Hamlet as a Revenge play

                Assignment

Name: Rupa Bambhaniya

Paper No: 1: The Renaissance literature

Enrollment no: 2069108420200002

Class: M.A sem 1

Submitted by:  Smt.S.B.Gardhi, Department of English

Email I'd: rupabambhniya166@gmail.com

   

   Hamlet as a Revenge play.

Hemlet is written by Will Shakespeare.

Hamlet is the most famous Tragedy.

Our Shakespeare has also enriched the field of revenge plays with his “Hamlet”. But Hamlet is certainly a great advance on The Spanish Tragedy. Hamlet is definitely a great example of a typical revenge tragedy of the Elizabethan theater era. Hamlet is a play concerned with son's revenge for the murder of father. Revenge never sleep as Thomas kyd dramatically demonstrate in The Spanish Tragedy.There are three plots in Shakespeare's Hamlet: the main revenge plot and two subplots involving the romance between Hamlet and Ophelia, and the looming war with Norway. The following is a guide to the main plot, with a look at all the significant events on Hamlet's journey for vengeance. 

Most revenge tragedies share some basic elements: a play within a play, mad scenes, a vengeful ghost, one or several gory scenes, and, most importantly, a central character who has a serious grievance against a formidable opponent. This central character takes matters into his own hands and seeks revenge privately, after justice has failed him in the public arena. It should be noted that Hamlet is the only protagonist in any Elizabethan revenge play who can be considered a hero, aware of the moral implications involved in exacting his revenge. Hieronimo revenge murder of his son Horatio in The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicus imitates Thyestes in Greet Myth after serving his enemy Tamora , queen of Goths, the minced bodies of her children cooked in pie , after she has eater it , he kills her.

It deals with some crime heinous and most unnatural.

Some near relative printimate person is called upon to revenge the murder.

It is the Ghost of the Dead who reveals the crime committed.

There is much bloodshed and physical horror. There is much that is thrilling and sensational use of fighting, of violence, madness , adultery , even incest.

Murder of King Hamlet by Claudius.

Ghost of King reveals crime to prince Hamlet and lays the sacred duty to taken Revenge.

Death of polonius, Ophelia, Gertrude, Guildenstern , Rosencrantz..

Madness of Hamlet, Ophelia, plots and counter plots, reference to adultery and incest relations , nunnery sences, graveyard sences, fencing fight, poisoning..Hamlet turns revenge tragedy on its head by taking away the usual obstacles to the hero’s vengeance. In a typical revenge tragedy like The Spanish Tragedy, the hero faces two obstacles: to find out who the murderers are, and then to get himself into a position where he can kill them. In Hamlet, the hero learns the identity of his father’s murderer at the end of Act I, and he’s in a position to kill Claudius from the very beginning. No character thwarts him in his desire for revenge, and, living in the same palace as his nemesis, he has many chances to enact his plot. Hamlet’s only real obstacle is in his head he is uncertain what he should believe and how he should act. By making the obstacles to Hamlet’s revenge internal, Shakespeare introduces philosophical questions to the revenge tragedy which had not appeared in the genre before. Can we believe the evidence of our eyes? Is revenge justified? Can we predict the consequences of our actions? What happens when we die?The opening scene sets the tone of the play – a play shrouded in mystery and horror. The ghost appears to the night guards, a shadowy figure resembling much in the dress and the armour of the late king. The appearance of dead king’s ghost has a profound effect upon the night guards as Marcellus remarks: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”. Although Horatio will not believe in the ghost until witness of his eyes; it appearance “harrows him with fear and wonder”. It is not made to speak rather “stalks away majestically”. The ghost appears twice in the opening scene but does not vouchsafe a reply to Horatio’s questions. Hamlet is amazed at the idea of his father’s apparition:

My father’s spirit in arms! All is not well/ I doubt some foul play.”

Hamlet himself is dumbfounded at the sight the ghost. The ghost makes the shocking revelation of its murder to HamletThe spirit that I have seen/ May be the devil and the devil hath power/To assume a pleasing shape.”

To verify the truth of the ghost’s statement, Hamlet first feigns madness, and then gets enacted mousetrap play to “catch the conscience of the king”. During the play Hamlet closely watches Claudius’ reaction when the actors perform the murder scene.Afterwards Hamlet finds Claudius at prayer, confessing his sins:

“O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven/It hath primal eldest curse upon it/A brother’s murder.”

He pulls out his sword and gets ready to kill Claudius. But suddenly Hamlet changes his mind because if he kills his uncle while he is praying he will go to heaven, and Hamlet wants him to go to hell.“To hell, allegiance! Vows to the blackest devil.” , he declares.

If Hamlet feels “Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all”, Laertes consigns conscience to the devil, and will “cut his throat in the church”. Hamlet, on the other hand,  has to convert the external action of revenge into one that is internal, free and truly moral.Shakespeare has introduced characters like Laertes and Fortinbras that are obviously foils to Hamlet. Fortinbras, the son of the slain king of Norway, is all hot for action. He finds “quarrel in a straw” and intends to risk his life even for an “egg-shell”. He travels many miles to take his revenge and ultimately succeeds in conquering Denmark. When Hamlet murders Polonius, another revenge is ready to begin.Hamlet fulfills all the conventions of typical revenge tragedy: there is murder, adultery, insanity, incestuous marriage and faithfulness. Besides these, there is a melodramatic element also violence and bloodshed, terrible and blood-chilling scenes  which is in line with the revenge tragedy conventions.Most revenge tragedies share some basic elements: a play within a play, mad scenes, a vengeful ghost, one or several gory scenes, and, most importantly, a central character who has a serious grievance against a formidable opponent.