Critical study of Hamlet…From the “revenge tragedy” perspective…

• The revenge play or revenge tragedy is a form of tragedy which was extremely popular in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.

• The best-known of these are Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge_play)

What makes a “revenge tragedy”???• A secret murder, usually of a compassionate ruler, by a

bad person• A ghostly visitation of the murder victim to a younger

kinsman, generally a son• A period of disguise, intrigue, or plotting, in which the

murderer and the punisher (avenger) scheme against each other, with a slowly rising body count

• A descent into either real or feigned madness by the avenger or one of the auxiliary characters

• An eruption of general violence at the end, which is often accomplished by means of a feigned masque or festivity

• A catastrophe that utterly decimates the dramatis personae, including the avenger

Hamlet as a “revenge tragedy”???• Hamlet is one of the few Shakespeare plays to fit into

the revenge category• Hamlet (as a supposed Shakespearian “tragedy”… with

a tragic hero) is a big break-away from other Shakespearian tragedies.

• As regards as being a “revenge tragedy”, Hamlet is famous for the way in which it complicates the expected Shakespearian themes

• Hamlet has been interpreted, with some support, as showing a thematic conflict between the Roman values (of martial bravery and blood-right) and Christian values (of humility and acceptance)

Kiernan Ryan is Professor of English at Royal Holloway, University of London and a Fellow of New Hall, University of Cambridge. He states… http://www.rsc.org.uk/educationexplore/hlanguageandthemes/hamletandclaudius.htm

• Revenge Tragedy was a popular form of 16th / 17th Century Drama.

• It is based on the pagan tradition of blood for blood which is evident in the Historiae Danicae written by Saxo Grammaticus, the 12th century source for the Hamlet.

• In this source material, when Hamlet kills Polonius he cuts up the body and throws it into the open sewers to be eaten by pigs.

• Revenge tragedies usually follow this bloody vein.

• Hamlet is unusual in questioning this attitude, delaying violent action and offering more complex moral debate, making it seem more modern than its contemporaries.

• Shakespeare added the ghost, the Mousetrap scene , the drowning Ophelia, the pirates, the graveyard scene, Laertes, Fortinbras and Osric.

• There appears to have been an earlier Elizabethan version of Hamlet - possibly by Thomas Kyd. We call this the Ur-Hamlet, the Hamlet-that-went-before

Kiernan Ryan is Professor of English at Royal Holloway, University of London and a Fellow of New Hall, University of Cambridge. He continues…

http://www.rsc.org.uk/educationexplore/hlanguageandthemes/hamletandclaudius.htm

• In Hamlet, there is a contamination process at work and all are touched by it.

• Even the hero commits murder and must therefore die, not inherit

• The play invites us to consider how to deal with issues of injustice and abuse of power

• Having seen his father in purgatory. Hamlet has to grapple with questions of mortality; how to make this world better and cleaner by the removal of Claudius at the risk of his own death and afterlife

• Hamlet is the first of the revenge heroes not to turn into a monster. He tries hard to follow his father's instruction not to become corrupted but how do you kill without becoming as bad as your enemy

but… wait! …there’s more….

• http://www.rsc.org.uk/educationexplore/hlanguageandthemes/revengehero.htm