...great suffering, destruction, and distress. Arthur Miller's essay, 'Tragedy and the Common Man', contributes many different ideas on how he perceived tragedy. Trying to fulfil one's lives and personalities is usually how a tragic story happens. Hamlet tries to get revenge on Claudius when he find out what really happened to his father, starting his tragic story. He feels betrayed and is working hard to get his rightful position back. There is always the possibility that Hamlet is going to succeed in his mission. Tragedy is something that happens to everyone that is trying to fulfill themselves as a person, someone that is on a mission to get what they want. Hamlet starts with the plan of trying to get revenge on Claudius when he find out what the complete truth of what happened to his father. This is explained when he says, "As meditation or the thoughts of love, may sweep to my revenge." (Act 1, Scene 5, lines 30-31). He is a tragic hero, in which he goes on this mission of trying to get revenge for himself and his father, and ultimately succeeds, but then dies. He had a plan throughout the play, had many chances to fulfil the plan, but never went through with it. In Arthur Miller's essay, this is explained when he says "The tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing--his sense of personal dignity." (Miller, pg 1). Hamlet was doing all of this just for his father and for himself...
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...Which Play is More Tragic: Hamlet or Agamemnon In my opinion, the play Hamlet is more tragic than Agamemnon. They are both tragedies as they both fulfill Aristotle’s definition of tragedy as they both depict the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, which produces suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience. They also have all the elements of Greek tragedy such as hubris, catharsis, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and hamartia (“Ancient Greek Tragedy”). The most important reason that Hamlet is more tragic, in my opinion, is because the protagonist, Hamlet, is an integral part of the play and his character is much more developed. In Agamemnon , the protagonist, Agamemnon, is a secondary character to his wife who, in my opinion is the main character. Hamlet is a tragic hero, as is Agamemnon, following Aristotle’s criteria for the elements of a tragic hero. For example, they both evoke the audience’s pity and fear, have a major flaw of character and are destined to fall in some way (“Tragedy in Drama”). However, because Hamlet is the main character, we see, hear and understand more of his character. When Hamlet delivers his many dramatic soliloquies about mortality, betrayal, and the futility of life, he shows us his tortured world and the anguish, grief, and uncertainty which eventually takes over his life, leading to his death (“Hamlet Tone”). As the reader, I felt so much sympathy...
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...Stephanie Crisostomo December 16, 2010 ENC1102 Final Exam Part IV Hamlet is considered a classic example of a tragedy. The primary reason it is considered a tragedy is because he dies in the end and is unable to see the full outcome of his actions. However, the reason for his death was his tragic flaw of error in judgment. According to Aristotle a tragic hero must have certain characteristics that make him a tragic hero. For example the definition of a tragic hero is, “A character of noble stature and has greatness. They must occupy a high status position but must also embody nobility and virtue as part of his innate character.” (Litonline) This is exactly the type of person that hamlet portrays to be. Another characteristic of a tragic hero that Hamlet has is his downfall that is his own fault. This is a result of his free choice, which in fact was triggered by some error of judgment or some character flaw that contributed to his lack of perfection. Although Hamlet is depicted as being predominantly great, it is clearly evident at the end that he is not perfect. Although his fall is considered tragic because it resulted in death, his fall is not pure loss. Since there was some increase in awareness, gain in self-knowledge, and discovery on his part, his reason for doing what he did was not a waste of time because it had meaning that other people were able to learn from his errors. Although Hamlet arouses solemn emotion because of his death, tragedy is not meant to leave...
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...The tragic play of Hamlet has been passed on from generation to generation since it was written in 1609 by English playwriter, and poet, William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest poet of recent times, his pieces are still relevant to this day. Furthermore, one of his more relevant and popular pieces is the tragic play of Hamlet. This play was about a son of Danish royalty seeking out revenge for the mysterious, and suspicious death of his father. Hamlet believes that his uncle, Claudius is to blame. Throughout the play, Hamlet is found conversing with the ghost of his father, or so he thinks. Many skepticize that the ghost Hamlet was supposedly talking to didn't actually exist. Some believe that the ghost was Hamlet’s sub-conscience rather than the ghost of his father. Throughout the play, the...
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...Hamlet is considered to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Many know that Hamlet is about revenge, but Hamlet is also a tragedy. Arthur Miller in “Tragedy and the Common Man” concludes that the tragic hero does not have to be the king or a noble, but can be anyone as simple as the common man. Whereas Aristotle believed that they tragic hero is someone “Great”, usually someone in high power or regard. In Arthur Miller’s essay he states that the “common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were.” In a tragedy the tragic hero has a tragic flaw, which is his downfall. Arthur miller states, “ Only the passive, only those who accept their lot without active retaliation, are flawless. Most of us are in that category”(Miller 1) Most people are passive when faced with a challenge that goes against them, that is what makes them flawless, but in a tragedy the character does go against the challenge, that is what makes it a tragic flaw. In Hamlet we see that it is not only the tragedy of Prince Hamlet but of others such as, Polonius, Ophelia and Laertes, caused by their tragic flaw Polonius is the chief counselor of Claudius’s court he is a very conniving person. Like many of the other characters in Hamlet he also has a tragic flaw. In Hamlet Polonius’s tragic flaw is his inability to keep to himself, which ultimately leads to his demise. An example of this is Act 2 scene 1 when Polonius tells Reynaldo to spy on Laertes. “Before you visit him, to make inquire...
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...Character Analysis Hamlet Hamlet is an enigma. No matter how many ways critics examine him, no absolute truth emerges. Hamlet breathes with the multiple dimensions of a living human being, and everyone understands him in a personal way. Hamlet's challenge to Guildenstern rings true for everyone who seeks to know him: "You would pluck out the heart of my mystery." None of us ever really does. The conundrum that is Hamlet stems from the fact that every time we look at him, he is different. In understanding literary characters, just as in understanding real people, our perceptions depend on what we bring to the investigation. Hamlet is so complete a character that, like an old friend or relative, our relationship to him changes each time we visit him, and he never ceases to surprise us. Therein lies the secret to the enduring love affair audiences have with him. They never tire of the intrigue. The paradox of Hamlet's nature draws people to the character. He is at once the consummate iconoclast, in self-imposed exile from Elsinore Society, while, at the same time, he is the adulated champion of Denmark — the people's hero. He has no friends left, but Horatio loves him unconditionally. He is angry, dejected, depressed, and brooding; he is manic, elated, enthusiastic, and energetic. He is dark and suicidal, a man who loathes himself and his fate. Yet, at the same time, he is an existential thinker who accepts that he must deal with life on its own terms, that he must choose to meet...
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...Hamlet is an enigma. No matter how many ways critics examine him, no absolute truth emerges. Hamlet breathes with the multiple dimensions of a living human being, and everyone understands him in a personal way. Hamlet's challenge to Guildenstern rings true for everyone who seeks to know him: "You would pluck out the heart of my mystery." None of us ever really does. The conundrum that is Hamlet stems from the fact that every time we look at him, he is different. In understanding literary characters, just as in understanding real people, our perceptions depend on what we bring to the investigation. Hamlet is so complete a character that, like an old friend or relative, our relationship to him changes each time we visit him, and he never ceases to surprise us. Therein lies the secret to the enduring love affair audiences have with him. They never tire of the intrigue. The paradox of Hamlet's nature draws people to the character. He is at once the consummate iconoclast, in self-imposed exile from Elsinore Society, while, at the same time, he is the adulated champion of Denmark — the people's hero. He has no friends left, but Horatio loves him unconditionally. He is angry, dejected, depressed, and brooding; he is manic, elated, enthusiastic, and energetic. He is dark and suicidal, a man who loathes himself and his fate. Yet, at the same time, he is an existential thinker who accepts that he must deal with life on its own terms, that he must choose to meet it head on. "We defy augury...
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...must be of noble/high stature 2 - Hubris (tragic flaw) - pride blinds them 3 - Downfall 4 - Enlightenment (near the end of the play) 5 - Their death Someone of high position; in this time period, that meant royalty. He is 'universal,' meaning that everyone everywhere can relate to the kinds of problems or sufferings or emotions that the hero experiences. He has a 'tragic flaw' - this could be a personality trait (like greed, lust, ambition, jealousy, etc.), OR an error in judgement (a bad decision). This 'tragic flaw' leads to his downfall - usually ruins his career, reputation, power, etc. He is enlightened at the end of the story, meaning he realizes where he went wrong, he is humble, and he accepts the consequences . A tragic hero is a character in a work of fiction (often the protagonist) who commits an action or makes a mistake which eventually leads to his or her defeat. The idea of the tragic hero was created in ancient Greek tragedy and defined by Aristotle (and others). Usually, this includes the realization of the error (anagnorisis), which results in catharsis or epiphany. Aristotelian tragic hero Characteristics Aristotle once said that "A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." An Aristotelian tragic hero must have four characteristics: Nobility (of a noble birth) or wisdom (by virtue of birth). Hamartia (translated as flaw, mistake, or error, not an Elizabethan tragic flaw). A reversal of fortune(peripetia) brought...
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...Sun Hwa Choi English 3 Thursday Evening Class Professor Humphrey Due May 21, 2015 Essay 4: Development of Heroes (+Hamlet) The Heroes of the Greek and Rome poetries share few common uniqueness. They are heroic in that they all sacrifice, they are all intelligent, they all have their own faith or luck, they are all remembered or also known as Kleos and they all wander and deal with many problems. We have read many of them in this course such as Odysseus, Oedipus, Aeneas, Achilles and Beowulf. Then there is the great Hamlet who is not one of the Greek Heroes but a character from a play by William Shakespeare. Today in this essay, I want to compare some of the Greek poetry characters with the Prince Hamlet. First of all, I want to talk about few similarities between Hamlet and one of the Greek poet characters we have learned from this course. In my opinion, the story of Hamlet itself can be very analogous to the story of the poetry Oedipus. Both of the story have a plague or a outbreak going on from the beginning of the story. In the Oedipus the King, it starts with the Plague of Thebes where then Oedipus start to take actions for his people. This is where he shows his heroic features being a great leader for his city and sacrificing himself to solve the problem. The play Hamlet also starts with an outbreak and there seems to be something strange. The play starts with, "who’s there?" (Act 1 scene 1 line 1) by one of the guards. The fact that the play starts out with a question...
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...Psychoanalysis of Hamlet’s Subconscious Psychoanalytic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet In the first half of the 20th century, when psychoanalysis was at the height of its influence, its concepts were applied to Hamlet, notably by Sigmund Freud, Ernest Jones, and Jacques Lacan, and these studies influenced theatrical productions. Freud suggested that an unconscious oedipal conflict caused Hamlet's hesitations. (Artist: Eugène Delacroix 1844). In his The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Freud's analysis starts from the premise that "the play is built up on Hamlet's hesitations over fulfilling the task of revenge that is assigned to him; but its text offers no reasons or motives for these hesitations".[83] After reviewing various literary theories, Freud concludes that Hamlet has an "Oedipal desire for his mother and the subsequent guilt [is] preventing him from murdering the man [Claudius] who has done what he unconsciously wanted to do".[84] Confronted with his repressed desires, Hamlet realises that "he himself is literally no better than the sinner whom he is to punish".[83] Freud suggests that Hamlet's apparent "distaste for sexuality"—articulated in his "nunnery" conversation with Ophelia—accords with this interpretation.[85][86] John Barrymore's long-running 1922 performance in New York was characterized as "revolutionary in its use of Freudian psychology; in keeping with the post World War I rebellion against everything...
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...Essay Allusions to Hamlet in Modern World As everyone knows, Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare over 400 years ago, but, however, it continues to reign as one of the most imitated and relevant plays of our time. Interpretations of Shakespeare’s classic tale of revenge have turned up in some surprising places: children’s television programs and films, a popular television series about a corrupt motorcycle gang and other well-known shows, motion pictures, and best-selling contemporary novels. Perhaps one of the most interesting Hamlet interpretations is a film for children called Green Eggs and Hamlet. The live-action film, released in 1995 and written by Mike O’Neil, retells the tragic tale in classic Dr. Seuss rhyme. The film follows Prince Hamlet as he seeks to avenge his father’s murder, while his servant, Sam Iamlet, encourages him to sample a new food dish. The Disney classic, The Lion King, is also fully based on Hamlet. Released in 1994, The Lion King contains some direct parallels to the play, including the death of King Mufasa at the hands of his scheming brother, Scar. Mufasa’s young son, Simba, is visited by his dead father’s ghost, and there is even comic relief provided by two supplemental characters – Timon and Pumba. Although there is some debate over whether the references to Hamlet were intentional, this is where the similarities end, as The Lion King has a much happier ending and far fewer deaths. Sesame Street also took on the almighty play. Monsterpiece...
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...Ranking the Play Hamlet The Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet is among the best ever written, and perhaps the very best. Why do the literary critics say this? In this essay let’s examine the play to see what makes it a prizewinner. Phyllis Abrahms and Alan Brody in “Hamlet and the Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy Formula” give some detail about the reasons for the undying popularity of this play: No play demonstrates the power and glory of Shakespeare’s tragic vision more than Hamlet, which for over 350 years has excited us with its action, its insight, its brilliant language. Hamlet is an unparalleled adventure story, complete with suspense, intrigue, murder – even a battle at sea with pirates. It is a play of intense emotional and physical violence. Yet underlying all of this are some of the most profound explorations of the mysteries of human existence. (43) This play is ranked by many as the very greatest ever written. Cumberland Clark in “The Supernatural in Hamlet” gives the consensus regarding Hamlet that exists among literary critics of today: 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. (99) There is no more exalted ranking than the above. Richard A. Lanham in the essay “Superposed Plays” maintains that no...
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...The same mention cannot be made about the Shakespearean tragic hero, as he was not always proving the possession on noble qualities with characters like Macbeth and Richard III who make use of their position to reach their goal of becoming kings, even if it meant that they brought mishaps to the one’s around, that including family and...
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...Aristotle's Ideal Tragic Hero. Oedipus follows all of the rules, with a hamartia, an anagnorisis, and a peripeteia. The audience is introduced to the hamartia, or tragic flaw, of Oedipus early in the play. Oedipus believes he can dodge the oracle given to him at Delphi that he will kill his father and marry his mother. By leaving the city of Corinth and heading to Thebes, Oedipus thinks that he can outsmart the will that the gods have for him. However, the audience knows that one cannot run away from an oracle. The oracle will come true no matter what is done. Therefore, the hamartia of Oedipus is his belief that he can evade his oracle. Oedipus' anagnorisis, recognition, later comes when he is told that it was he who killed the former King Lauis and that he is, in fact, now married to his own mother. The city of Thebes had been searching for King Lauis' murderer in order to drive him out of Thebes to save the city from the plague. With this anagnorisis Oedipus is finally led to his peripeteia, or downfall. First of all, Oedipus is put to shame in front of his entire city because of his incestuous act of marrying his mother. But, more importantly, he realizes that he had not successfully avoided the oracle. In order to try to save himself he blinds himself. If he is not able to see the truth with his own eyes, he should not be able to enjoy the gift of sight. http://personal.monm.edu/ysample/aristotle.htm Oedipus follows ten of the points of Lord Raglan's Hero Pattern: Sophocles'...
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...theatre. Drama became very preferable in this era and the theatres were always crowded during a play. Shakespeare wrote mainly tragedies by the end of the 16th century, including Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth. Aristotle's definition of a tragedy is that a tragedy is an imitation (mimesis) of an action that is morally admirable. Aristotle is a philosopher who wrote about poetry, poetry being epic, drama, and lyric for Aristotle, in his work “Poetics”. He said in his work that a tragedy should be composed by an introduction, a middle part and an ending. According to Aristotle the fable (mythos) is more important than the characters in the play. It is so because the purpose with the tragedy, according to Aristotle, is to make the audience feel pity (eleos) and fear (fobos) and as a result achieve an emotional cleansing(Catharsis). In order to bring those feelings to the audience the tragedy must be complex. The tragedy must involve a peripeteia, meaning that a great person experiences a turning point, a reversal of fortune. This turning point must be caused by a mistake, the tragic hero's mistake (hamartia). This reversal of fortune cannot be prevented but it is an unforeseen result of the mistake the tragic hero makes. The tragic hero must during the play achieve a revelation(anagnorisis) that means that the hero will go from not knowing to knowing, and that could be about anything. All these elements are what makes a tragedy a good tragedy according to Aristotle. In 1963 Gustav Freytag...
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