge tragedy, the hero succumbs to a desire for murderous vengeance. In Hamlet’s case, he seems to have every reason to take vengeance, because Claudius really did murder the king and usurp his place, but Hamlet seems ambivalent about the Ghost’s plea for vengeance, or slow to carry it out. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy He seems to want to know the truth more than anything, which doesn’t seem like a tragic choice. The choice he makes that leads to many of the tragic consequences of the play—such as the death of Ophelia—is his choice to isolate himself from everyone else, behave erratically, and pretend to be mad.

Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy: Another ambiguity in Hamlet’s status as a tragic hero pertains to his tragic flaw. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy Readers often identify this as his indecisiveness, which makes sense, given that Hamlet himself repeatedly berates himself for being slow to take vengeance. Laertes and Fortinbras function as Hamlet’s foils in this regard; each one acts with surefooted certainty throughout the play. Indecisiveness is a strange tragic flaw, though, because in most tragedies the flaw helps explain why the protagonist pursues the wrong things—the flaw is more typically an urge or desire rather than a passive trait. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy Hamlet’s indecisiveness does not explain why he murders Polonius, spurns Ophelia, psychologically manipulates Gertrude, and isolates himself from his peers. In fact, his indecisiveness is the reason he tends to avoid taking action. Read in this way, Hamlet’s indecisiveness does not mark a tragic flaw so much as an existential condition—a condition that today’s audiences often identify with strongly.

Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy: Hamlet also belongs to the genre of revenge tragedy in that it features a main character seeking to avenge a wrong against himself, but Shakespeare satirizes and modifies the genre in several ways. In traditional revenge tragedies, which Shakespeare’s audience would have been familiar with, the hero is an active, decisive figure who doggedly pursues a clear villain. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy The obstacles he faces are external, and once he sees the opportunity to take his revenge, he seizes it. Hamlet, on the other hand, struggles mostly with himself in his pursuit of Claudius. His obstacles are his own indecision and hesitation, and he lets several opportunities to seize revenge pass, such as when he sees Claudius praying and decides not to kill him. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy Further, Hamlet only kills Claudius once his own death is assured, so any satisfaction he gets from his nemesis’s death is extremely short-lived. In these ways Shakespeare provides the traditional, bloody, action-filled revenge tragedy with a greater degree of psychological complexity and plausibility.

     Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy: The Roman world failed to revive tragedy. Seneca (4 BCE–65 CE) wrote at least eight tragedies, mostly adaptations of Greek materials, such as the stories of Oedipus, Hippolytus, and Agamemnon, but with little of the Greek tragic feeling for character and theme. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy The emphasis is on sensation and rhetoric, tending toward melodrama and bombast. 

      The plays are of interest in this context mainly as the not entirely healthy inspiration for the precursors of Elizabethan tragedy in England. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy The long hiatus in the history of tragedy between the Greeks and the Elizabethans has been variously explained. In the Golden Age of Roman literature, roughly from the birth of Virgil in 70 BCE to the death of Ovid in 17 CE, the Roman poets followed the example of Greek literature; although they produced great lyric and epic verse, their tragic drama lacked the probing freshness and directness fundamental to tragedy. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy With the collapse of the Roman world and the invasions of the barbarians came the beginnings of the long, slow development of the Christian church. Churchmen and philosophers gradually forged a system, based on Christian revelation, of human nature and destiny. The mass, with its daily reenactment of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, its music, and its dramatic structure, may have provided something comparable to tragic drama in the lives of the people.

With the coming of the Renaissance, the visual arts more and more came to represent the afflictive aspects of life, and the word tragedy again came into currency. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy Geoffrey Chaucer used the word in Troilus and Criseyde, and in The Canterbury Tales it is applied to a series of stories in the medieval style of de casibus virorum illustrium, meaning “the downfalls (more or less inevitable) of princes.” Chaucer used the word to signify little more than the turn of the wheel of fortune, against whose force no meaningful human effort is possible. Hamlet correspond to classical or medieval notions of tragedy It remained for the Elizabethans to develop a theatre and a dramatic literature that reinstated the term on a level comparable to that of the aGreeks.

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