Coming Of Age In Hamlet Research Paper

Topic 2. As the son of a murdered noble, Hamlet is obligated to avenge the death of his father. It was the many losses faced by Hamlet in his life filled with extreme tragedies that forced him to avenge his father’s death from Claudius”.“In ‘Hamlet’, a play by William Shakespeare; the protagonist, Hamlet throughout the play is perceived to be mad however Hamlet’s insanity was more than an act. Hamlet's father's ghost sent him on a mission to kill Claudius to avenge his death, he tried to go but he kept hesitating back and forth. It was not that he was unfaithful, and he did not want to do it, but he was not done thinking it out. Every time he was about to do the deed

Decision making plays an important role in human's lives. People can ruin their lives by making wrong decisions. In literature, these people are called tragic heroes. In detail, a tragic hero is a character who destroys his life by making a judgment error. Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, includes several tragic heroes. This play tells the story of a young, depressed prince named Hamlet, who wants to get revenge on his father's murderer, King Claudius. Unfortunately, he mistakes Polonius, King Claudius's advisor, for the King and kills him. This causes Laertes, Polonius's son, to kill Hamlet in retaliation for his father's death. Although Laertes is brave, he always acts quickly and without thinking. This behavior leads to his downfall and makes him a real, tragic hero.

Most readers are aware of the many famous deaths or acts of death within the Shakespearean plays. And when the main characters die in Shakespeare’s plays, indeed, the readers would categorize the play as a tragedy. The problem with any tragedy definition is that most tragic plays do not define the tragedy conditions explained or outlined by Aristotle. According to Telford (1961), a tragedy is a literary

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main protagonist, Hamlet experiences a series of events that dramatically change his character. When the audience first meets Hamlet, he is dressed in all black he is portrayed as a sulky, depressed prince. Through the course of the play however, it is revealed that Hamlet as a character has more than one side to him – he is brooding as he is impulsive, and he is vengeful as his is indecisive. The audience sees Hamlet struggling with the death of his father, and the emotional toll of knowing the truth but being unable to exact revenge. This is what essentially changes Hamlet. Because of the constant back and forth of having to act like nothing is wrong and having to suppress his rage towards King Claudius,

An Aristotelian tragedy includes many different characteristics. It is a cause-and-effect chain and it contains the elements of catharsis, which is pity and fear, and hamartia, which is the tragic flaw embedded in the main characters. The famous play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is about two lovers of two different families who hate each other and the misdemeanors they have to surpass. Many debate on whether it is an Aristotelian tragedy or simply tragic. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet should be regarded as an Aristotelian tragedy because catharsis is exhibited in the play, Juliet’s blindness of love is shown, and Romeo’s impetuousness is the tragic flaw that leads to his demise.

In literature, a tragedy is defined as a drama where the main character in the end suffers extreme sorrow because of their mistakes or poor judgment. The characters that are fated to suffer the extreme sorrow, the tragedy, are (called) tragic characters. These tragic characters, however, must follow Aristotle’s principles which include:

The dictionary describes a tragedy as, “a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or fear.” Aristotle’s “Poetics” have long been the standard of a proper tragedy. Yet, could there be more to the perfect tragedy than what either the dictionary or Aristotle suggests? What are the actual characteristics that form a “true” tragedy? In Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King” and Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” (two of the most renowned tragedies ever written), lay the keys to unearthing the facts about what characteristics produce the ultimate tragedy.

So what is sanity? What is it insanity? There are many definitions of sanity and insanity. In general, sanity is known as having a control over the mind that secrets rational thoughts. On the other hand, insanity is when the mind begins to come up with strange things that make no sense. In the play, Hamlet is seen as a sane person, because he plans his “act” of insanity, other characters believe that he is sane, and he has a logical conscience/thinking.

In the Poetics, Aristotle provides an outline of how the artist is to portray or represent the perfect Tragedy. A Tragedy, of course, was nothing more than a drama, in which the characters appeared "better" than in real life (in a comedy, they appeared "worse," according to Aristotle). Aristotle's Poetics makes several references to other dramatic works to illustrate his points, but he most commonly calls upon The Odyssey to support his argument for how a dramatic structure should be designed. However, along with the Odyssey, Aristotle extensively references Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Both poetic works were enormously popular in their time (the former had been passed down orally for generations, and the latter won the top prizes at the dramatic festivals). Therefore, Aristotle is comfortable using both to support his viewpoint concerning Tragedy and the Tragic Hero. This paper will analyze the standards that Aristotle sets out concerning the definition of the Tragic Hero and show how Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a Tragic Hero.

When hearing the word Tragedy, it would not be surprising if several different individuals would immediately think of several unique examples of the word. Perhaps one is an opera enthusiast who immediately thinks of Puccini’s La Boheme. Another is a war enthusiast that thinks about History Channel’s new episode highlighting the harshest and bloodiest battles of World War One. Even a third one obsessed with Greek mythology could generate a handful of examples of tragedy. Tragedy, like love or comedy is a universal theme that can be used to entertain, enlighten and excite its audiences. William Shakespeare, a world renown writer, was a master of this genre writing works, including Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Hamlet. Another lesser known

Hamlet’s character drastically develops over the first four acts of Hamlet, and his character development is most evident through the soliloquys he delivers throughout the play. The most character development can be seen from the first soliloquy, to the second, the third, the sixth, and the seventh and final soliloquy. Hamlet’s inner conflict with his thoughts and his actions are well analyzed in his soliloquys, as well as his struggles with life and death, and his very own existence. He begins the play wondering what purpose he has in life now that his father is dead and his mother has remarried to his uncle. After finding out foul play was involved in his father’s death, he is motivated by revenge. Finally, he wonders how he can enact his revenge while continuously overthinking and overanalyzing his actions.

Currently, William Shakespeare is considered one of the most influential and well known writers of the English Renaissance, but how would his influential work in Hamlet be understood if it was written in a different time period? In Hamlet the time period that Shakespeare writes in gives vast insight to the demeanor of the people at that time were. No matter when this was written, it is known norms, societies, and fads will change. If this literary work were to be changed to a different time period then the understanding and perception of the past would remain a mystery.

Aristotle is known widely for developing his ideas on tragedy. He recorded these ideas in his Poetics in which he comments on the plot, purpose, and effect that a true tragedy must have. The structure of these tragedies has been an example for many writers including Shakespeare himself. Many of Shakespeare’s plays follow Aristotelian ideas of tragedy, for instance Macbeth does a decent job in shadowing Aristotle’s model.

Hundreds of years ago Greek plays were very popular. People would plan to go to these plays for entertainment and to have fun with their friends. These plays would also help to teach the audience all about Greek mythology. The main character in these plays often had something tragic occur at the end, such as death. This character was the referred to as the “tragic hero.” A couple hundred years later a Greek philosopher named Aristotle described tragedy with 4 simple elements, nobility of the character, the flaws of the tragic hero, the start of the tragic hero’s downfall, and his/her punishment. In Things Fall Apart, Oedipus, and Antigone there is a character that shows this definition of tragedy by the end of the book and or play. This is usually caused by something called hubris, excessive pride. Things Fall Apart, Oedipus, and Antigone all fulfill Aristotle 's definition of tragedy.

Aristotle defines a tragedy as a ‘representation of an action which is important, complete and limited in length. It is enacted not recited and by arousing pity and fear, it gives an outlet to emotions of this type.’