How Hamlet relates to other heroes. Why is the image of Hamlet an eternal image? The image of Hamlet in Shakespeare's tragedy
Hello guys! Sit down. Check if everything is ready for the lesson. Writing accessories, a diary, and a literature textbook should be on the desk. Good. You can start. Open your notebooks, write down the date and topic of the lesson:
September thirtieth
W. Shakespeare "Hamlet".
"The eternal image" of Hamlet in tragedy. Suffering thoughts.
- Teacher's introduction
Today in the lesson we begin to study one of the greatest works of foreign literature, the tragedy of William Shakespeare "Hamlet". In fact, "Hamlet" does not belong to the period of classicism. The work was written earlier (1600-1601), and is an example of the works of the Renaissance. Classicism will follow.
We slightly changed the logic, because due to certain circumstances we missed this topic by mistake, but we are forced to return to it, since "Hamlet" is one of the outstanding works of literature, and we have no right to ignore it. In the next lesson, we will return to classicism, and we will study Oda Lomonosov.
There is one thing in common between the Renaissance and Classicism. Can anyone name her?
The fact is that during the period of the development of human thought and the development of literature, they turned to the samples of Antiquity three times, tried to return them three times and presented them as ideals. For the first time in the Renaissance, then during the Enlightenment and the reign of classicism and then in the Silver Age - this is the beginning of the 20th century (Blok, Balmont, Bryusov). A common feature is an appeal to the ideals of the past. Shakespeare's Hamlet is a Renaissance work, but you can already see some of the features of Classicism that we noted yesterday in this text. They are still in their infancy. The main difference between the works of the Renaissance from the classic is the absence of a cult of reason over feelings, that is, on the contrary, feelings dominate. We can find confirmation of this fact by analyzing Shakespeare's Hamlet, since the work is full of feelings and experiences, they are in the foreground, they are the measure of everything.
- The teacher's communicating word.
Pay attention to the topic of the lesson. Today we will analyze the image of the main character of the tragedy, but before we start this work, let's remember what lies at the heart of the play? (Conflict) In the tragedy "Hamlet" it has 2 levels:
1st level. Personal between Prince Hamlet and the King
Claudius, who became the spouse of the prince's mother after
treacherous murder of Hamlet's father. Conflict
has a moral nature: two life
position.
2nd level ... Conflict between man and era. ("Denmark is a prison."
the light is rotten. ")
From the point of view of action, the tragedy can be divided into 3 parts. Which? Where is the plot, climax, denouement?
1 part ... The opening, five scenes of the first act. Hamlet's meetingwith the Ghost, who entrusts Hamlet with the task of avenging the dastardly murder;
Part 2. The culmination, called the "mousetrap". Hamlet is finally convinced of Claudius's guilt, Claudius himself realizes that his secret has been revealed, Hamlet opens his eyes to Gertrude, etc .;
Part 3 ... Interchange. Duel of Hamleg and Laertes, death of Gertrude, Claudius
Laertes, Hamlet.
Who is Hamlet? Who is Hamlet, the hero of Shakespeare's tragedy?
A knight of honor? The ideal Renaissance man?
Passionate denouncer of untruth? Or the most unfortunate person
lost everything in this world and perished? A madman? - Each
the reader evaluates Hamlet in his own way.
The first thing that catches your eye when reading a tragedy is extraordinary
poetic language, especially in B. Pasternak's translation. Everything
characters think in poetic images and concepts. Before us
the action unfolds in a specific country (Denmark), in a specific
time (XIV century), but it seems that this can happen in any
another country and at any other time. That is why the work is very popular to this day.
"Eternal images", what does it mean? Any opinions?
Let's write it down.
"Eternal Images" is the name of literary characters, to whom the ultimate artistic generalization imparts human, timeless meaning. (Don Juan, Hamlet, Faust, etc.) Writers from different countries and generations explain the essence of their characters in their own way.
The emergence of a new concept is even connected with the image of Hamlet, it is called "Hamletism". That is, a special feature of a person. This implies such character traits as indecision, being in a state of eternal contradictions, doubts. it reflection, introspection, paralyzing the ability to act in a person.
The prototype of the hero was the semi-legendary prince Amlet, whose name is found in one of the Icelandic sagas. The very first literary monument, which tells the saga of Amlet's revenge, belonged to the pen of a medieval Danish chronicler.
Let us turn to the character of Hamlet as a hero - a microcosm of tragedy.
We can judge what is happening in Hamlet's inner world indirectly (behavior, clashes with courtiers, poisonous remarks) and directly (from conversations with friends, with his mother, from monologues).
- Working with the text, identifying the reader's perception of the work by students.
How do we see Hamlet in Act 1? What are his first speeches about?
The hero's first words reveal the depth of his grief. Before us and a truly noble hero. This is a person who for the first time faced evil in life and felt with all his soul how terrible it is. Hamlet does not reconcile himself to evil and intends to fight it.
Analysis of the first monologue. What is the monologue about? Why does Hamlet say that he is sick of the whole world? Because of which? Was it only because of the death of his father?
The first monologue reveals to us a characteristic feature of Hamlet - the desire to generalize certain facts. It was just a private family drama. For Hamlet, however, it was enough to make a generalization: life is “a lush garden, bearing only a seed; the wild and the wicked rule in him. "
So, 3 facts shook my soul:
Father's sudden death;
The place of the father on the throne and in the heart of the mother was taken by an unworthy person compared to the deceased;
Mother changed the memory of love. Thus, Hamlet learns that evil is not a philosophical abstraction, but a terrible reality that is next to him, in people who are closest in blood.
The problem of revenge in a tragedy is solved in different ways by different heroes. Why is the task of revenge assigned to Hamlet perceived by him as a curse?
Hamlet makes the task of personal revenge a matter of restoring the entire destroyed moral world order. The task of revenge in the mind of Hamlet grew into a matter of retribution, and these are two different things. Before starting to live truly, as befits a person, he still needs to first arrange life so that it corresponds to the principles of humanity.
Why didn't Hamlet act immediately after taking on the task of revenge?
The shock deprived him of his ability to act for a time.
He had to make sure to what extent he could trust the words of the ghost. To kill the king, you must not only convince yourself of his guilt, but also convince others.
What is the nature of Hamlet's “madness”?Is his madness only feigned or is he really going mad?
Hamlet is a man who felt what had happened with his whole being, and the shock he experienced undoubtedly threw him out of mental equilibrium. He is in a state of deepest confusion.
How does the hero's inner conflict deepen with the development of the action? To answer this question, let us turn to Hamlet's famous monologue "To be or not to be ..."So what's the question?
- Listening and analyzing the reading of Hamlet's monologue by Vysotsky.
Communicating word
Let's turn to the video material, the monologue of Hamlet is read by Vladimir Vysotsky, who managed to convey the complexity of the image of Hamlet most accurately and fully. According to most theater critics, Hamlet performed by V. Vysotsky is the best of all, created in the theater over the past four decades.
Listening (5 minutes)
- Conversation
Vladimir Vysotsky himself already gives a partial characterization of the hero. Reveals to us the Hamlet he played.
What makes this monologue stand out from the other monologues and lines of the prince?
1. Monologue is the compositional center of the tragedy.
2. Thematically unrelated to the action of this scene and the main storyline.
3. Hamlet appears already meditating, we do not know the beginning of his monologue and its end - “But quieter!”. The inner world of the hero is "revealed" to us for a minute.
What is Hamlet thinking about in this monologue? What caused his thoughts?
Hamlet experiences a painful condition caused by the realization of what surrounds him. In front of him, in the faces of his relatives and courtiers, the abyss of evil that exists in the world opens up. The question of attitudes toward evil is a matter of life and death.
Hamlet pauses before the question of how a person should behave in the world of evil: fight him with his own weapon ("taking up arms on the sea of turmoil, slay them with confrontation") or avoid the fight, die without getting dirty with it.
Hamlet's thoughts are heavy and gloomy. What is the reason for Hamlet's internal hesitations?
Before Hamlet, death appears in all its painful tangibility. The fear of death arises in him. Hamlet has reached the highest limit in his doubts. So. He decides to fight, and the threat of death becomes real for him: he realizes that Claudius will not leave a man alive who will throw a charge of murder in his face.
What prevents Hamlet from simply taking revenge on Claudius and killing him, just as he killed his father? After all, such a case is presented to him (Act 3, scene 2).
1. Hamlet needs to make Claudius's guilt obvious to everyone. In addition, the hero does not want to be like his enemies and act by the same means (killing the king now means committing the same secret and dastardly murder). He has his own plan for this:
Stir up (the mask of madness does not lull, but awakens the vigilance of Claudius, provokes him to action)
Make Him Give Himself (Act 2, Scene 2)
Kill (Act 3, Scene 3).
2. Prayer purifies the soul of Claudius (father died without remission of sins).
3. Claudius kneels with his back to Hamlet (violation of the principles of noble honor).
How do we see Hamlet now?
Now we have before us a new Hamlet, who does not know the previous discord; his inner peace is combined with a sober understanding of the discord between life and ideals.
Does the final scene resolve Hamlet's conflict?
By killing Claudius, Hamlet fulfills his personal revenge. But the big task that the hero sets himself - the transformation of reality - remains unbearable for him. Leaving this life, Hamlet leaves the world as before imperfect, but he alarmed him, focused the attention of those who remained to live on the terrible fact: “the century was shaken”. This was his mission, like that of other great humanists of the Shakespearean era.
So what is Hamlet's tragedy?
The tragedy is not only that the world is terrible, but also that it must plunge into the abyss of evil in order to fight it. He realizes that he himself is far from perfect, his behavior reveals that the evil that reigns in life, to some extent, blackens him. The tragic irony of life's circumstances leads Hamlet to the fact that he, acting as an avenger for his murdered father, also kills the father of Laertes and Ophelia, and Laertes takes revenge on him.
- Summarizing. Generalization.
Why do you think our lesson is called “The Suffering of Thought”?
Moral choice is the main problem arising from the fate of Hamlet. Everyone has a choice. What this choice is depends on the person himself. And so from generation to generation. The image of Hamlet becomes an eternal image; it has been addressed again over the centuries and will be addressed more than once in the future. Hence the concept of "Hamletism" - that is, an eternally doubting person.
- Homework
From the very beginning of the tragedy, our interest has focused on the personality of the hero. Numerous events taking place in front of us reveal various aspects of his character. As already noted, conflicting assessments of the hero's personality arose in the criticism. The main flaw in most of them was that they proceeded from the premise that Hamlet's personality must be consistent from start to finish. Therefore, they looked for those prevailing features that would make it possible to say with certainty whether the hero is a strong or weak-willed person.
Of all the numerous interpretations of the image of Hamlet, we believe that the most fruitful point of view expressed by V. G. Belinsky in his famous article “Hamlet, Shakespeare's Drama. Mochalov as Hamlet "(1838). Although a number of the provisions of the article reflect the idealistic delusions inherent in Belinsky at the time of its writing, the main thing in his analysis of Shakespeare's tragedy is correct. The most significant advantage of Belinsky's analysis is that he considers the character of Hamlet dialectically and takes it not in statics, but in development, trying to capture not only the diversity of the Danish prince's reactions to reality, but the changes taking place in his state of mind.
And Goethe, Werder, and most others who wrote about Hamlet saw only two stages in the spiritual development of the hero: before and after the death of his father. According to a significant part of researchers, Hamlet, as we see it in the tragedy, from beginning to end is a person who has already determined his character. Hence the one-sidedness and metaphysicality of the solutions offered by the critics. For some, he is only a weak, incapable of action person, and for others - a strong willed nature.
Belinsky showed that the dialectic of Hamlet's personality is a combination of strength and weakness, an internal struggle that takes place in him. He revealed that the hero goes through a complex evolution throughout his life and goes through three stages of development.
Until the death of his father, that is, before the start of the tragedy, Hamlet was "contented and happy with life, because reality was not yet at odds with his dreams." But when one misfortune after another fell upon him - the death of his father, the hasty second marriage of his mother, the disclosure of Claudius's villainy - “then Hamlet saw that dreams of life and life itself are not the same thing ...”. The former perception of reality, whom Belinsky's horn calls "infant harmony," because it was based on ignorance of life, is now giving way to another state. In the soul of Hamlet, what Belinsky calls "disintegration" occurs, arising from the consciousness of the discrepancy between reality and the ideals of the hero.
We get to know Hamlet when the horrors of life shattered the castle in the air of his ideal representations. Nothing remained of the old illusions. The hero is in this state for a long time. The central place in the tragedy is taken by the depiction of this "disintegration", the inner discord that takes place in the hero's soul. This is what is commonly called "Hamletism".
In another work ("The division of poetry into genera and types") Belinsky, following Hegel in the assertion that the essence of the drama is a collision, or, as we would say now, a conflict, notes that the most dramatic is the inner struggle taking place in the soul of the hero ... "The power of the event," writes Belinsky, "becomes the hero of the drama on the road and leads him to the need to choose one of two, completely opposite to each other, ways to get out of the struggle with himself ...".
The tragedy of Hamlet is a classic example of such a conflict. Its content consists of two collisions: an external conflict, consisting in the clash of a noble prince with the base environment of the Danish court, headed by Claudius, and an internal conflict, the essence of which is embodied in the spiritual struggle experienced by the hero.
The action of the tragedy and the behavior of Hamlet were very faithfully revealed by Belinsky, when he writes: “The terrible discovery of the secret of his father's death, instead of filling Hamlet with one feeling, one thought - the feeling and thought of revenge, ready every minute to be realized in action - this terrible discovery made him not to leave himself, but to withdraw into himself and concentrate in the insides of his spirit, aroused in him questions about life and death, time and eternity, duty and weakness of will, drew his attention to his own personality, its insignificance and shameful impotence, gave birth to hatred and contempt for himself in him. Hamlet stopped believing in virtue and morality, because he saw himself incapable and powerless either to punish vice and immorality, or to cease to be virtuous and moral. Moreover, he ceases to believe in the reality of love, in the dignity of a woman; like a madman, he tramples his feelings in the mud, with a merciless hand breaks off his holy union with a pure, beautiful feminine being, who so selflessly, so innocently surrendered to him everything that he loved so deeply and tenderly; mercilessly and grossly he insults this creature, meek and gentle, everything created from ether, light and melodic sounds, as if in a hurry to renounce everything in the world, which reminds itself of happiness and virtue. "
But one cannot agree with Belinsky when he writes that "Hamlet's nature is purely internal, contemplative, subjective, born for feeling and thought." Firstly, this does not agree with the characteristic that Ophelia gives to Hamlet, recalling what he was before the beginning of all the tragic events (III, 1). The former Hamlet, whom Ophelia knew, combined the qualities of "a nobleman, a fighter, a scientist." In other words, he harmoniously embodied both the ability to act and the ability to think. Secondly, this does not agree with the opinion of Belinsky himself, who recognized the presence of harmony in the nature of Hamlet before the tragic events.
What Belinsky called the "disintegration of the spirit" of Hamlet is manifested precisely in the violation of the harmony between thought and action. In our opinion, Hegel very correctly defined the state of mind of Hamlet, saying that Hamlet "doubts not what he needs to do, but how he does it."
We see the hero dejected by all that has fallen upon him. Of course, those who believe that Hamlet is "melancholic" are wrong. by nature... Not only a melancholic, but also the most cheerful person would despair if faced with horrors similar to those that befell Hamlet. He has something to shudder and come into a state of deepest sorrow. Without admitting this, it is impossible to understand the character of the hero. Any stage embodiment, as well as literary criticism, ignoring the deepest inner tragedy of the hero, deprive Shakespeare's work of its very core.
Hamlet is torn apart by the most painful contradictions. And this is natural. He would not deserve our love and respect if, in the face of the most terrible crimes, he remained calm, continued to look at the world through rose-colored glasses or closed his eyes, turned away from all this, taking the pose of a person who considers evil a self-evident phenomenon of life. Thanks to personal misfortunes, Hamlet saw the misfortunes of others. He suffers not only from his own pain, but also from the torments of all mankind. Hamlet is the conscience of his own age and of every other age, when the contradictions of life become egregious.
Shakespeare shows this state of the hero as one of the greatest tragedies of the human spirit: a person who loves life begins to hate it; he, adoring the beauty and power of man, is imbued with contempt and hatred for people. It really is a disintegration of the spirit. The hero himself realizes that it is impossible to live like that. It is infinitely difficult for him to find a solution to all the questions that arose before him, but he is not one of those whom difficulties can stop.
Hamlet's agonizing hesitation is the highest point of tragedy and the lowest point of disintegration of the hero's personality. Shakespeare shows that not only is reality, in which evil is so powerful, tragic, but also tragic that this reality can lead a beautiful person like Hamlet to an almost hopeless state.
Everything that is usually defined as Hamlet's weakness manifests itself precisely at this first stage of the tragedy, when we see the hero rushing about in search of a way out and solutions. But the weakness of the weakness is different. As Belinsky rightly writes, Hamlet "is great and strong in weakness, because a strong-minded person and in the very fall is higher than a weak person in his very rebellion." Shakespeare gives us the opportunity to be convinced of the truth of these words. To do this, it is enough to compare Laertes' "rebellion" with the "fall" of Hamlet. It is known that Laertes, as soon as the news of the murder of his father reaches him, acts without hesitation or hesitation. He is not in the least scrupulous in choosing the means to carry out revenge. Even crime does not stop him, and he enters into a vile conspiracy with the king to treacherously kill Hamlet. From the moral point of view, Laertes' "rebellion" is his deepest fall, and he himself is aware of this before his death.
Hamlet behaves differently. He is in no hurry to strike. He needs time to discuss with himself a lot. And this is all the more so because everything that happened caused him terrible mental anguish.
Yes, Hamlet indulges in thought, he is tormented by doubts. But this time of the hero's life is by no means barren. Reflection leads Hamlet to the knowledge of life in its deepest contradictions. He buys this knowledge at a high price, at the price of torment and suffering. But this way of the cross of knowledge Hamlet passes with dignity. He is not afraid of any of those terrible truths that arise before him as a conclusion from his thoughts and observations. A person weak by nature would not have withstood such a test. Not every soul is capable of knowing the truth through grief and suffering. In the tragedy itself there is an example of this - Ophelia. Life also prepared the most bitter trials for her. Like Hamlet, she is convinced that life is a collection of horrors and actions in which the people closest and dear to her are involved. She turns out to be unable to withstand the troubles that befell her, not only cannot, but does not even try to understand what is happening. It's just that her mind does not withstand the whole pile of contradictions and the main one - the fact that the father is the enemy of her beloved, and the beloved is killing her father - and she goes mad. Hamlet's mental steadfastness is not manifested in anything and such strength as in the fact that in the face of all the revealed horrors, he retains the strength of his mind.
In this regard, it is appropriate to turn to the issue of Hamlet's notorious madness. Immediately after the conversation with the ghost, the prince warns his friends: let them not be surprised if they see that he will behave strangely. Hamlet says that he will consider, “perhaps it is necessary to put on fads sometimes” (I, 5).
From these words it is obvious that Hamlet decides to pretend to be insane. As we proceed further, we see that he is indeed playing a madman. But his behavior is such that the question involuntarily arises: is Hamlet's madness only feigned or is he really going crazy. In the criticism, controversy arose about this, and, as always, opinions were divided.
Determining the state of mind of a hero without bias is possible only on the basis of a thorough analysis of his behavior and speeches. It is noteworthy that Hamlet turns out to be insane only in the presence of those whom he does not trust or whom he considers his enemies. Actually, he has only one friend - Horatio. In all conversations with him and being alone, Hamlet reveals clarity of mind. This gives grounds to assert that Hamlet is not insane, but only pretends to be him. This is also confirmed by the words of Hamlet before the start of the performance of The Murder of Gonzago. Explaining his plan to Horatio and asking him to watch the king, Hamlet then notices that his enemies are approaching and says: “They are coming; I need to be insane ”(III, 2).
But if Hamlet is not mentally insane, then there is no doubt that the upheavals he experienced caused a storm in him. Before us is by no means a man who only reasonably understood what had happened. He felt it with all his being, and the shock he experienced undoubtedly brought him out of his mental equilibrium. He is in a state of deepest confusion. It is aggravated by the difficulty of the tasks facing him and manifests itself in hesitation.
Hard trials broke something in Hamlet. But they were far from breaking. He hesitates, is tormented by doubts, shows indecision. But all this is not his character. Belinsky with good reason asserts that "by nature Hamlet is a strong man, his bilious irony, his instant outbursts, his passionate antics in conversation with his mother, proud contempt and open hatred for his uncle - all this testifies to the energy and greatness of the soul." Weakness is not Hamlet's nature, but the state he experiences. He is painfully aware of his weakness. One of the elements of the hero's inner tragedy is precisely the fact that, being by nature a strong and energetic person, he feels how everything that happened has broken his will.
This is Hamlet's subjective tragedy. But it is very important not to lose sight of the fact that such a state of mind perceives itself as abnormal. That is why he constantly reproaches himself for being slow. With all the forces of his soul, Hamlet fights against his own weakness. It is significant that after each monologue in which Hamlet reproaches himself for inaction, he takes some step.
If Hamlet was a weak-willed person, incapable of action, he would find himself an excuse and excuse, as is usually the case with people of such a spiritual disposition. But in the hero we see something else. He constantly calls himself to account for inaction, is merciless towards himself and does not seek excuses, but, on the contrary, mercilessly exposes to himself the inadmissibility of avoiding the duty of revenge.
All of these experiences of Hamlet, which we see throughout Acts II and III, are a manifestation of what is considered to be Hamlet's weakness. But even at these moments of greatest hesitation, what Belinsky wrote about is revealed, namely, that Hamlet is great in his “fall”. Indeed, we constantly see not only the doubts and hesitations of the hero, but also the great nobility of his nature, the strength of his mind, capable of such merciless introspection, which is inaccessible to people who are really weak in character. They always shy away from responsibility even to themselves, which cannot be said about Hamlet. Therefore, as Belinsky justly noted, it is in Hamlet's weakness that his spiritual strength is manifested.
Let us now return to the consideration of Hamlet's behavior after meeting with the ghost. Why didn't Hamlet act immediately after taking on the task of revenge? Firstly, because the shock he experienced really deprived him of the ability to act for a while. Although impulsiveness is characteristic of Hamlet, in this case, however, he feels the need to comprehend everything that happened, his position and ways of action.
Secondly - and here we have one of those elements of tragedy that was understandable by Shakespeare's contemporaries, but for us seems strange - Hamlet had to establish to what extent he could trust the words of a ghost. We are deprived here of the opportunity to consider in detail the question of the supernatural in the tragedies of Shakespeare. In a number of his works, spirits and ghosts appear that do not belong to the material earthly world. In each case, their dramatic function has its own special meaning. However, the presence of supernatural powers in Shakespeare is a fact that is by no means only a poetic convention. Despite the progress of science during the Renaissance, the wildest prejudices were still alive in Shakespeare's time. Not only the uneducated people, but even King James I believed in all devilry and himself had a hand in the development of the pseudoscience of "demonology".
Belief in ghosts came into conflict with the religious beliefs of the era. In particular, according to the Protestant religion, which was established in England after the reformation of the church, ghosts from the other world were the delusion of the devil himself. Divine powers, according to the doctrine of Protestantism, did not make themselves felt through such ghosts.
For Hamlet, thus, a contradiction arises, which to modern people may seem only ridiculous, but in the era of Shakespeare it was really a problem. On the one hand, the ghost is similar in appearance to Hamlet's father. This similarity evokes in the prince all the feelings of love and respect that he had for his father. However, on the other hand, there is something devilish about the appearance of a ghost. Hamlet's feelings are consistent with what the ghost is telling him. But Hamlet is not only a man of feeling, he is a man of thought, and this makes him doubt how much he can trust the speeches of a ghost. We repeat, however absurd these things are in our eyes, for Shakespeare's contemporaries one of Hamlet's problems was the problem of the ghost. The hero must solve it too.
The first decision that Hamlet makes is that the discovery of the secret of the king's murder, which he received from the other world, must be confirmed with real earthly evidence. And that's why it took Hamlet to pretend to be insane.
In the ancient saga of Amlet and in its arrangement by Belfort, madness served the prince in order to lull the enemy's vigilance, to make him believe that he had nothing to fear from a reckless fool. This made sense and a clear calculation. But Hamlet's behavior in Shakespeare did not produce a calming effect on Claudius. On the contrary, the prince's madness arouses the king's dismay. Why then is Hamlet pretending to be crazy? Indeed, in this way he can only betray himself.
We will understand the behavior of Hamlet if we also accept the consideration that there are centuries between him and his distant predecessor. In nothing is the difference between the medieval avenger Amlet and the hero of the Renaissance tragedy manifested in the same way as in the character and methods of struggle.
Claudius, who committed murder with impunity, is calm and content. Hamlet seeks to disturb his calm. He needs it for two reasons. First, he wants to take the king out of his peace of mind: let him be tormented and tormented by the memory of his villainy! Secondly, in order to kill a king, you must not only be sure of his guilt yourself, but you must also convince others of this. From the very beginning, Hamlet's plan is to bring Claudius to the point where he somehow betrays his kind in front of everyone. Thirdly, Hamlet will never take the dastardly path of secret murder. He not only arouses the alarm of the enemy, but also warns him. Hamlet intends to put an end to Claudius openly when his crime is exposed to everyone.
Are we not ascribing to the Danish prince motives that were foreign to him? The answer to this is provided by the history of the mores of the Renaissance, replete with dramatic episodes of the struggle, carried out with the help of the most subtle and varied psychological calculations. This is confirmed by literature, and in particular by the drama of the English Renaissance. In the tragedies of revenge by Shakespeare's predecessors and contemporaries, we are constantly confronted with a more or less detailed psychological motivation for the behavior of heroes involved in such conflicts. Against the stated assumptions about the motives of Hamlet's behavior, it can be argued, however, that Shakespeare did not give them verbal expression. It is really necessary in order for the behavior of the hero to be understood by people of a later time, when bloody reprisals against personal enemies became rare and exceptional cases. In the era of Shakespeare, the situation was different. Then every man constantly had a sword or dagger with him. There was no need to explain Hamlet's behavior. The Shakespearean audience was very well versed in such matters. However, there was another reason why Shakespeare did not give verbal expression here to the motives of Hamlet's behavior. The drama of the action also demanded a certain mystery in the prince's behavior. For the time being, it was supposed to be mysterious not only for the king, but also for the spectators of the performance.
The culmination of this part of the tragedy and, perhaps, of the whole drama as a whole, is the scene on stage episode.
The accidental appearance of actors is used by Hamlet to stage a play depicting a murder similar to that of Claudius. Circumstances are favorable for Hamlet. He gets the opportunity to bring the king to such a state where he will be forced to betray himself by word or behavior, and this will happen in the presence of the entire court. It is here that Hamlet reveals his plan in the monologue that concludes Act II, at the same time explaining why he has been delaying until now:
The spirit that presented itself to me
Perhaps there was a devil; the devil is dominant
Put on a cute image; and, perhaps,
That, since I am relaxed and sad, -
And over such a soul, he is very powerful, -
He leads me into death. I need
Rather support. The sight is a loop
To lasso the conscience of the king. (II, 2)
But even having made a decision, Hamlet still does not feel solid ground under his feet. He knows that the critical moment has arrived. The play will put him and Claudius face to face as enemies, between whom no reconciliation is possible. A life-and-death struggle will begin. And here again doubts seize Hamlet. He gets expression in his famous "To Be or Not to Be".
Who does not know this monologue of Hamlet? His first line in memory of everyone: "To be or not to be - that is the question ..." (III, 1).
What is the question?
For such a person as Hamlet, he is primarily associated with the dignity of Man - "what is more noble in spirit?" The solution that the hero is looking for is not what is better, more convenient or more effective, but that it is necessary to act in accordance with the highest concept of humanity. The choice that Hamlet faces is this:
submit
Slings and arrows of fierce fate
Or, taking over the sea of turmoil, slay them
Confrontation? (III, 1)
Silently suffering from evil or fighting against it is only one side of the issue. Resignation to fate can be manifested in the decision to voluntarily die. At the same time, an active struggle can destroy a person. The question "to be or not to be" merges with another - to live or not to live?
Life is so hard that it is not difficult to commit suicide to get rid of its horrors. Death is like a dream. But the fact of the matter is that Hamlet is not sure whether a person's mental anguish ends with death. Dead flesh cannot suffer. But the soul is immortal. What kind of future is in store for her "in her death's dream"? A person cannot know this, for on the other side of life there is "an unknown land, from which there is no return to earthly wanderers." (Note, by the way, that Hamlet partly contradicts the obvious: after all, he saw the ghost of his father returning from the other world. We will not, however, dwell on this and try to decide whether we are dealing with a mistake or a deliberate expression that has some meaning .)
Hamlet's reasoning is by no means abstract. Before him, a man of great imagination and subtle sensitivity, death appears in all its painful tangibility. The fear of death of which he speaks arises in himself. Hamlet is forced to admit that reflections and a premonition of death deprive a person of decisiveness. Fear sometimes prompts us to give up action and struggle.
This famous monologue reveals to us that Hamlet has reached the highest limit in his doubts. It is true that the magnificent words in which Shakespeare clothed the reflections of his hero were remembered by everyone as the highest expression of doubt and indecision. But there is no greater error than to regard this speech as a complete and exhaustive expression of Hamlet's character. The bifurcation of Hamlet really reached its extreme here. The monologue ends when Ophelia appears. Hamlet does not give a clear answer to the question he posed to himself. Perhaps he does not give any answer at all, his soul is full of heavy foreboding. It is expressed in the words with which Hamlet meets Ophelia and which are sometimes given much more importance than they actually have. After all, Hamlet asks her to remember his sins in her prayers, that is, to forgive his sins.
Hamlet never says anything in vain. Even when he is acting insane, his delusional speech is full of deep meaning. His words to Ophelia are not empty either. Hamlet decided on something, on suicide or on a struggle that could lead him to death - what exactly, we do not know. It is only clear that he himself decided not to be the coward who stops thinking, interfering with action. Shakespeare again confronts us with a riddle. But we will see its solution in the further behavior of Hamlet. Taking a close look at all his subsequent actions, we will see that the thought of suicide no longer arises in Hamlet. But the threat of death will become real for him for another reason: Hamlet understands that Claudius will not leave a man alive who will throw a charge of murder in his face.
To what has been said, it should be added that the reasoning of Hamlet in the famous monologue reveals before us those aspects of the hero's worldview that are associated with the naive religious prejudices of the Epoch. Here Hamlet even pays tribute to the medieval concepts of the dual nature of man, whose being disintegrates into decaying dust and an immortal spirit, and expresses the idea of the immortality of the soul. It should be noted, however, that from the point of view of the then orthodox religiosity, the views of Hamlet smack of heresy. Instead of being absolutely sure of an afterlife, Hamlet expresses doubts that testify to his freethinking. However, it is expressed timidly and cautiously, and this is natural, given that Shakespeare had to reckon with the censorship.
The turning point of the tragedy is the scene when, in the presence of the king, queen and the entire court, the actors perform the play "The Murder of Gonzago". Hamlet's behavior during the performance is defiant. To the question of Claudius: "What is the name of the play?" - Hamlet replies: “Mousetrap, but in what sense? In a figurative ... It's a dastardly story; but is it all the same? Your Majesty and us, whose souls are pure, is not concerned; let the nag kick if it has an abrasion; our scruff is not rubbed ”(III, 2).
But the king has a "rubbed neck" and he "kicks". With his excitement, Claudius betrays himself. Hamlet gloatingly triumphs. But, in fact, now the most difficult thing for the hero begins. There was no room for doubt. It's time to act. And now Hamlet is presented with the opportunity to kill the king.
He bumps into Claudius when he is praying in one of the galleries of the palace. Hamlet already knows for sure that Claudius killed his father and he can finally easily end him. His first move is to grab the sword. But the impulse quickly passes. Hamlet restrains himself. “No, that would not be revenge. Prayer, as it were, purified the soul of Claudius, and, according to the concepts of that time about the afterlife, heavenly bliss awaits such a person. Send the king to heaven? No, this is not what Hamlet wants. It is necessary that Claudius continue to suffer torment even after death. Now, if you catch the king for some bad or criminal deed and slay him so that he does not have time to repent and pray, then his soul will go to hell, where it will be doomed to eternal torment.
It seems to us incorrect when this reasoning of Hamlet is interpreted as an excuse to evade action. Of course, in this case, Hamlet's thoughts are full of archaic, from our point of view, ideas related to the afterlife. But we can all the more confidently say that Hamlet's motives reveal his thirst for effective revenge. That this is not an excuse is confirmed by the following scene (III, 4), when Hamlet, during a conversation with his mother, hearing a voice behind the carpet, with the speed of lightning, snatches out his sword and plunges it into the hiding one. The queen exclaims in horror: "God, what have you done?" - Hamlet replies: "I myself do not know ... - and asks hopefully: - was it the king?" But he will be disappointed. Finding that he had killed Polonius, Hamlet admits: "I aimed at the highest." The blow was intended for the king. It seemed to Hamlet that he had caught Claudius "for something bad" and could send him to the underworld.
Here, for the first time, we see Hamlet acting decisively and without hesitation. It's not his fault that he missed. Not only the murder of Polonius, but the whole conversation between Hamlet and his mother testifies to his matured determination. He knows that he has entered the path of cruelty. It started from the moment when Hamlet rejected Ophelia. He does not intend to spare anyone. Going to talk with his mother, Hamlet knows that this will be a kind of duel, and prepares for him "words-daggers" (III, 2). His speeches to his mother sound like an accusation. He does not spare her so much that the ghost of his father, watching him, appears and reminds Hamlet: his business is not to fight with his mother, but to direct his anger against the assassin king.
Hamlet was credited with softness, inability to inflict pain and suffering on other people. Maybe he was sometime like this, but the torment through which he went through, hardened him, and he learned the harsh law of struggle. “Out of pity I must be cruel” (III, 4), - says Hamlet to his mother, and his words express the consciousness that, in fighting for justice, he will have to resort to force. Hamlet's readiness to fight is even more clearly revealed when, informing his mother about his impending departure to England, he says that this is a tunnel that is being led under him. He understands that they want to lure him into a trap. But Hamlet intends to oppose the cunning of the enemy with his own cunning:
That's fun for a digger
Blow it up with a mine: it will be bad,
If I don't go deeper than their yardstick,
To let them go to the moon; there is a beauty in
When two tricks collide with their foreheads! (III, 4)
Let us listen to the intonation of this speech. She says that we have before us a new Hamlet - Hamlet, who got involved in the struggle and is no longer occupied with the question of whether he needs to fight, but quickly figuring out how to respond to the enemy's blows.
If we now compare this with the Hamlet that appeared before us at the beginning of Act III, it will become obvious that a change has taken place in him. Now before us is Hamlet the wrestler. But having missed and killing Polonius instead of the king, Hamlet gave his opponent the opportunity to justify in the eyes of the court and the people the measures directed against the prince. Now, when Hamlet is brought to the king, there is a guard between them, ready to protect Claudius. Realizing his powerlessness to do anything in such conditions, Hamlet nevertheless quite openly threatens the king. Pretending to be insane, he indulges in the argument that people feed themselves for worms. When the king interrupts his reasoning with the question of what he wants to say by this, Hamlet replies: "I just want to show you how a king can make a journey through the intestines of a beggar" (IV, 3). Now Hamlet can only fight with words, and he does it. The king asks him where Polonius is, and Hamlet defiantly says to him: "In heaven: send there to see: if our messenger does not find him there, then look for him elsewhere yourself" (IV, 3). In another place - that is, in hell. This is an open declaration of war.
Just before leaving for England, Hamlet observes the passage of Fortinbras's troops through Danish territory. Hamlet is surprised that thousands of people go to fight for a piece of land where there is not enough space to bury those who die in this struggle. For him, this war is "a dispute about a trifle." But the more reproaches Hamlet brings down upon himself after meeting with the troops of Fortinbras. As usual, Hamlet immediately generalizes. His own inaction leads him to think about the purpose of a person in general. Reason is given to people so that they not only think, but also make decisions leading to real action:
What a man when he is only busy
Sleep and food? Animal, no more.
The one who created us with a thought so vast,
Looking forward and backward, put into us
Not for that godlike mind.
So that he molds idly. (IV, 4)
Earlier, Hamlet came to the idea that "thinking makes us cowards" (III, 1, monologue "To be or not to be"). Now he unreservedly condemns this, and especially the fear of a possible fatal outcome of the struggle. For him it is
pathetic skill
Think too much about the outcome. -
Thought, where the share of wisdom is always
Three portions of cowardice ... (IV, 4)
As an example for himself, he takes Fortinbras, who, "embraced by wondrous ambition, laughs at the invisible outcome" (IV, 4). Now, when Hamlet knows that life is full of contradictions and is impossible without a struggle, he discovers a moral law that determines what should move a person, then he enters into a struggle. Great is not the one who gets involved in it only when there is a great reason. The reason is not important, for it may even be insignificant. It's all about the dignity of a person, his honor, which he must always defend:
Truly great
Who is alarmed by little reason.
But he will enter into a fierce argument over a blade of grass,
When honor is hurt. (IV, 4)
And Hamlet has a huge reason to fight. Now he understands that even without him he would still have to fight against everything that affects his "honor". Of course, it is no coincidence that Hamlet uses a moral concept borrowed from the code of chivalrous morality. But his concept of honor is filled with humanistic content. As evidenced by the beginning of the monologue, it includes everything that corresponds to the purpose and dignity of the person. Hamlet's reasoning ends with a decisive and categorical conclusion:
Oh my thought, from now on you must
Bloody to be, or dust is your price! (IV, 4)
Hamlet's subsequent behavior shows that these were not only words. From Hamlet's letter to Horatio (IV, 6) and his own story to a friend (V, 2), we learn with what dexterity and courage he turned out of the trap prepared for him by the king, and sent instead of himself to certain death Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whom he not at all a pity, for they, like Polonius, have put themselves in jeopardy.
Hamlet returns to Denmark with the intention of continuing the fight against the king. Both his letter to Horatio and his conversation with the gravedigger in the cemetery (V, 1) indicate that he found peace of mind. This is especially evident in Hamlet's conversation with the gravedigger. It is about death, and the gravedigger, accustomed to the spectacle of dead bodies, is capable of rude jokes at human frailty. Hamlet, with his inherent sensitivity, of course, looks at death differently. Something in him is still indignant at this terrible inevitability, and he cannot come to terms with the fact that even genuine human greatness - Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar - is equally doomed to death. However, the tone and meaning of Hamlet's reflections on death are now different than before. Previously, Hamlet was outraged by the injustice of nature. The very thought of death made him fearful. Now in his words there is a bitter irony, but there is a readiness in it of reconciliation with the inevitability of death.
However, Hamlet is waiting for a blow, the possibility of which he did not expect - the death of Ophelia. The calmness leaves him instantly. In a fit of grief, he rushes to Ophelia's coffin. At that moment, he realizes what a terrible, irreversible loss her death is for him.
When Laertes rushes to strangle him, Hamlet defends himself. He, who previously thought about suicide, now wants to save his life. He has no need to fight Laertes, for Hamlet needs life in order to fulfill his task - to take revenge on Claudius.
And now the moment of the denouement is approaching. Hamlet is informed that the king has bet that in a duel on foils the prince will defeat Laertes. Hamlet knows the king well enough and realizes that a new trap may lie behind all this. He calmly accepts Laertes' challenge, but confesses to Horatio that in his soul he has some kind of vague premonition of unkindness. Horatio advises him to abandon the fight, but Hamlet will now fearlessly go to meet any fate. “… We are not afraid of foreboding,” he says, “and there is a special craft in the death of a sparrow. If now, so, then, not later; if not later, then it means now; if not now, then all the same someday; readiness is everything. Since what we part with does not belong to us, does it really matter - It's too early to part? Let it be ”(V, 2).
Now we see that Hamlet finally overcame the fear of death. As always, he raises his personal feeling to the height of a philosophical principle. Here we have Hamlet, who adopted the philosophy of Stoicism. He gained determination and overcame hesitation. But this does not mean at all that sorrow has left him. His outlook on life can no longer be as joyful and light as he was in the years of "infant harmony". Life, as Hamlet knew it, does not make him happy. In secret, he even dreams that death will put an end to his mournful existence.
The new Hamlet, whom we see at the end of the tragedy, no longer knows the former discord. But this does not mean that he has ceased to feel the contradictions of reality. On the contrary, his inner calmness is combined with a sober understanding of the discord between life and ideals. Belinsky correctly noted that Hamlet, in the end, regains spiritual harmony. However, it is fundamentally different from the harmony that was in his soul when he did not yet know the horrors of life. The emotional storm he experienced was not fruitless, for, as Belinsky wrote, disharmony and struggle “are a necessary condition for the transition to courageous and conscientious harmony ... "" What brought back the harmony of spirit to him? - Belinsky writes further and answers: - a very simple conviction that "I am always ready to be - that's all." As a result of this conviction, he found in himself both strength and determination ... ". Belinsky says about the new state of mind of Hamlet: “Note from this that Hamlet is no longer weak, that his struggle is ending: he no longer strives to make up his mind, but does decide, and from this he no longer has rabies, there is no inner discord with himself by itself, there was only one sadness, but in this sadness one can see calmness, as a harbinger of a new and better calmness. "
During the duel, Hamlet discovers an insidious plan directed against him. Knowing that he is mortally wounded, he rushes to the king and, at the last moment of his life, finally accomplishes the task of revenge. This happens almost by accident. But it would be unfair to present this as a reproach to Hamlet. The realism of the tragedy, its difference from the somewhat artificial action of ordinary tragedies of revenge is manifested, in particular, in the fact that the hero does not choose the conditions in which he will carry out his revenge, but, as it happens in real life, a chain of random and unforeseen circumstances is brought to such a situation when, quite unexpectedly for him, both the opportunity and the need to fulfill his intention arise.
The upbringing of the spirit, through which Hamlet passed, bears fruit in the prince's hour of death. He faces death with courage. He knows: for him personally, it's all over. This is the meaning of his last words - "Further - silence" (V, 2). It is worth dwelling on these words, because they are significant.
The tragedy began when Hamlet faced the death of his father. She raised a question in front of him: what is death. We have heard the doubts expressed by him in the monologue "To Be or Not to Be." Then Hamlet admitted that mortal sleep could be a new form of existence of the human soul. Now Hamlet has a new perspective on death. He knows that he will sleep without awakening, dissolving into nothing. Hamlet's words express a denial of religious beliefs about the afterlife. For Hamlet, with the end of earthly existence, human life ends.
The fundamental importance of Hamlet's last words is revealed to us by the following circumstance. In the first edition of the tragedy (quarto of 1603), which contained a distorted, inauthentic text, Hamlet's last words were: "Lord, accept my soul!" Quarto 1604 contains, as you know, the text of Shakespeare. There is hardly any need to explain in detail the difference between the two versions of Hamlet's last words. In the quarto of 1603, Hamlet dies as a believer, Shakespeare's Hamlet dies as a free-thinking philosopher.
But if Hamlet knows that his life is coming to an end, then for him everything is by no means exhausted. Life will go on. Other people remain, and Hamlet wants the world to know the truth about him. He bequeaths to his friend Horatio to tell about his fate to those who do not understand and do not know the reasons for what happened. Hamlet not only wants to justify himself in the eyes of his offspring, his desire - that his life and struggle serve as an example and lesson for the survivors, an example of the struggle of an honest person against evil. He dies like a warrior, like a fighter for a just cause.
Our goal was to show that Shakespeare's tragedy portrays a complex character in its development. During the action, Hamlet reveals first strength, then weakness. We see him both hesitant and decisive. From beginning to end, he is an honest person, aware of his behavior and looking for the right path in life's struggle. As we have seen, this path was difficult for him, associated with painful emotional experiences and losses, because he had to give up his beloved. But before us is not a relaxed person, but a hero with genuine courage, which helped him go through all the trials with honor.
Hamlet is not an inactive person either. Can the hero's spiritual quest be called inaction? After all, thought is also a form of human activity, and Hamlet, as we know, is endowed with this ability to a particularly large extent. However, we do not want to say that Hamlet's activity occurs only in the intellectual sphere. He works incessantly. Each of his encounters with other persons, with the exception of Horatio, is a duel of views and feelings.
Finally, Hamlet acts in the truest sense of the word. One can only wonder that he has earned the fame of a man incapable of action. After all, before our eyes, he kills Polonius, sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to certain death, wins Laertes in a duel and finishes Claudius. Not to mention that indirectly Hamlet is the culprit of Ophelia's madness and death. Is it possible, after all this, to assume that Hamlet does nothing and only indulges in reflection throughout the tragedy?
Although we see that Hamlet committed more murders than his enemy Claudius, nevertheless, as a rule, no one notices this and does not take into account. We ourselves are more interested and worried about what Hamlet thinks than what he does, and therefore we do not notice the active character of the hero. Shakespeare's skill was manifested in the fact that he directed our attention not so much to external events as to the emotional experiences of the hero, and they are full of tragedy.
The tragedy for Hamlet lies not only in the fact that the world is terrible, but also in the fact that he must plunge into the abyss of evil in order to fight it. He realizes that he himself is far from perfect, and, indeed, his behavior reveals that the evil that reigns in life, to some extent, stains him. The tragic irony of life's circumstances leads Hamlet to the fact that he, acting as avenger for his murdered father, himself also kills the father of Laertes and Ophelia, and the son of Polonius takes revenge on him.
In general, circumstances are such that Hamlet, exercising revenge, is forced to strike right and left. He, for whom nothing is dearer than life, has to become a squire of death.
For all the complexity of the action, Hamlet, however, differs from other tragedies, for example from Othello or King Lear, in that the dramatic tension here weakens somewhat towards the end. This is primarily due to the character of the hero and the peculiarities of his spiritual development. In "Othello" and "King Lear" the highest moment of tragedy is the ending - the death of Desdemona and Cordelia. In Hamlet, as has already been said, the hero experiences the greatest spiritual tragedy at the beginning, while for Othello and Lear the most terrible tragic moments are the final events.
The dramaturgy of the 16th - 17th centuries was an integral and, perhaps, the most important part of the literature of that time. This type of literary creation was the closest and most understandable to the broad masses, it was a spectacle that made it possible to convey to the viewer the feelings and thoughts of the author. William Shakespeare is one of the brightest representatives of the drama of that time, who is read and re-read to our time, staged performances based on his works, and analyzed philosophical concepts.
The genius of the English poet, actor and playwright lies in the ability to show the realities of life, to penetrate into the soul of every spectator, to find in it a response to his philosophical statements through feelings familiar to every person. Theatrical action of that time took place on a platform in the middle of the square, the actors in the course of the play could go down to the "hall". The viewer became, as it were, a participant in everything that was happening. Nowadays, such an effect of presence is unattainable even when using 3d technologies. All the more important in the theater was the word of the author, the language and style of the work. Shakespeare's talent manifests itself in many ways in his linguistic manner of presenting the plot. Simple and somewhat florid, it differs from the language of the streets, allowing the viewer to rise above everyday life, to stand for a while on a par with the characters of the play, people of the upper class. And the genius is confirmed by the fact that this has not lost its significance in later times - we get the opportunity to become for some time accomplices in the events of medieval Europe.
The pinnacle of Shakespeare's creativity, many of his contemporaries, and after them and subsequent generations, considered the tragedy "Hamlet - Prince of Denmark". This work of the recognized English classic has become one of the most significant for Russian literary thought. It is no coincidence that the tragedy of Hamlet was translated into Russian more than forty times. Such interest is caused not only by the phenomenon of medieval drama and the author's literary talent, which is undoubtedly. Hamlet is a work that reflects the "eternal image" of a seeker of truth, a philosopher of morality and a person who has stepped above his era. The galaxy of such people, which began with Hamlet and Don Quixote, continued in Russian literature with the images of “superfluous people” by Onegin and Pechorin, and further in the works of Turgenev, Dobrolyubov, Dostoevsky. This line is native to the Russian seeking soul.
History of creation - The Tragedy of Hamlet in 17th century romanticism
As many of Shakespeare's works are based on the novels of the literature of the early Middle Ages, so the plot of the tragedy Hamlet was borrowed by him from the Icelandic chronicles of the 12th century. However, this plot is not something original for the "dark time". The theme of the struggle for power, regardless of moral norms, and the theme of revenge are present in many works of all times. On the basis of this, Shakespeare's romanticism created the image of a person protesting against the foundations of his time, looking for a way out of these shackles of conventions to the norms of pure morality, but who himself is a hostage to existing rules and laws. The Crown Prince, romantic and philosopher, who asks the eternal questions of being and, at the same time, is forced to fight in realities the way it was accepted at that time - "he is not his own master, his birth is tied by hand" (Act I, Scene III ), and this arouses his inner protest.
(Old engraving - London, 17th century)
England, in the year of writing and staging the tragedy, was going through a turning point in its feudal history (1601), therefore the play contains that certain gloom, real or imaginary decline in the state - "Something has rotted in the Danish kingdom" (Act I, scene IV ). But we are more interested in the eternal questions "about good and evil, about fierce hatred and holy love", which are so clearly and so ambiguously spelled out by Shakespeare's genius. In full accordance with romanticism in art, the play contains heroes of pronounced moral categories, an obvious villain, a wonderful hero, there is a love line, but the author goes further. The romantic hero refuses to follow the canons of the times in his revenge. One of the key figures of the tragedy, Polonius, does not appear to us in an unambiguous light. The topic of betrayal is dealt with in several storylines and is also offered to the viewer. From the obvious betrayal of the king and the infidelity of the memory of the deceased husband by the queen, to the trivial betrayal of fellow students who are not averse to finding out secrets from the prince for the king's mercy.
Description of the tragedy (the plot of the tragedy and its main features)
Ilsinor, castle of Danish kings, night watch with Horatio, a friend of Hamlet, meets the ghost of the deceased king. Horatio tells about this meeting to Hamlet, and he decides to personally meet with the shadow of his father. The ghost tells the prince the terrible story of his death. The death of the king turns out to be a dastardly murder committed by his brother Claudius. After this meeting, a turning point occurs in Hamlet's mind. What was learned is superimposed on the fact that the king's widow, Hamlet's mother, and the murderer's brother are too soon to marry. Hamlet is obsessed with the idea of revenge, but is in doubt. He must make sure of everything for himself. Depicting madness, Hamlet observes everything. Polonius, the king's advisor and the father of Hamlet's beloved, tries to explain to the king and queen such changes in the prince with rejected love. Before, he forbade his daughter Ophelia to accept Hamlet's courtship. These prohibitions destroy the idyll of love, further lead to depression and insanity of the girl. The king makes his attempts to find out the thoughts and plans of his stepson, he is tormented by doubts and his sin. The former student friends of Hamlet hired by him are with him inseparably, but to no avail. The shock of the learned makes Hamlet think even more about the meaning of life, about such categories as freedom and morality, about the eternal question of the immortality of the soul, the frailty of being.
Meanwhile, a troupe of wandering actors appears in Ilsinor, and Hamlet persuades them to insert several lines into the theatrical action, denouncing the king of fratricide. During the performance, Claudius betrays himself with confusion, Hamlet's doubts about his guilt are dispelled. He tries to talk to his mother, to throw accusations in her face, but the ghost that appears forbids him to take revenge on his mother. A tragic accident aggravates the tension in the royal chambers - Hamlet kills Polonius, who hid behind the curtains out of curiosity during this conversation, mistaking him for Claudius. Hamlet was sent to England to cover up these annoying accidents. Friends-spies are sent with him. Claudius hands them a letter to the King of England asking them to execute the prince. Hamlet, who managed to accidentally read the letter, makes corrections in it. As a result, traitors fall under execution, and he returns to Denmark.
Laertes, the son of Polonius, also returns to Denmark, the tragic news of the death of Ophelia's sister as a result of her insanity due to love, and the murder of his father pushes him to an alliance with Claudia in revenge. Claudius provokes a duel on swords between two young men, Laertes's blade is deliberately poisoned. Without stopping at this, Claudius also poisons the wine in order to water Hamlet in case of victory. During the duel, Hamlet is wounded by a poisoned blade, but finds an understanding with Laertes. The duel continues, during which the opponents exchange swords, now Laertes is also wounded by the poisoned sword. Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude, cannot withstand the tension of the duel and drinks poisoned wine for her son's victory. Claudius is also killed, only Hamlet's only faithful friend Horace remains alive. The troops of the Norwegian prince enter the capital of Denmark, who occupies the Danish throne.
main characters
As can be seen from the entire development of the plot, the theme of revenge fades into the background before the moral quest of the protagonist. The fulfillment of revenge for him is impossible in the same terms as is customary in that society. Even convinced of his uncle's guilt, he does not become his executioner, but only an accuser. Unlike him, Laertes makes a deal with the king, for him revenge is above all else, he follows the traditions of his time. The love line in the tragedy is only an additional means to show the moral images of that time, to shade the spiritual searches of Hamlet. The main characters in the play are Prince Hamlet and the King's advisor Polonius. It is in the moral foundations of these two people that the conflict of time is expressed. Not a conflict between good and evil, but the difference in the levels of morality of the two positive characters - the main line of the play, brilliantly shown by Shakespeare.
An intelligent, loyal and honest servant to the king and fatherland, a caring father and respected citizen of his country. He is sincerely trying to help the king understand Hamlet, he is sincerely trying to understand Hamlet himself. His moral foundations at the level of that time are impeccable. Sending his son to study in France, he instructs him on the rules of conduct, which even today can be brought without changes, they are so wise and universal for any time. Worried about the moral character of his daughter, he admonishes her to abandon Hamlet's courtship, explaining the class difference between them and not excluding the possibility of the prince's frivolous attitude towards the girl. At the same time, according to his moral views corresponding to that time, there is nothing prejudicial about such frivolity on the part of the young man. With his distrust of the prince and the will of his father, he destroys their love. For the same reasons, he does not trust his own son, sending a servant to him as a spy. The plan for observing him is simple - to find acquaintances and, slightly denigrating his son, to lure out the frank truth about his behavior away from home. Eavesdropping on the conversation of an angry son and mother in the royal chambers is also not wrong for him. With all his actions and thoughts, Polonius seems to be an intelligent and kind person, even in the madness of Hamlet, he sees his rational thoughts and gives them their due. But he is a typical representative of a society that puts such pressure on Hamlet with its deceit and duplicity. And this is the tragedy, which is understandable not only in modern society, but also in the London public at the beginning of the 17th century. Such duplicity causes protest by its presence in the modern world.
A hero with a strong spirit and an extraordinary mind, seeking and doubting, one step above the whole of society in his morality. He is able to look at himself from the outside, he is able to analyze those around him and analyze his thoughts and actions. But he is also a product of that era, and this binds him. Traditions and society impose on him a certain stereotype of behavior, which he can no longer accept. Based on the plot about revenge, the whole tragedy of the situation is shown when a young man sees evil not just in one base act, but in the whole society in which such actions are justified. This young man calls himself to live in accordance with the highest morality, responsibility for all his actions. The family tragedy only makes him think more about moral values. Such a thinking person cannot but raise for himself universal philosophical questions. The famous monologue "To be or not to be" is only the pinnacle of such reasoning, which is woven into all his dialogues with friends and foes, in conversations with random people. But the imperfection of society and the environment still pushes on impulsive, often unjustified actions, which are then hard experienced by him and ultimately lead to death. After all, the guilt in the death of Ophelia and the accidental mistake in the murder of Polonius and the inability to understand the grief of Laertes oppress him and chains him.
Laertes, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, Horatio
All these persons are introduced into the plot as the environment of Hamlet and characterize ordinary society, positive and correct in the understanding of that time. Even considering them from a modern point of view, one can recognize their actions as logical and consistent. The struggle for power and adultery, revenge for the murdered father and the first girlish love, enmity with neighboring states and the receipt of lands as a result of knightly tournaments. And only Hamlet stands head and shoulders above this society, bogged down to the waist in the ancestral traditions of succession to the throne. Three friends of Hamlet - Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, are representatives of the nobility, courtiers. For two of them, spying on the other is not something wrong, and only one remains a faithful listener and interlocutor, an intelligent advisor. An interlocutor, but nothing more. Before his fate, society and the whole kingdom, Hamlet is left alone.
Analysis - the idea behind the tragedy of Danish prince Hamlet
The main idea of Shakespeare was the desire to show psychological portraits of contemporaries based on the feudalism of the "dark times", a new generation growing up in society, which can change the world for the better. Literate, seeking and freedom-loving. It is no coincidence that Denmark is called a prison in the play, which, according to the author, was the entire society of that time. But Shakespeare's genius was expressed in the ability to describe everything in semitones, without slipping into the grotesque. Most of the characters are positive and respected people according to the canons of that time, they reason quite sensibly and fairly.
Hamlet is shown as a person prone to introspection, spiritually strong, but still bound by conventions. The inability to act, inability, makes him akin to the "superfluous people" of Russian literature. But it carries in itself a charge of moral purity and the desire of society for the better. The genius of this work lies in the fact that all these issues are relevant in the modern world, in all countries and on all continents, regardless of the political system. And the language and stanza of the English playwright captivate with their perfection and originality, make you re-read works several times, turn to performances, listen to performances, look for something new hidden in the mists of time.
Shakespeare is a writer who has written many wonderful works that are known throughout the world. One of such works is the play "Hamlet", where different destinies are intertwined and social and political issues of the 16-17th centuries are touched upon. Here, in the tragedy, both betrayal and the desire to restore justice are shown. Reading the work, we with the heroes experience, feel their pain, loss.
Shakespeare Hamlet the main characters of the work
In his work "Hamlet" Shakespeare created different characters, whose images are ambiguous. Each hero of the tragedy "Hamlet" by Shakespeare is a separate world, which has its own shortcomings and positive aspects. Shakespeare in the tragedy "Hamlet" created a variety of characters in the work, where there are both positive and negative images.
Images of heroes and their characteristics
So, in our work we get to know Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, who was smart but weak-willed. Immediately after the death of her husband, she marries his killer. She does not know the feeling of maternal love, so she easily agrees to become Claudius's accomplice. And only after she drank the poison that was intended for her son, she realized her mistake, realized how wise and just her son was.
Ophelia, the girl who loved Hamlet until her last breath. She lived surrounded by lies and espionage, was a toy in the hands of her father. In the end, she goes mad, because she could not bear the trials that fell on her fate.
Claudius - goes to fratricide, just to achieve his goals. Vile, cunning, hypocrite, who was also smart. This character has a conscience and it also torments him, not allowing him to fully enjoy his dirty achievements.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a vivid example of what real friends should not be, because friends do not betray, but here, making a characterization of the heroes of Shakespeare's Hamlet, we see that these heroes easily betray the prince, becoming Claudius's spies. They easily agree to take a message about the murder of Hamlet. But in the end, fate does not play into their hands, because in the end it is not Hamlet who perishes, but they themselves.
Horatio, on the other hand, is a true friend to the last. Together with Hamlet, he experiences all his worries and doubts and asks Hamlet, after he felt the inevitable tragic end, to breathe in this world, and tell everything about him.
In general, all the characters are bright, unforgettable, unique in their own way, and among them, of course, it is impossible not to recall in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" the image of the main character, the very same Hamlet - the Danish prince. This hero is multifaceted and has an extensive image that is filled with life content. Here we see Hamlet's hatred for Claudius, while he has a wonderful attitude towards the actors. He can be rude, as is the case with Ophelia, and can be suave, as is the case with Horatio. Hamlet is witty, has a good command of the sword, he is afraid of God's punishment, but at the same time, he blasphemes. He loves his mother, despite her attitude. Hamlet is indifferent to the throne, always remembers his father with pride, thinks and reflects a lot. He is smart, not arrogant, lives by his own thoughts, is guided by his own judgment. In a word, in the image of Hamlet we see the versatility of the human personality, who thought about the meaning of the existence of people, therefore he utters the well-known monologue: "To be or not to be, that is the question."
Characteristics of heroes based on Shakespeare's "HAMLET"
4 (80%) 3 votesCharacteristics of the heroes based on Shakespeare's "King Lear" - Lear Characteristics of the heroes from the work "Song of Roland", Olivier
Hamlet is one of the greatest Shakespearean tragedies. The eternal questions raised in the text are of concern to humanity to this day. Conflicts of love, topics related to politics, reflections on religion: all the main intentions of the human spirit are collected in this tragedy. Shakespeare's plays are both tragic and realistic, and the images have long become eternal in world literature. Perhaps this is where their greatness lies.
The famous English author was not the first to write the history of Hamlet. Before him there was "The Spanish Tragedy", written by Thomas Kid. Researchers and literary scholars suggest that Shakespeare borrowed the plot from him. However, Thomas Kid himself was probably referring to earlier sources. Most likely, these were short stories of the early Middle Ages.
Saxon Grammaticus in his book "History of the Danes" described the real story of the ruler of Jutland, who had a son named Amlet and wife Geruta. The ruler had a brother who was jealous of his wealth and decided to kill, and then married his wife. Amlet did not submit to the new ruler, and, having learned about the bloody murder of his father, decides to take revenge. The stories coincide down to the smallest details, but Shakespeare interprets the events differently and penetrates deeper into the psychology of each hero.
The essence
Hamlet returns to his native castle Elsinore for his father's funeral. From the soldiers who served at the court, he learns about the ghost that comes to them at night and resembles the deceased king in outline. Hamlet decides to go to a meeting with an unknown phenomenon, the further meeting terrifies him. The ghost reveals to him the true cause of his death and inclines his son to revenge. The Danish prince is confused and on the verge of insanity. He does not understand whether the spirit of his father really saw, or was it the devil who came to him from the depths of hell?
The hero thinks about what happened for a long time and ultimately decides to find out on his own whether Claudius is really guilty. To do this, he asks the troupe of actors to play the play "The Murder of Gonzago" in order to see the reaction of the king. During a key moment in the play, Claudius becomes ill and leaves, at which point an ominous truth is revealed. All this time, Hamlet pretends to be crazy, and even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sent to him could not find out from him the true motives of his behavior. Hamlet intends to talk to the queen in her chambers and accidentally kills Polonius, who hid behind a curtain in order to eavesdrop. He sees in this accident a manifestation of the will of heaven. Claudius understands the criticality of the situation and tries to send Hamlet to England, where he should be executed. But this does not happen, and the dangerous nephew returns to the castle, where he kills his uncle and himself dies from poison. The kingdom passes into the hands of the Norwegian ruler Fortinbras.
Genre and direction
"Hamlet" is written in the genre of tragedy, but the "theatricality" of the work should be taken into account. Indeed, in Shakespeare's understanding, the world is a stage, and life is a theater. This is a kind of specific attitude, a creative view of the phenomena surrounding a person.
Shakespeare's dramas are traditionally referred to as. She is characterized by pessimism, gloom and aestheticization of death. These features can be found in the works of the great English playwright.
Conflict
The main conflict in the play was divided into external and internal. Its external manifestation lies in Hamlet's attitude to the inhabitants of the Danish court. He considers them all to be base creatures, devoid of reason, pride and dignity.
Internal conflict is very well expressed in the emotional experiences of the hero, his struggle with himself. Hamlet chooses between two behavioral types: new (Renaissance) and old (feudal). He is formed as a fighter, not wanting to perceive reality as it is. Shocked by the evil that surrounded him from all sides, the prince is going to fight him, despite all the difficulties.
Composition
The main compositional outline of the tragedy consists of a story about the fate of Hamlet. Each separate layer of the play serves to fully reveal his personality and is accompanied by constant changes in the thoughts and behavior of the hero. Events gradually unfold in such a way that the reader begins to feel constant tension, which does not stop even after the death of Hamlet.
The action can be divided into five parts:
- First part - tie... Here Hamlet meets the ghost of his deceased father, who bequeaths to him to avenge his death. In this part, the prince first encounters human betrayal and meanness. From this begins his spiritual torment, which does not let him go until his death. Life becomes meaningless for him.
- Second part - action development... The prince decides to pretend to be crazy in order to deceive Claudius and find out the truth about his deed. He also accidentally kills the royal advisor - Polonius. At this moment, the realization comes to him that he is the executor of the highest will of heaven.
- The third part - climax... Here Hamlet, with the help of a trick with showing the play, is finally convinced of the guilt of the reigning king. Claudius realizes how dangerous his nephew is and decides to get rid of him.
- The fourth part - The Prince is sent to England to be executed there. At the same moment, Ophelia goes mad and tragically dies.
- Fifth part - denouement... Hamlet escapes execution, but he has to fight Laertes. In this part, all the main participants in the action perish: Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet himself.
The main characters and their characteristics
- Hamlet- from the very beginning of the play, the reader's interest is focused on the personality of this character. This "bookish" boy, as Shakespeare himself wrote about him, suffers from a disease of the approaching century - melancholy. In essence, he is the first reflective hero of world literature. Someone might think that he is a weak, incapable person. But in fact, we see that he is strong in spirit and is not going to submit to the problems that have befallen him. His perception of the world is changing, particles of former illusions turn to dust. This gives rise to the very "Hamletism" - the inner discord in the soul of the hero. By nature, he is a dreamer, a philosopher, but life forced him to become an avenger. Hamlet's character can be called "Byronic", because he is maximally focused on his inner state and is rather skeptical about the world around him. He, like all romantics, is prone to constant self-doubt and rushing between good and evil.
- Gertrude- Hamlet's mother. A woman in whom we see the inclinations of the mind, but a complete lack of will. She is not alone in her loss, but for some reason she does not try to get closer to her son at the moment when grief happened in the family. Without the slightest remorse, Gertrude betrays the memory of her late husband and agrees to marry his brother. Throughout the entire action, she constantly tries to justify herself. As she dies, the queen realizes how erroneous her behavior was, and how wise and fearless her son turned out to be.
- Ophelia- the daughter of Polonius and the beloved of Hamlet. A meek girl who loved the prince until her death. She also had trials that she could not endure. Her madness is not a feigned move invented by someone. This is the same madness that occurs in the moment of true suffering, it cannot be stopped. There are some hidden indications in the work that Ophelia was pregnant by Hamlet, and this makes the realization of her fate doubly difficult.
- Claudius- a man who killed his own brother for the sake of achieving his own goals. Hypocritical and vile, he still carries a heavy burden. The pangs of conscience devour him every day and do not allow him to fully enjoy the rule to which he came in such a terrible way.
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern- the so-called "friends" of Hamlet, who betrayed him at the first opportunity to make good money. Without delay, they agree to deliver a message that tells of the death of the prince. But fate has prepared a worthy punishment for them: as a result, they die instead of Hamlet.
- Horatio- an example of a true and faithful friend. The only person the prince can confide in. They go through all the problems together, and Horatio is ready to share even death with a friend. It is to him that Hamlet trusts to tell his story and asks him to "breathe more in this world."
Themes
- Hamlet's revenge... The prince was destined to carry the heavy burden of vengeance. He cannot coldly and prudently deal with Claudius and regain the throne. His humanistic attitudes force us to think about the common good. The hero feels responsible for those who have suffered from the widespread evil around. He sees that not only Claudius is to blame for the death of his father, but the whole of Denmark, which blithely closed her eyes to the circumstances of the death of the old king. He knows that in order to take revenge, he needs to become the enemy of the whole environment. His ideal of reality does not coincide with the real picture of the world, the "shattered century" dislikes Hamlet. The prince realizes that he cannot restore peace alone. Such thoughts plunge him into even greater despair.
- Hamlet's love... Before all those terrible events in the life of the hero, there was love. But, unfortunately, she is unhappy. He was madly in love with Ophelia, and there is no doubt about the sincerity of his feelings. But the young man is forced to refuse happiness. After all, the proposal to share the sorrows together would be too selfish. In order to permanently break the connection, he has to hurt and be merciless. Trying to save Ophelia, he could not even imagine how great her suffering would be. The impulse with which he rushes to her coffin was deeply sincere.
- Hamlet's friendship... The hero values friendship very much and is not used to choosing friends for himself based on an assessment of their position in society. His only true friend is poor student Horatio. At the same time, the prince is contemptuous of betrayal, which is why he treats Rosencrantz and Guildenstern so cruelly.
Problems
The problematic covered in Hamlet is very broad. Here are the themes of love and hate, the meaning of life and the purpose of a person in this world, strength and weakness, the right to revenge and murder.
One of the main ones is problem of choice that the protagonist faces. There is a lot of uncertainty in his soul, he alone reflects for a long time and analyzes everything that happens in his life. There is no one next to Hamlet who could help him make a decision. Therefore, he is guided only by his own moral principles and personal experience. His consciousness is divided into two halves. In one, a philosopher and humanist lives, and in the other, a man who has understood the essence of a rotten world.
His key monologue "To be or not to be" reflects all the pain in the hero's soul, the tragedy of thought. This incredible internal struggle exhausts Hamlet, imposes suicidal thoughts on him, but he is stopped by his unwillingness to commit another sin. He began to worry more and more about the topic of death and its mystery. What's next? Eternal darkness or the continuation of the suffering that he endures during his lifetime?
Meaning
The main idea of tragedy is to find the meaning of being. Shakespeare shows a person who is educated, eternally seeking, possessing a deep sense of empathy for everything that surrounds him. But life forces him to face true evil in various forms. Hamlet realizes it, tries to figure out exactly how it arose and why. He is overwhelmed by the fact that one place can turn into hell on Earth so quickly. And the act of his revenge is to destroy the evil that has penetrated into his world.
Fundamental to the tragedy is the idea that behind all these royal showdowns there is a great turning point in the entire European culture. And at the forefront of this turning point is Hamlet - a new type of hero. Together with the death of all the main characters, the established system of world outlook collapses for centuries.
Criticism
Belinsky in 1837 wrote an article dedicated to "Hamlet", in which he calls the tragedy "a brilliant diamond" in the "radiant crown of the king of dramatic poets", "crowned with the whole of humanity and neither before nor after himself has no rival."
The image of Hamlet contains all common human features "<…>this is me, this is each of us, more or less ... ", writes Belinsky about him.
S. T. Coleridge in Shakespeare's Lectures (1811-1812) writes: “Hamlet fluctuates due to natural sensitivity and hesitates, held by reason, which forces him to turn active forces in search of a speculative solution.”
Psychologist L.S. Vygotsky focused on Hamlet's connection with the other world: "Hamlet is a mystic, this determines not only his state of mind on the threshold of double existence, two worlds, but also his will in all its manifestations."
And the literary critic V.K. Kantor viewed the tragedy from a different angle and in his article “Hamlet as a“ Christian Warrior ”" pointed out: “The tragedy of Hamlet is a system of temptations. He is tempted by a ghost (this is the main temptation), and the prince's task is to check if the devil is trying to lead him into sin. Hence the trap theater. But at the same time, he is tempted by his love for Ophelia. Temptation is an ongoing Christian problem. "
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