Hamlet is More Tragic than Antigone

When looking at Hamlet, one could say that William Shakespeare put the play together as a very cathartic tragedy. The emotional result of dealing with so many deaths brings on a plethora of emotions which are not usually felt in a typical play. Hamlet begins not with the normal prosperity and good fortune as do most tragedies, but with a more stifling and depressing sort of mood (Tekany 115). However, something else could be said about this play as well. The play centers on Hamlet and his existential characteristics, such as angst, isolation and his confrontations with nothingness. The exhibition of these characteristics proves Hamlet to be an existential character.

When Creon passes his law, it is used to protect Thebes from being betrayed again. But Creon betrays the gods’ law and does not bury Polyneices, his nephew. As a result Tiresias, a blind prophet approaches Creon and says that if Polyneices, that “before you have surrendered / one of your born flesh and blood, / a corpse for a corpse given in return”(1183-1185). Shortly afterward, Creon realizes that his authority has overstepped into his family and now will go honor his family, by going against his own law. But little did Creon know things were not going to be that simple. When Creon and Haemon arrive at Antigone’s tomb, they are greeted with a hanged Antigone. As a result Haemon lunges at his father and kills himself after he misses. Creon’s authority led to his son ending his own life because he saw the woman of his dreams, hang lifelessly due to his father's action. Creon realizes that Tiresias was correct about the prophecy, but it was too late. Shortly afterwards, Creon finds out his wife, Eurydice, had also killed herself because of her son’s recent suicide. This would lead Creon alone without any family members except his own law to comfort him. He then realizes that “the guilt is all [his]” and he must repent (1442). Creon’s authority led to him being alone without any other family members to comfort him,and also lifetime of guilt

A “tragedy, for Shakespeare, is the genre of uncompensated suffering” (Dutton and Howard, 2003, p. 9). To really understand the play Othello is to truly understand a tragedy; thus, this researcher will analyze Aristotle’s view point and compare it to phrases (or quotes) from Shakespeare’s Othello.

Throughout the play, Hamlet’s character is characterized both by periods of extreme caution and moments of impulsivity. One of the best examples of Hamlet’s heed can be found in Act 2, Scene 2 where he decides to have his theatre troupe perform his play, The Mousetrap. With this, Hamlet hopes that he will be able to “catch the conscience of the King,” by monitoring Claudius during the performance, that heavily mimics his murder of his brother, for signs of stress and guilt. While Hamlet was fully capable of bypassing this step by simply adhering to what he believes is the ghost of his father, Hamlet’s decision to unearth some sort of evidence that supports his father’s accusations is just one example of his cautious ways and need for certainty before action. However, such displays of caution find themselves juxtaposed with Hamlet’s bouts of impulsivity. One of the most telling illustrations of Hamlet’s rashness can be found in Act One, Scene Five, where he first conversing with the ghost of his father. Here, when the Ghost asks Hamlet to “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder,” Hamlet immediately agrees. In fact, within the next few lines Hamlet pledges he will “sweep to my revenge” with “wings as swift as meditation or the thoughts of love”. The fact that Hamlet coins this commitment to avenge his father’s murder without making much of any consideration of the possible repercussions of such an undertaking is one of the best representations of Hamlet’s impulsivity. This rash action, marked by a lack of extended over-analysis and internal debate, contrasts with the excessive caution Hamlet exhibits at many other points throughout the play. Ultimately, the interplay between Hamlet’s caution and impulsivity is one of the most notable juxtapositions of the play and serves to strongly steer the development, not only of

After Teiresias left, Creon has a sudden change of heart and realizes that it would be in his best interest to let Antigone live. Upon arriving at the vault where Antigone is held Creon finds that she has hanged himself. Haimon is mourning at her feet, he then lunged at Creon and missed. Desperate he drove the sword into himself. Back at the castle Eurydice has heard the news and also commits suicide. It isn’t long

Shakespeare’s character, Hamlet, is known for his indecisive personality. It is a trait that humanizes Hamlet in the sense that every man is flawed. However, this feature is Hamlet’s main

Creon not allowing Polynecies to have a proper burial is when the real tragedy of the play takes place. As a result of Creon’s orders, Antigone defies him and buries her brother. When Creon discovers what Antigone did, he sentenced her to death.

other brother got buried properly! Antigone went behind the kings back to bury her brother anyway. The king found out and put her

Before beginning, however, it is necessary to examine the aim of Tragedy. A Tragic work, according to Aristotle, was simply one that showed men as better than they typically are in everyday reality. Tragedy served to show mankind at his noblest, without, however, depicting man as unreal or unbelievable. To represent a noble man

Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, begins with the appearance of a ghost, an apparition, possibly a hallucination. Thus, from the beginning, Shakespeare presents the air of uncertainty, of the unnatural, which drives the action of the play and develops in the protagonist as a struggle to clarify what only seems to be absolute and what is actually reality. Hamlet's mind, therefore, becomes the central force of the play, choosing the direction of the conflict by his decisions regarding his revenge and defining the outcome.

Aristotle, the great fourth-century Greek philosopher labeled this tragedy as “an imitation of an action of high importance, complete and of some amplitude: in language enhanced by distinct and varying beauties…by means of pity and fear effecting its purgation of these emotions” (qtd. in Kennedy & Gioia 885). Aristotle was portraying the epic Shakespearean drama, Othello. Aristotle prescribed three main elements for a disastrous theater recipe: First is a hamartia, or a tragic flaw in the main character that leads to the demise; second, catharsis or an emotional release of the audience’s sensations derived from the actors, so they seem to have felt they have learnt something about the play; and lastly, anagnorisis or the character’s astonishment of something that may have not before realized (Kennedy & Gioia 856-857). The protagonist in Shakespeare’s Othello satisfies all of Aristotle’s necessities for a tragic hero, as Othello is the character of magnificent status, which falls from that status of power to one of shame because of his hamartia. Furthermore the plot of Othello contains an influential katharsis through its peak and deduction, and an anagnorisis when Othello comprehends that Desdemona and Iago are not who they appear to

    By definition, a tragedy is a story that details the downfall of a protagonist. Most often, the protagonist (tragic hero) is a member of high society who is faced with an oppositional force, be it internal or external. In his Poetics, Aristotle states that "tragedy is the imitation of an action; and an action implies personal agents, who necessarily possess certain distinctive qualities both of character and thought; for it is by these that we qualify actions themselves, and these- thought and character- are the two natural causes from which actions spring, and on actions, again all success or failure depends...." This quote illustrates an aspect of tragedy upon which many works are based, including

Antigone had hanged herself in the tomb and Haemon was wailing at her side. Creon heard Haemon’s voice and begged him to come out of the tomb. Haemon came out and lunged at Creon with his sword and missed. Haemon then took his own life by leaning on the blade of his sword, Haemon then embraced Antigone as he died.

Throughout the play, Hamlet is ambitious to avenge his father’s death. In the end of act one, Hamlet realizes the truth and the cause of his father’s death. For instance, the ghost of Hamlet’s father told Hamlet to “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” His father demands revenge and Hamlet swears to avenge his father’s death showing that he is willing to do anything to achieve it. In Act three, Hamlet finally puts his desire for revenge into action. He does this by re-enacting a scene of the death of Hamlet’s father. Hamlet uses the players to prove King Claudius’s guilt and becomes successful because King Claudius exits immediately after what he has seen. During the duel with Hamlet and Laertes, Gertrude is dead after she drinks the poison Claudius gave to Hamlet. Hamlet is gone mad about it and forces King Claudius to drink the poison as well. This shows that Hamlet is ambitious to kill Claudius and gets the King`s crown after doing so. Though he mainly focuses on getting the job done by avenging his father`s death, but he has other things that he is ambitious to do.

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.’