Hamlet defies the conventions of revenge tragedy by departing from them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay - Sydney Bolt, 1985 The typical Elizabethan theatergoer attending the first production of Hamlet in 1604 would have had clear expectations. The conventions of the Elizabethan revenge tragedy, dating initially to the Roman poet Seneca, were already well established. Thomas Kyd later established the "Kydian Formula", a framework including all the elements of a typical revenge tragedy, when he published The Spanish Tragedy in 1586. The event that drives the plot of the play Kyd is a murder, committed by a future King, who is thus placed beyond the reach of the law. The ghost of the victim, returning from Purgatory to ask his son to avenge his death, serves as a chorus throughout the play. His son pretends to be crazy and puts on a stupid show in court to assure himself of the murderer's responsibility. This play full of melodrama and rhetoric ends with the death of almost all the characters, including the assassin, the son, and the son's accomplice. In Hamlet, Shakespeare adheres to all the salient elements of Kyd. I would therefore take issue with Bolt's statement that Shakespeare departs from the conventions of revenge tragedy. In fact, I would argue that Shakespeare transcends these conventions, producing something far more powerful than a traditional, conventional revenge tragedy. Shakespeare draws on the structure of a conventional revenge tragedy and creates a psychological drama, focusing on the protagonist's tortured personality and his motivation, rather than the act of revenge itself. Shakespeare uses Hamlet's soliloquies to express the instability and depression of his protagonists. In Act I, Scene II, he exclaims, "Oh, that this too solid flesh would melt," because he regards all ordinary ways of life simply as "tired, stale, flat, and unprofitable." Shakespeare uses the image of an "unweeded garden" as a metaphor for Hamlet's own existence: Hamlet's garden and life are full of worthless things that practically suffocate him. From this tortuous despair and self-doubt comes his indecision, even regarding his own despair: “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Hamlet's dilemma over whether or not to end his life is followed by a sequence of rhetorical questions: Is it nobler in the spirit to suffer the slings and arrows of scandalous fortune? , or to take up arms against a sea of ​​unrest, and oppose putting an end to it? These questions delve deeper into Hamlet's philosophy on suicide and his uncertainty about his situation. Indeed, there seems to be very little coherence in Hamlet's life; his father was murdered and his own mother married (in ignorance) the murderer; his lover, Ophélie, “denied him access” at the request of his father. The fact that the two women in his life seem to have rejected him obviously fuels his ardent misogyny. In Act I, Scene II, he exclaims "Fragility, thy name is woman!" In Act III, Scene I, the tension between Hamlet and Ophelia is evident from the start. She addresses him as "Good, my lord," but what dominates the conversation is Hamlet's discussion of his loss of trust in women. Abandoning verse for wild prose, Hamlet's rambling speech communicates to the audience that he believes all women (he uses the address "yourselves") are treacherous deceivers; who "jig", "amble", "lisp", "nickname God's creatures" and make their "freedom" their "ignorance". Hamlet develops morelater his hatred for women when he confronts Gertrude with her sins: “Like killing a king and marrying your brother. » With its violent and repulsive images of what he considers to be incestuous conduct on the part of the Queen ("It will only flay and film the ulcerous place, while the gross corruption, the exploitation of everything 'inside, foul invisible'), not only greatly upsets his mother ("O Hamlet, you have split my heart in two") but, implicitly, also condemns the whole woman. In Act I, scene VI, Hamlet speaks to Horatio and despises not only Claudius, but also the Danish nation for his "custom" of organizing large "parties". He disapproves of the Danes' way of celebrating because he considers that this fault alone lets the country down, giving him. a bad reputation to a man, saying that if a man is born of nature, he will have a fundamental flaw that will cause him to fall as he grows This idea causes the audience to pity Hamlet since, with the. hindsight, they know he really is, describing himself when he talks about this man. In keeping with the traditions of revenge tragedy, Shakespeare gives Hamlet a fatal flaw, but ironically this flaw is an inability to accomplish what his father's ghost asks him to do so that the hero will not take revenge. would have considerably surprised the Elizabethan public. In Act III, Scene III, Hamlet is given a perfect opportunity to kill Claudius when he apparently finds him praying in the chapel ("Now I could do it, pat"), but he ultimately decides to not to do so, a decision can be confirmed. from his purse. Student Hamlet's fatal flaw comes from the way he begins to think carefully and consider the consequences of committing murder. Indeed, in his soliloquy, Hamlet says “who would be scanned” and begins to reflect on his actions. In accordance with the religious beliefs prevalent at the time, Hamlet sincerely believes that if he kills Claudius while praying, Claudius' soul will go straight to heaven. At any other time, Claudius would have gone to Purgatory, where Hamlet's father currently resides, since he did not receive absolution for his sins before being murdered. However, if Hamlet had been the conventional avenger his Elizabethan audience expected, he would not have paused long enough to fully understand the consequences of his actions; he would have preferred to kill Claudius as soon as he had the chance. Hamlet's awareness of his fatal flaw makes him even less of a conventional revenge hero; in his soliloquy in Act III, Scene I, he states: “Thus conscience makes cowards of us all. He calls himself a “thug and peasant slave”; while the Player is distressed simply from having performed in the stupid spectacle ("And all that for nothing!"), Hamlet himself is unable even to evoke the same emotion. He speculates: What would he do, if he had the motive and the signal of passion that I have? He would drown the scene with tears. Hamlet feels guilty about his inability to do so, saying he is "not pregnant with my cause." He asks himself: “Am I a coward? », interrupting his monologue, already punctuated by exclamations such as “O revenge! ”, with broken sentences and verses that dissolve into the single syllable “Ha! » Hamlet's inner turmoil over his inability to act is only heightened when Shakespeare juxtaposes his protagonist's situation with two similar situations in which the heroes actively seek revenge. In Poland, Fortinbras fights to reconquer a tiny, worthless “little piece of land”; Hamlet compares himself unfavorably and accuses himself (rightly) of "thinking too precisely about the event." He believes that it is a mark of greatness to "find a quarrel in astraw” (on a trivial matter) “[when] honor is at stake.” He realizes that his own honor is much more at stake than that of Fortinbras, and yet he is ready to “let everything sleep”. Fortinbras' activity seems to spur him into action ("My thoughts are bloody or worthless!"), but there is no further evidence in the play after this point to suggest that he is plotting to kill the king whom 'Before. The second contrasting character proposed by Shakespeare is Laertes. After Hamlet kills his father, Polonius, and is indirectly responsible for Ophelia's madness ("desperate terms") and death (since she most likely committed suicide), Laertes, under the impulse of the Machiavellian Claudius, desperately seeks revenge. Laertes is furious with Claudius when he learns of his father's death and immediately rushes to Denmark to avenge the terrible insult to his honor. Shakespeare introduces us to the powerful symbolism of "The ocean, surpassing its list" - the rising tide of Laertes' "rabble" quickly covering the seashore, and continues the tense sense of urgency with Laertes' aggressive dialogue: “This drop of blood is calm,” the bastard proclaims to me. Laertes refuses to be calmed, protesting that to do so would be to deny him his status as his father's son. When Claudius tells Laertes of his desire that Hamlet be killed by "accident", to ensure that Gertrude suspects nothing, Laertes immediately presents himself as the "organ" of Hamlet's death. Although Claudius manipulates him, Laertes plays an active role in formulating the plot, himself conceiving the idea of ​​poisoning the already "undefeated" sword; His desire for revenge is so strong that he would even be willing to kill a childhood friend. However, Hamlet, the unconventional revenge hero, cannot himself kill a man who murdered his father and then immediately married his mother! When Claudius questions him about what he would be willing to do to avenge his father's death, Laertes' response is violent and unequivocal: "To cut his throat, I have the church." Ironically, this echoes Hamlet's earlier failure to kill Claudius in church, as seen in Act III Scene III. Laertes' aggressive response reveals that he is a man of action, and therefore a medieval man. Hamlet, on the other hand, is a great thinker; a Renaissance man. I believe it is entirely consistent with Shakespeare's approach to transcending the elements of revenge tragedy that instead of keeping Hamlet as a conventional revenge seeker in the mold of Seneca, he sculpts a contemporary figure . Shakespeare presents a protagonist who, far from being a conventional Roman Catholic, is actually part of a new breed of man. Hamlet attended the University of Wittenberg in Germany, the cradle of Martin Luther's Protestantism and the Reformation. Shakespeare also creates a humanistic quality in Hamlet, with his thirst for knowledge and concern for the complexity of man's personality ("What a work is man"). By creating a college-educated Renaissance humanist, Shakespeare distinguishes Hamlet from other heroes of vengeance such as Hieronimo in The Spanish Tragedy and Laertes, thereby emphasizing Hamlet's unconventional character. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper from our expert now. Some critics claim that the final scene of the play sees Hamlet transformed into the conventional revenge hero he has always aspired to be, as he kills Claudius in a fit of passion. Indeed, it is true that the final scene, where the stage is littered with bodies, respects the traditions of the conventional revenge tragedy. The Elizabethan audience would have left satisfied! However, the treatment of.