HAMLET AS A REVENGE TRAGEDY

TAHIRA AHMAD

INTRODUCTION

“Revenge is a powerful, natural and dangerous emotion”.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a complex and multifaceted play bringing together many themes. Shakespeare was a groundbreaking pioneer in his time and wrote plays that were totally different from anything the world had ever seen before. He explored the human spirit and what happens when it is challenged. He also tested the limits of language, inventing new words and phrases.

“The first really popular revenge tragedy was The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd.”

  Shakespeare wrote Hamlet between 1599 and 1601, and the play tells the story of Prince Hamlet. Hamlet, in particular, has a lot of "most famous" things in it. It is Shakespeare's most famous play about Shakespeare's most famous character Hamlet, and it contains Shakespeare's most famous line:

"To be, or not to be, that is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them”

Historical background

The Revenge Tragedy is especially associated with Seneca, an ancient Roman dramatist. Seneca produced the tragic effect of horrifying incidents, bloody actions. This type of tragedy reached in England during the Elizabethan period. Kyd opened a new chapter in the history of The Revenge play. Shakespeare also adopted the dramatic tradition of the Revenge tragedy. His Hamlet follows the major convention of Revenge tragedy. The story, from which its material is drawn, has a dominating revenge theme. The exciting plots of this play fulfill the need of the theme of revenge. In a revenge tragedy, the role of the ghost is very important.

Revenge in Hamlet

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.

Basics elements of revenge tragedies

Most revenge tragedies share some basic elements:

·        A play within a play

·        Mad scenes

·        A vengeful ghost

·        One or several gory scenes

·        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.

 Hamlet is definitely a great example of a typical revenge tragedy of the Elizabethan theatre era.

Characters Involved in the Revenge Plot of Hamlet

Hamlet

Ghost

Claudius

Gertrude

Polonius

Laertes

Horatio

Characteristics of a revenge play and their application in “Hamlet”

1.     Such play deals with the theme of murder or some crime to the person of the state.

2.     The ghost of the dead appears to tell about the identity of the killer

3.     In a traditional revenge plays the dramatist introduces physical difficulties in the way of revenge, but in an advanced revenge play, inner conflict is given prime importance.

4.     The revenge tragedy is found to be full of struggle, murder, bloodshed, adultery, and treachery.

5.     In revenge play, the effects of revenge are serious on both the avenger and avenged.

6.     One important part of all revenge plays is that after the revenge is finally decided upon, the tragic hero delays the actual revenge until the end of the play.

7.     The language is generally astounding and bombastic.

8.     The duty is accepted as something sacred.

Key Revenge Plot Events

1. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to Horatio, Marcellus, and Barnardo. Horatio begs the apparition to speak, but it refuses. Horatio reports the encounter with Hamlet.

2. The Ghost appears to Hamlet and they leave to speak in private.

A.C. Bradley says, “The ghost in Hamlet strikes the imagination as the representation of the hidden power, the messenger of the divine justice upon the expiration of offenses.”

3. The Ghost reveals that he is, in fact, the ghost of Hamlet's father. The revenge plot is established with the Ghost's utterance, "So art thou to revenge when thou shalt hear". He tells Hamlet that he was poisoned by his brother Claudius as he slept in his orchard and, if Hamlet is not already feeling the desire, the Ghost makes plain the demand: "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder".

4. To be certain of Claudius's guilt, Hamlet decides to re-enact the murder of his father with the production of The Murder of Gonzago (known also like the play within the play or The Mousetrap). If Claudius is disturbed by the play it will reveal his guilt. In Hamlet's words:

The play's the thing

Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.

5. Hamlet stages The Murder of Gonzago and Hamlet and Horatio agree that the agitated Claudius has behaved like a guilty man during the production.

6. Hamlet has an opportunity to kill the unattended Claudius in his chamber, but, after soliloquizing on the matter, he decides not to take action because Claudius is praying. Killing Claudius in prayer would not really be revenge because he would go to heaven, "fit and seasoned for his passage".

7. Hamlet kills Polonius, mistaking him for Claudius as he hides behind a curtain.

8. The Ghost appears again to Hamlet. He is angry because Claudius is still alive. He tells Hamlet he has returned to.

Do not forget, This invitationIs but to whet thy almost blunted purpose

9. Claudius banishes Hamlet to England for the murder of Polonius. He sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet's actions and makes plans to have Hamlet assassinated on English soil.

10. Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet reporting that he is returning to Denmark, thanks to pirates who had captured his boat and released him on the promise of future reward.

11. Claudius hears of Hamlet's return and he conspires with Laertes, Polonius's son, to murder Hamlet. Laertes will use a poison-tipped sword during a fight with Hamlet, and Claudius will have a poisoned drink at the ready.

12. Hamlet stabs Claudius and forces him to drink the poisoned wine. The revenge plot is thus concluded. Hamlet himself then dies from the wound received during the fight with Laertes.

T.S. Eliot has said that the play lacks objective correlativity that is to say Hamlet shows confused emotions. As far as I think in Prince Hamlet the main problem is search for reality.

CONCLUSION

It can be easily understood that Hamlet very closely follows the regular conventions for all Elizabethan tragedies. First Hamlet is faced with the fact that he has to avenge the murder of his father and since there is no fair justice available, he must take the law into his own hands. The ghost of his father appears to guide Hamlet to Claudius and inform Hamlet of the evil that Claudius has committed. Then Hamlet constantly delays his revenge and always finds a way to put it off until he finally does it. Hamlet also follows almost every aspect of Thomas Kyd’s formula for a revenge tragedy.

 At the end of the play, Horatio was the only one to survive, although if it wasn’t for Hamlet, Horatio would have committed suicide when he said,

 “I am more an antique Roman thana Dane. Here’s some liquor left.

Horatio had killed himself.