The Research of Humanity’s Role in Revenge ——A Comparison of Hamlet and Heathcliff20.doc

the research of humanitys role in revenge a comparison of hamlet and heathcliffabstract: the western vengeance literature traces a long time ago. from the holmes, tragedies in ancient greek to plays in the renaissance time, to realistic novels in the 19th century, the western vengeance literature has never lost its charm. with the viewpoint of comparative literature, this paper aims to give a detailed comparison between the characters of two actors in hamlet and wuthering heights, which will not only provide a clear picture of the role human natures play in the revenges and different consequences they bring about, but also make a conclusion of the research value of these two works, namely the thought on human natures when one has a full bosom of hatred.key words: hamlet; heathcliff; revenge; humanity人性在复仇中所扮演的角色 哈姆雷特及希斯克里夫的性格比较摘要：西方的复仇文学源远流长，从荷马史诗、古希腊悲剧到文艺复兴时期的戏剧，再到19世纪现实主义文学小说，复仇文学一直保持着满目辉煌的样态。本文将致力于运用比较文学的方法在深入剖析哈姆雷特和呼啸山庄中男主人公的个性分析的基础上，探究其异同，希望通过对比能分析人性在复仇背后的作用，及其引起的不同的结果，总结两部作品传递的研究价值，以反思面对仇恨时对人性的思考。关键词：哈姆雷特；希斯克里夫；复仇；人性the research of humanitys role in revenge a comparison of hamlet and heathcliff1. introductionwilliam shakespeare is one of remarkable playwrights and poets the world has ever known. his works have kept coming out in large quantities and we know shakespeares greatest tragedies are hamlet, othello, king lear, and macbeth. hamlet, the first of the great tragedies, is generally regarded as shakespeares most popular play on the stage. wuthering heights was emily brontes only novel. since its publication in 1847, many critics have made different comments on this work. yet the fact remains that this mysterious novel has occupied a very important position in english literature. it is certainly one of the most extraordinary books which human genius has ever produced. the novel is a cry of despairing agony wrung from emily by life itself. it is the life of the mid-victorian england, experience by a girl of passion and imagination. both two works tells the stories of the revenge to others, both for love, one for dear father, while the other for lover. they are for the love of revenge, but because the character, experience, all of the differences in the way of revenge left a different mark, eventually gave his life. this article will focus on the methods of comparative literature in-depth analysis of hamlet and wuthering heights heros personality based on the analysis, explores the similarities and differences. by comparison to the role of humanity in revenge behind, and the cause of different results, it can be summed up that the two works in the delivery of value reflect different human nature when face hatred.2. a comparison of the two revenge stories 2.1 the story of hamlet and wuthering heightsthe play opens with hamlet, prince of denmark, a typical renaissance youth, born to a royal family, had nice dream for human beings. after he returned from germany for his studies, he found the society in chaos. hamlets dream began to vanish into thin air after his fathers death when the ghost of the elder hamlet appeared, he got to know that his uncle claudius had seduced his mother and killed his father with poison, and he became heavyhearted, full of grief. after careful thinking, he decided to do his duty to save his country and kill king claudiusthe maker of the evil deed. hamlet was appearing in a mood of worldweariness occasioned by his fathers recent death and by his mothers hasty remarriage with claudius, his fathers brother. because the cast of hamlets mind is so speculative, so questioning and so contemplative, he is trapped in a nightmare world of spying, testing and plotting and apparently bearing the intolerable burden of the duty to revenge his fathers death. living suspended between fact and fiction, language and action.heathcliff was a gipsy waif of unknown parentage. he was picked up by mr. earnshow. but the old man died, the young master hindley bullied him. he was deprived of the right of receiving education and even reduced to the position of a servant, yet he was no desperate because he had catherine to understand him and love him. they shared sympathy with each other. then it came the turning point, catherine decided to marry linton. class prejudice now deprived heathcliff of his right to love catherine. heathcliff was entirely deserted in the cruel world. all his hope was gone. he had no way out but to escape from the family. he was set on the road of revenge. three years later, heathcliff returned with no money, he was no longer a man but a creature of revenge. he revenged himself not merely on hindley and linton but also on their relatives. he made all them suffer even more than he had. he married ezabella but treated her cruelly. he forced little cathey to marry his dying son and seized the right of inheritance to the property of lintons family at the same time. no doubt he had gained a material victory, but what is the result it brings? catherine was gone forever, he suffered a disastrous spiritual defeat, haunted by the memory of catherine and troubled with a disturbed heart, heathcliff finally died a pathetic old man. 2.2the similarities and difference two heroes character the two young men have weaknesses in their characters respectively, hesitation, and reckless impulse. the character of hamlet is melancholy and indecision, but this is not changed at all times. at first he was in the sun and he was an ideal young person, when he encountered such tragic mater he got into melancholy, and his delay was also puzzling, his father was killed by claudius, and the ghost asked him to take revenge. surprisingly, hamlet delayed his revenge and even lost an extremely good chance in the eyes of the world. heathcliff, as a homeless gypsy orphan, is a child of nature by birth. since the moment he is brought to wuthering heightsthe “human” world, he becomes alienated to everyone. hate and revenge grow in his young heart with the unbearable insult and abuse from hindley as well as others. hence it is the catherines love that warms him from the beginning; it is catherines love that gives him the hope of life; it is catherines love that makes him endurable to every torture. but heathcliff is sensitive to his love, when he notices catherines changes in life and hears her words. he departs without a word to anyone. after three years, he comes back, the good in him turned into evil.the leading actor hamlet is the image of a humanist in the later term of renaissance. “he considers human as a creature! they have great strength! they have elegant appearance! they are like an angel in action!” based the humanism belief, he was praised for the human sincerely: “what a piece of work is a man! how admirable! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! starting from this beautiful knowledge, hamlet formed his humanism view about love, friendship, duty and so on. at that time, ideal and reality were in perfect harmony in his heart. but the reality was far from his ideal, so when he had to step out of the solemn wall of foreign university, and set foot on his motherland that was dogged by bad luck. it was inevitable that “harmony” be broken. heathcliff, as a homeless gypsy orphan, is a child of nature by birth. since the moment he is brought to wuthering heightsthe “human” world, he becomes alienated to everyone. however, when he overhears catherines words to nelly, “it would degrade me to marry heathcliff”. he departs. emily did not give the reason for his departure. but there is some hint from his words to nelly before his leaving “if i knocked him (linton) down twenty times, that wouldnt make him less handsome. i wish i had light hair and a fair skin, and was dressed and behaved as well, and had a chance of being as rich as he will be! ” in one sense, it shows his self-abasement. in another sense, it also presents his hope and ambition to be as rich and gentlemanlike as linton.2.3the effects of these similarities and differencestheir different personalities: one is hesitant and indecisive; another is impatient and brutal, heart-sensitive. this makes them more of the rough road of revenge, ups and downs. “to be, or not to bethat is the question, whether, this noble in the mind to suffer. the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles” a suspect in hamlets mind makes him hesitant to take the action. while the more heathcliff loves catherine, the deeper the hate is; the deeper the hate, the crueler his revenge becomes. in order to make up for his lost love and his sorrow, he revenges even on young generations love. love and hate mix together in heathcliff.3. the common points of hamlets and heathcliffs revenge stories3.1 reasons3.1.1 lovelove is the real reason why they commit revenge; hamlet loves his mother very much, when his father was alive, hamlet had to share his mothers love with his father, which made him much too unpleased. so in his unconsciousness, he desires to get rid of his father so that he can posses his mothers whole love. but now, what he desires to do has been done by his uncle claudius. at this, his unconscious desire is stimulated and is very active. his sin psychology urges him into criticizing and killing claudius. heathcliff, who is a gypsy waif, picked by mr.earnshaw and grow up with earnshaws son and daughter, hindley and catherine. but when mr.earnshaw dies, his son hinley, who becomes the master of wuthering heights, drives him from their company to the servants and compels him to labor like any other hand on the farm, which arouses heathcliff rebellion against hindley tyranny. furthermore, when heathcliff falls passionately love with catherine, hindley considers it beneath their family dignity to let his sister is married to a waif like heathcliff. catherine and heathcliffs love is of such an immaculate nature that is cannot be realized by these people in this time in this place or perhaps by any people in any time in any place in this life. convention and property torment heathcliffs love. heathcliff disappears and leaves wuthering heights, returns three years later, a self-made and brutally confident man. he begins a live of revenge destruction and revenge, but heathcliffs way of revenge and destruction perverted well as barren. heathcliff seeks his revenge by making violent love to catherine.3.1.2 fatethere is one point should be figured out, since hamlet was a prince, what he can see were smiles, and what he heard are good words, the society took on a beautiful look for him, and he knew nothing about the side of evil in the world. basing on such life, he had gone to wittenberg university and received the new thought, then formed the world outlook of humanism. from this, we can conclude that hamlets humanism doesnt build on the full understanding to the reality. moreover, what a cruel thing he suffered from. young prince hamlet was brooding over his fathers sudden death and his mothers incestuous marriage to his uncle. we can see from the accidents, the imaginary of social community, virtuous love and faithful friendship bubble. the entire world was corrupt to young hamlet. he cried out a disappointed and grievous voice: how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable. seem to me all the uses of this world. fie on it! from this, we can know hamlet had a new indignant understanding of the reality. now lets see how the novel deals with the tragic fate of heathcliff, as we know heathcliff were a gipsy waif of unknown parentage. he was picked up by mr. earnshow. but the old man died, the young master hindley bullied him. he was deprived of the right of receiving education and even reduced to the position of a servant, yet he was no desperate because he had catherine to understand him and love him. they shared sympathy with each other. then it came the turning point, catherine decided to marry linton. class prejudice now deprived heathcliff of his right to love catherine. heathcliff was entirely deserted in the cruel world. all his hope was gone. he had no way out but to escape from the family. he was set on the road of revenge.3.2 meanings of revengehamlet is the image of a humanist in the later term of renaissance. “he considers human as a creature! they have great strength! they have elegancy appearance! they are like deity in theirs wisdom!” based the humanism belief, he was praised of the human sincerely: “what a piece of work is a man! how express and admirable! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty!” start from this beautiful knowledge, hamlet formed his humanism view about love, friendship, duty and so on. there is a big gap between the ideal of humanist and the evil reality. the pain of hamlet not only the pain of himself, but also is the melancholy of the nation and his people. hamlet is just a winner in morality and justice; he cannot get the victory as a matter of act. this work reflects the ideal of the fresh bourgeois. so hamlet is a tragedy of humanist. emily bronte expresses her great sympathy for heathcliff. she writes at the very end of her novel:” he (heathcliff) seemed to smile. i could not think him dead. he was perfectly still.” heathcliff smiled because he was going to unite with catharine in another world“the heaven of the oppressed”. “he was perfectly still” because he had finally relieved himself of all his sufferings. as a free spirit heathcliff and catherine would live a happy and peaceful life. though the story of the tragic life of heathcliff, emily bronte shows how the evil forces of the 19th century england distort human nature and turn human beings against each other. 3.3 results of revengefirstly, to hamlet fathers recent death and mothers hasty remarriage formed the first challenge to hamlets heart harmony. formerly, in his age, father and mother was the marvelous model of peoples love, and his mother was the embodiment of woman chastity. but, his mothers remarriage no more than one month after his fathers death, broke the idol of his eyes love and chastity. he cried sadly: “frailty, thy name is woman!” at that time, he thought, in the world, instead of true love, there was only desire and deceives. this brought him great agony and made him form his initial melancholy. in such a certain society, we say it is reasonable for hamlets melancholy and hesitation. in hamlets mind; the great responsibility was the most important thing. affected by the humanism, hamlets revenge was not only for his father, but also for saving his motherland. after revenged for his father, when hamlet was dying, he still remembered his responsibility to the society. “you teach me now how cruel youve beencruel and false. why did you despise me? why did you betray your own heart, cathy? i have not one word of comfortyou deserve this, you have killed yourself.” heathcliff is to be perceived as absolute, limitless love. when heathcliff brings his plan of revenge to fulfillment, yet it virtually completes, he turns his energy back to catherine, whose hold on him dose not diminish even after her death. heathcliff, now an old man and haunted by the memory of catherine. heathcliff is to be perceived as an elemental man whose soul is torn between love and hate. he is both hero and villain, though his malignity is far from motiveless, he lacks the heroic virtue.4. difference of hamlets and heathcliffs revenge stories4.1 steps to take revenge4.1.1 hesitation“to be, or not to bethat is the question, whether this is noble in the mind to suffer. the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles” a suspect in hamlets mind and make him hesitant to take the action. hamlets character weakness leads his delay. hamlet is depressed, indecisive and he always thinks too much. his fathers death, his mothers hasty marriage and his friends betray almost break his heart. he is so depressed that he does not have much interest in other things including revenge. soon after he tests claudius, he still does not take action. he thinks about “to be or not to be” problem when claudius is praying. hamlet has a good chance to kill claudius, but hamlet dose not. he makes an excuse that it is not revenge in its strict sense. claudius would go to heaven rather hell. hamlet would like to kill claudius when claudius is doing soothing evil rather than claudius is praying. hamlet loses this opportunity mainly because he is too indecisive and thinks too much. on the other hand, heathcliff, as a homeless gypsy orphan, is a child of nature by birth. since the moment he is brought to wuthering heightsthe “human” world, he becomes alienated to everyone. however, when he overheard catherines words to nelly, “it would degrade me to marry heathcliff”. he departed. three years later, heathcliff returned with money, he was no longer a man but a creature of revenge. without any hesitation, he embarked on the road to revenge. he revenged himself not merely on hindley and linton but also on their relatives. he made all of them suffer even more than he had. he married ezabela but treats her cruelly. he forced little cathy to marry his dying son and seized the right of inheritance to the property of lintons family at the same time.4.2 ways4.2.1 violence & eruptionas we all know, at the end of this tragedy, the evil king wants to kill hamlet through the poisoned wine and poisoned sword. but hamlet and leotis were both wounded by the poisoned sword and his mother drank the poisoned wine by accident. and the evil king was also killed by hamlet. hamlet killed all of these evil people. he used his sword to kill the enemy, revenge for his father. heathcliff is to be perceived as an elemental man whose soul is torn between love and hate. he is both hero and villain, though his malignity is far from motiveless,