John Keats ' Elusive Concept Of ' Negative Capabilities '

One of the darkest tragedies found in Shakespeare, Hamlet is notorious for revealing concepts of human nature that are still recognized today, as it also signifies human frailty through corruption and grief. The human mind is a complicated place, that only few writers choose to decipher. Shakespeare writes not only with passion but also with plights that all humans face today. Although frailty can be found in many stories, Shakespeare uses the reality of the human mind to appeal to his readers in a dark and beautiful way, going in-depth, and reaching into the true meanings of grief and despair.

Napoleon Bonaparte once said “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.”. Ambition like Napoleon has a complex legacy, it is either considered a vice or a virtue. However, the idea of ambition creating a great characters is not new. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Oscar Wilde’s The picture of Dorian Gray, these authors both employ ambition to create tragic protagonists driven by ambition to do whatever it takes achieve their goals, no matter what the cost may be. Both Oscar Wilde and William Shakespeare show how ambition can twist and turn people into monsters in their works; however, their writings differ because Wilde believes

    The existence of considerable irony within the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet is a fact recognized by most literary critics. This paper will examine the play for instances of irony and their interpretation by critics.

In the play, Hamlet (1603), William Shakespeare creates a character, Hamlet, that feels overwhelmed by the weight he puts on himself while seeking vengeance for his father’s murder. Shakespeare is able to illustrate Hamlet’s fragileness through the use of vivid imagery, negative attitude, and aggressive diction. Shakespeare’s purpose in this piece is to show Hamlet during his lowest time in order to reveal a significant portion of his character.

The Elizabethan Era under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I in England not only produced an expansion of growth in the suburbs and a more unified nation, but also introduced the world’s most famous playwright of all times, William Shakespeare. During this period of greatest artistic achievement, Shakespeare, who produced about thirty- seven plays as well as many other great works, created what is considered his greatest achievement, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Surprisingly, this particular five-act play depicts numerous aspects which are relevant to today’s society, four hundred years later. Some of these aspects of human values are not only questioned, but also

In the “Polemical Introduction” of Mark Edmundson’s book, Self and Soul, he calls William Shakespeare “our great de-idealizing author.” In his book, Edmundson examines the ideals of the ancient world and how they have been lost in the modern world. In one section of the introduction to his novel he analyzes Shakespeare’s works and how they function as a shift between these two worlds. Specifically, he examines Shakespeare’s rejection of the “religious ideal [and] the ideal of contempt,” as well as his use of skepticism and “uncertainties, mysteries, and doubts without driving forward to conclusions.” Furthermore, Edmundson discusses how Shakespeare dismissal of these ideals worked as a reflection of modern societies shift away from the

Hamlet uses his emotion in the opposite way as Titus, but it still inflicts the same type of action, creating the sense that Hamlet will finally act on his emotion. Both of these characters use language as a motivator for their final way in which they intend to act. Titus’s realization comes in a sensitive, caring way whereas Hamlet’s drives from a dark and more pessimistic view. Either way, both characters have been sent into action through their emotions. Shakespeare shows us this comparison to show how language can motivate a character, and by doing so within these characters it has mirrored them and proved a provisional aspect amongst the two works.

Hamlet is outraged that he is not able to shed tears, and when he says `fiction' he is disappointed to see that a man can make himself cry through a second-hand play, whereas he cannot. Hamlet's outrage here demonstrates his dilemma as the `man of thought' forced to

When a text explores challenging and enduring ideas that many people can relate to, it can become more valued over time and help further societes understanding of these ideas. These ideas have been expressed through Shakespeare’s characters. Shakespeare’s characterisation has enabled the Freudian psychoanalytical theory to be applied to the characters as if they were real people and this is a reason for the text’s endurance. The play Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare and published in the year 1623. However, the play was first performed in England during the year 1601. It explores many crucial and pertinent ideas relevant to the furthering of society. The desire for revenge is one that many people feel and is a direct response from the id in Freud’s theory. The overwhelming pressure from authoritarian figures can lead to suicidal feelings and this is a result of the superego. Self-awareness allows one to achieve the desires of the id successfully in society, forming the ego. These enduring ideas explored can create a text that becomes increasingly more valuable with time and is able to be related to Freud’s psychoanalytical theory.

There is no denying that Shakespeare is a definitive playwright. He has presented us with classic works that have set the precedent for drama and the theatre. Among Shakespeare’s more notable plays are his tragedies. In the tragedy his protagonists are often given flaws in their character and hence, are suitably named tragic heroes. The downfall of these protagonists is often a result of their own character flaws and unfortunately, they suffer a doomed and unhappy ending. While the tragic hero is flawed they must also be honorable and worthy of the audience’s understanding and sympathy. On a quest for righteousness the tragic hero often goes through immense suffering which is why the audience can feel bad for him. For the most

Archetypal heroes are courageous, decisive, and moral; they are literature’s frontlines against evil. Hamlet, the protagonist in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet proclaims himself to have none of these qualities. Contrastingly, the antihero still opposes the antagonist but has negative attributes

This essay will discuss several literary criticisms of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. After skimming through several articles, I ended up with four peer-reviewed journal articles, each a different critical perspectives of the play: feminist, psychoanalytical/freudian, moral, and new historicism. My previous studies of Hamlet, as well as my rereading of the play this semester, has collectively given me a general knowledge of the text. My familiarity of the play made it easier for me to decipher the academic journals and see the connections each critic made with the play.

At least six or seven years pass after the writing of Midsummer Night’s Dream before we find Shakespeare engaged on Hamlet, the second of the great plays with an important Supernatural element, and, in the opinion of many, the greatest tragedy ever penned. What a profound change has come over his attitude towards the Unseen! No longer does he handle it in . . . [a] cheerful,

The Romantic Poet John Keats wrote the following in a letter to his brothers, "I had not a dispute but a disquisition with Dilke, upon various subjects; several things dove-tailed in my mind, and at once it struck me what quality went to form a Man of Achievement, especially in Literature, and which Shakespeare possessed so enormously - I mean Negative Capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason"¦" (Keats 134). Understanding, Keats' concept of 'Negative Capability' is the key to appreciating Ernest Hemingway's short story, "The End of Something."

However, for the Elizabethans, more specifically for Marlowe and Shakespeare, tragedy is not a restrictive view of human excellence or weakness as the Greeks are often inclined to present but an affirmative view of human aspirations whose pursuit brings a glory to the definition of a man. Struggle, conflict, suffering and failure may be the inescapable attendants but the human spirit is not stifled in its pursuits by what attends to them. The ability to withstand