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Example research essay topic: Hamlet A Tragic Hero - 1,657 words

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Hamlet: A Tragic Hero William Shakespeare is unquestionably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, writer in English literature. From historians to middle school students to modern authors, just about anyone can tell of his contributions in the literary world. His play Hamlet depicts rather remarkable instances of dramatic conflicts that take their place the plays. Hamlet, the timeless tragedy by William Shakespeare, has at its core an amazing internal struggle within its title character.

As a result of this quandary, Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, contradicts himself many times throughout out the play. As well as trying to be true to himself, Hamlet is proficient at acting out roles and making people falsely believe. The roles that he plays are ones in which he feigns madness to ultimately accomplish his goal. While one second Hamlet pretends to be under a strange spell of madness, seconds later he may become perfectly calm and rational.

These inconsistencies are directly related with the internal dilemmas that he faces. He struggles with the issue of revenging his fathers death, vowing to kill Claudius and then backing out several times. His actions throughout the play support this duplicitous nature. His dual persona is the foundation of Hamlets madness, and ultimately the play itself. There are many examples that illustrate how Hamlets fraudulent nature results in a tragedy because of his inability and reluctance to choose which role to play.

William Shakespeare's tragic hero, Hamlet, can arguably be discussed, through his rare mix of witty intelligence, hostile impatience and dual personalities, as Shakespeare's most interesting character. At times, Hamlet displays sheer brilliance, evident as he devises a plan to catch Claudius for King Hamlets murder. Hamlet then loses his senses and kills Polonius, leaving no remorse behind him, eventually acting as seemingly two different characters by unexplainable mood changes. Author and play-write, Shakespeare, usually following Aristotle's Guidelines, leaves readers baffled by creating this mind-boggling character, and even more baffled by Hamlets unforeseen demise, a demise caused by three swelling emotions. These characteristics are all part of this timelessly treasured masterpiece. One of the literary accomplishments of William Shakespeare lies in his development of English tragedy.

Shakespeare did not create this genre initially, but it is important that he contributed to some of its Renaissance modifications. In general, tragedy is one of the oldest forms of drama. (Tragedy, Encyclopedia). Mel Gordon, B. A. , M. A. , Ph.

D. identifies tragedy as dramatic genre that presents the heroic or moral struggle of an individual, culminating in his or her ultimate defeat. (Mel Gordon, Online Encyclopedia, 2005) Tragedy was derived from religious and poetic traditions of Ancient Greece. The roots of tragedy are traced to the dithyrambs, in other words the chants and dances, which honored Greek god Dionysus, later Romans called him Bacchus. The Wikipedia describes the ancient origins of tragedy in the following way: These drunken, ecstatic performances were said to have been created by the satyrs, half-goat beings who surrounded Dionysus in his revelry, and the Greek words tags meaning goat and avidin to sing were combined in the word tragoidia, goat-songs from which the word tragedy is derived. (Tragedy, the Wikipedia, 2005). One of the most influential theorists of tragedy was Aristotle. He included critical interpretation of tragedy and requirements of its composition into his work named Poetics.

According to David L. Simpson, the following definition of tragedy can be derived from Aristotelian remarks and commentary: Tragedy depicts the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, producing suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience. (David L. Simpson, 1998). The same critic, Simpson, holds in his article Comedy and Tragedy (1998) that such definition implies these principles and requirements of Aristotelian tragedy: 1) A true tragedy should evoke pity and fear on the part of the audience. (Simpson, 1998) Aristotle stated that such emotions as fear and pity are the natural responses of humans to seeing pain and suffering. Here Aristotle underlined this kind of suffering that any time can happen with anybody. 2) The tragic hero must be essentially admirable and good. (Simpson, 1998) Aristotle pointed out that a fall of a villain or a scoundrel would evoke applause rather than pity. Audiences feel compassion if a good person goes down, and they cheer when they see a downfall of a bad guy.

Usually, the anxiety and grief will be greater, if the person is nobler and more admirable. 3) In a true tragedy, the heros demise must come as a result of some personal error or decision. (Simpson, 1998) In other words, the tragedy must be the product of some action or fatal choice and the tragic hero must always be responsible for his own doom. Equally important is the plot of a tragedy. Aristotle said that the plot is the soul of tragedy and thus it must be an imitation of a complete and noble action. In Hamlet, Shakespeare provides such complete action that consists of a beginning, the middle part and the end. These sections must meet the criterion of their respective placement: Prologue, Episode, Exodus, Choric songs, this last being divided into Parodos and Stasimon.

Shakespeare follows this arrangement and divides Hamlet into 5 parts: Prologue, Episode, Exodus, Parodos and Stasimon. In order to make the action of Hamlet complete, the tragedy must have activating circumstances, a disclosure, and a reversal of action. One sees from the very beginning that Hamlet is a very complex and conflicted person, and that his tragedy has already begun. Hamlets anger and grief primarily stemming from his mothers marriage to Claudius brings him to thoughts of suicide, which only subside because of it being a mortal and religious sin.

Usually Hamlet analyzes all possible situations too carefully, which eventually causes him to procrastinate. This delay in the judgment allows Claudius to escape the revenge and to plot the overcome of Hamlet. The fact that Hamlet wants to take his own life demonstrates a weakness in his character. His decision not to kill himself because of religious beliefs shows that this weakness is balanced with some sense of morality.

Such an obvious paradox is only one example of the inner conflict and turmoil that will eventually lead to Hamlets downfall. But another example of his inner conflict is definitely love, which was driving Hamlet to revenge. In Hamlet the activating circumstance is the ghost of Hamlets father, who appears to inform Hamlet that he was poisoned by Claudius. The ghost asks Hamlet to revenge his death. The interference of supernatural forces causes suffering and further destruction of the protagonist. Hamlet is weak and indecisive in his revenge.

The disclosure comes when Hamlet arranges the performance telling the story very similar to that of his fathers death and showing the guilt of Claudius. The reversal of action occurs when Hamlet is killed in the duel with Laertes. When Hamlet dies, he manages to stab his enemy Claudius with the poisoned sword and in this way to complete his revenge. The tragedy Hamlet demonstrates the distinctive mark of tragic imitation, as required by Aristotle. It contains a sequence of actions that excite fear and pity of the audience.

Thus, the character of ghost brings fear in the first scene: one of the soldiers as if predicting the appearance of ghost describes his emotional state: tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart. (Hamlet, p. 25); also later Horatio says about the ghost that it harrows me with fear and wonder. (Hamlet, p. 25). These feelings are easily transferred to the audience. The feeling of pity is also expressed many times in the tragedy. King: Though yet of Hamlet our dear brothers death/ The memory be green: and that it us befitted/ to bear our hearts in grief, and our whole Kingdom/ to be contracted in one brow of woe (Hamlet, p. 31) Nevertheless, Shakespeare's tragedy do not completely follow the requirements posed in Aristotelian Poetics. For example, Shakespeare often mixes low-life characters with his noble ones - kings and princes. Moreover, Shakespeare's representatives of lower social levels incorporate wit and bawdy turning the situation into comedy rather than keeping a heightened tone.

To illustrate this there is a speech of the soldiers from Hamlet: Barnardo: Whos there? Francisco: Nay answer me. Stand and unfold yourself. Then Barnardo recommends: tis now struck twelve, get thee to bed Francisco. (Hamlet, p. 25) Also, Shakespeare used irony in his plays. This contradicts the requirements of language in Aristotelian tragedy. Nevertheless, important is the role of women in Shakespeare's tragedies.

Shakespeare tends to equalize men and women in his plays. For instance, women bear the same emotional burden as men. In Hamlet, Hamlets suffer and mourning of his fathers death are set on the background of the grief and further madness of Ophelia. In conclusion, it is essential to mention that Shakespeare followed the requirements of Aristotelian tragedy in many aspects.

Thus, Hamlet has complete actions, which are provided with activating circumstances, a disclosure, and a reversal of action. The play also has the sequence of action in plot, as Aristotle demanded. The nobility of the tragedy is shown through the nobility of their protagonists and the nobility of their intentions. Hamlet excites fear and pity of the audience.

There are Shakespearean innovations in Hamlet that contradict the point of view of Aristotle, however. For example, Shakespeare mixes low-life characters with his noble ones, uses irony in his plays, and tends to equalize men and women. Bibliography: Aristotle. Poetics.

Translated by S. H. Butcher. Network Resources of Classics. David L. Simpson, Comedy and Tragedy, The School for New Learning, DePaul University, 1998.

Mel Gordon, Tragedy, Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. Muir, Kenneth and Stanley Wells, eds. Aspects of Hamlet: Cambridge University Press, 1979. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet.

Penguin Popular Classics: England, Clays Ltd, 1994. Tragedy, Wikipedia. < web >


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