哈姆雷特悲剧与本质的独特性

1、首都师范大学科德学院本科生毕业论文论哈姆雷特中莎士比亚悲剧的本质与独特性On the Essence and Specialty of Shakespeares Tragedy in Hamlet摘要 哈姆雷特是莎士比亚所写的一部杰出的悲剧。相较于莎士比亚的其他作品，哈姆雷特拥有其与众不同的地位，本文旨在研究哈姆雷特的独特性和本质从而揭示哈姆雷特的与众不同之处。哈姆雷特的独特性主要表现在三个方面：剧本中结构的巧妙安排，特别是各种冲突的设置;独特的莎士比亚语言-独白,哈姆雷特里运用了大量的独白，更好地反映了人物的内心世界;独特的性格。作为剧中的头号主角-哈姆雷特的性格具有双重性。历史上对哈姆雷特

2、的本质一直是众说风云，但本文主要揭示了其本质就是人文主义的悲剧。关键词：哈姆雷特；冲突；独白；人文主义Abstract The Tragically History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Since there are so many critics on Hamlet, this study is mainly focus on the essence and specialty of Hamlet. As a famous tragedy and the most represen

3、tative work of Shakespeare, Hamlet owns many distinguish features, such as the ingenious dramatic structure, the specific language and the distinguish character-Hamlet. While talking about the essence of Hamlet, many people consider that Hamlet is a tragedy of revenge; also, some people regard it as

4、 a tragedy of love. This paper begins to study it from a new perspective: humanism, which means that Hamlet is a tragedy of humanism.Key words: Hamlet; conflict; soliloquy; humanismContent1. Introduction 1.1 A Brief Introduction to Shakespeare 1.2 A Brief Introduction to Hamlet 1.3 The Purpose of th

5、e Research2. The Features of Hamlet 2.1 A Brief Summary of Hamlet 2.2 Common Features of Shakespeare's Work 2.3 The Specialty of Hamlet 2.3.1 Ingenious Dramatic Structure 2.3.2 Specific Language-Soliloquy 2.3.3 Distinguish Character-Hamlet3. The Essence of Hamlet 3.1 People's Debates on Haml

6、et 3.2 Tragedy of Humanism4. Conclusion1. Introduction The characterization of Hamlet is regarded as one of the most outstanding achievements of the work. It is well known that there are three sons in Shakespeares greatest tragedy Hamlet, namely Laertes, Fortinbras and Hamlet. 1.1 A Brief Introducti

7、on to Shakespeare For more than 400 years, the work of poet, playwright, and actor William Shakespeare has fascinated people from all walks of life, all over the world. In fact, many people consider him to be the greatest dramatist ever. Altogether, Shakespeare wrote thirty-seven plays, including co

8、medies, tragedies, and histories. He also wrote more than 150 sonnets, establishing himself as one of the greatest lyric poets of his era. Shakespeares many plays and poems reveal his talents as a writer and his keen understanding of human nature. The personalities of his main characters are often c

9、omplex, revealing the ambiguities and personal conflicts found in all of us. Little is known, however, about Shakespeares own personal life, because he left no diaries or letters. Records indicate that Shakespeare spent his youth in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small English village. His father, John Shak

10、espeare, was a glove maker and local political figure. His mother, Mary Arden, came from a family of wealthy land owners. It is believed that young Shakespeare attended the local grammar school, where he probably studied literature and Latin. Unlike many other writers of his time, he did not receive

11、 a formal education at a university. In 1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. Hathaway and Shakespeare had three children, Susanna, Hamlet, and Judith. Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two and was buried under the floor of Stratford Church. Knowing that burial space in the church was l

12、imited and that graves were often moved after someone died, Shakespeare used his epitaph as a warning:3."Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones." 1.2 A Brief Introduction to Hamlet As Hubler indicates, Hamlet is filled with action. It has long been o

13、ne of Shakespeares most popular and frequently performed dramas, and part of its appeal undoubtedly lies in the dramatic action that takes place on stage. Yet Hubler also points out that one can hardly think of Hamlet as an action play. At the heart of Hamlet are profound questions about the nature

14、of good and evil, and the play contains some of Shakespeares most psychologically complex characters. They are people driven to dramatic action by anger, grief, love, and despair.Hamlet is a tragedy, a type of drama that presents a heroic or noble character with conflicts that are difficult or impos

15、sible to resolve. The story was retold in the sixteenth century in a collection of tragic tales by French writer. What causes Shakespeares play to stand out from the other stories about Hamlet, is his in-depth characterization of the troubled prince and those around him. In the original legend, Amle

16、th is clearly out for revenge. What distracts him from his purpose are external circumstances, not feelings of doubt or reluctance, or reflections on right and wrong. In Shakespeares play, indecision is a major theme. Hamlet is hauntedliterallyby his fathers murder and a desperate need to avenge the

17、 crime. But something holds him back from acting on this desire for revenge. What that “something” is has been debated for centuries. Scholars have commented that, 2. “For Hamlet nothing is simple, everything raises questions.” 1.3 The Purpose of the Research The Tragically History of Hamlet, Prince

18、 of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play, set in the Kingdom of Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, firstly for murdering the old King Hamlet (Claudius's brother and Prince Hamlet's father) and secondly for then succeeding to the throne

19、and marrying Gertrude (King Hamlet's widow and mother of Prince Hamlet). The play vividly portrays real and feigned madness from overwhelming grief to seething rage and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption. So it is better to make a deep study on the essence and sp

20、ecialty of Hamlet to get a better understanding of Hamlet as well as Shakespeare. The play's structure and depth of characterization have inspired much critical scrutiny, of which one example is the centuries-old debate about Hamlet's hesitation to kill his uncle. Some see it as a plot devic

21、e to prolong the action, and others see it as the result of pressure exerted by the complex philosophical and ethical issues that surround cold-blooded murder, calculated revenge and thwarted desire. More recently, psychoanalytic critics have examined Hamlet's unconscious desires, and feminist c

22、ritics have re-evaluated and rehabilitated the often maligned characters of Ophelia and Gertrude. Since there are so many critics on Hamlet, this study is mainly focus on the essence and specialty of Hamlet. As a famous tragedy and the most representative work of Shakespeare, Hamlet owns many distin

23、guish features, such as the humanism in the play, the ingenious dramatic structure and the specific language. While talking about the essence of Hamlet, many people consider that Hamlet is a tragedy of revenge, also, some people regard it as a tragedy of love. This paper begins to study it from a ne

24、w perspective: humanism, which in other words is the essence of Hamlet's tragedy is the limitation of Hamlet's lack of understanding about the implacable conflict in that real society whose progress must depend on fundamental reform. so Hamlets fate is designated to be a tragedy because of t

25、he limitation of the society.2. The Features of Hamlet As the greatest playwright in the world, Shakespeare has many distinguish narrative style of his own. As a result, Hamlet owns many features of Shakespeare. 2.1 A Brief Summary of Hamlet Book Description One of the greatest plays of all time, th

26、e compelling tragedy of the tormented young prince of Denmark continues to capture the imaginations of modern audiences worldwide. Confronted with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, and with his mothers infidelity, Hamlet must find a means of reconciling his longing for oblivion with his d

27、uty as avenger. Prince Hamlet of Denmark is urged by his fathers Ghost to avenge his murder at the hands of the dead kings brother, now King Claudius; to make matters worse, Claudius has married the widow, Hamlets mother, Queen Gertrude. Denmark is under threat of invasion from young Fortinbras, who

28、 seeks to regain lands lost to Hamlets father by Fortinbrass father. Claudius sends word to the King of Norway (Fortinbrass uncle) to curb Fortinbrass aggression. In the meantime, Hamlet feigns madness with his family and friends, including his beloved, Ophelia, sister to Laertes and daughter to Pol

29、onius. Both Polonius and Laertes warn Ophelia against Hamlets amorous advances. Polonius believes Hamlets “madness” to be love sickness. Laertes is given permission to return to his studies in Paris. Claudius directs Gertrude to try to learn the cause of Hamlets odd behavior; they suspect it is the

30、old kings death and their own recent marriage. Meantime, Claudius and Polonius eavesdrop on Ophelia and Hamlet, who spurns her and appears mad. The King reveals to Polonius his plan to send Hamlet to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The ghost, Hamlets feigned madness, Ophelias death and bu

31、rial, the play within a play, the “closet scene” in which Hamlet accuses his mother of complicity in murder, and breathtaking swordplay are just some of the elements that make Hamlet an enduring masterpiece of the theater. 2.2 Common Features of Shakespeare's Work An eminent Shakespearean schola

32、r famously remarked that there is no such thing as Shakespearen tragedies. He added that attempts to find a formula which fits every one of Shakespeares tragedies and distinguishes them collectively from those of other dramatists invariably meet with little success. Yet when challenging one such att

33、empt he noted its failure to observe what he termed “an essential part of the Shakespeare tragic pattern”, which could be seem to imply that these plays do have some shared characteristics peculiar to them.Generally, they can obscure the fact that what distinguishes Shakespeares language, his insigh

34、t into character, and his dramaturgical inventiveness. As practiced in Renaissance England and in classical Greece and Rome, tragedy is an intense exploration individual, distinguished by rank or character or both, typically, it presents a steep fall from prosperity to misery and untimely death, a g

35、reat change occasioned or accompanied by conflict between the tragic character and some superior power. It might be said, therefore, that conflict and change- the first intense if not violent, the second extremetogether constitute the essence of the tragedy. A.C.Bradley rightly criticized Hegel for

36、underestimating the action of moral evil and the final sense of waste evident in most tragedies; but he concurred with him by making conflict a major theme in his own hugely influential account of Shakespeare tragedy is not conflict between the tragic hero and someone else, or even between contendin

37、g groups, but rather conflict within the hero, who is a man divided against himself. Bradley also adapted Hegels dualist metaphysics, arguing that Shakespearean tragedy demonstrates the existence of an ultimate power which reacts violently against evil but in the process contradictorily and mysterio

38、usly destroys much that is good as well. Shakespeares affinities with Seneca and Fall of Princess tragedy, and with sixteenth century tragic theory, will be apparent as we proceed. But we must behind by emphasizing difference. Like almost all contemporary playwrights who wrote tragedies for the publ

39、ic stage, Shakespeare departed strikingly from classical practice and Elizabethan theory by his inclusion of comic elements and plebeian characters. This characteristic was due to the influence of the native dramatic tradition, the mysteries and the moralities, which habitually conjoined the sublime

40、 and the homely and make its devils and villains either ludicrous fools or mocking comedians, it seems unlikely, however, that Shakespeares inclusion of the comic in his tragedies signifies a reluctant pandering to popular taste; although he never overtly justifies this practice, the self-reflexive

41、aspects of his art show that early in his career he reflected deeply on the nature of tragedy and evolved a sound rationale for his mixed practice. A Midsummer Nights Dream and Romeo and Huliet written at approximately the same time, and strikingly similar in style and plot, insinuate that in real l

42、ife the comic is always on the verge of the tragic, and vice versa and that comedy and tragedy must acknowledge that fact by the controlled inclusion of their generic opposite. Theseuss reaction to Bottoms comical tragedy-how shall we find the concord of this discord? Draw attention to the extraordi

43、narily mixed nature of A Midsummer Nights Dream itself and implies by its phrasing that justification for the mixed mode will be found in the correspondence of the plays are to mature-that unstable order of concordant distant discord whose changing relationships are governed by Love and Strife. In R

44、omeo and Juliet what seems like a romantic comedy in the making suddenly hurtles towards tragedy with the violent death of the great jester, Mercuric; for this defiantly classical procedure Friar Lawrences discourse on the contraries and paradoxical dynamics of nature offers a lengthy if indirect ju

45、stification. 2.3 The Specialty of Hamlet The greatness of Shakespeares technique lies in the way he constructs this momentum through intense action, rich language, and layer upon layer of metaphor and symbols. 2.3.1 Ingenious Dramatic Structure Shakespeares focus on this conflict was a revolutionary

46、 departure from contemporary revenge tragedies, which tended to graphically dramatize violent acts on stage, in that it emphasized the heros dilemma rather than the depiction of bloody deeds. The dramatists genius is also evident in his transformation of the plays literary sourcesespecially the cont

47、emporaneous Hamletinto an exceptional tragedy. The Hamlet, or “original Hamlet,” is a lost play that scholars believe was written mere decades before Shakespeares Hamlet, providing much of the dramatic context for the later tragedy. Numerous sixteenth-century records attest to the existence of the H

48、amlet, with some references linking its composition to Thomas Kyd, the author of The Spanish Tragedy. Other principal sources available to Shakespeare were Saxon Grammaticuss Historian Dance, which features a popular legend with a plot similar to Hamlet, and François de Belle forests Histories

49、Critiques, Extracts des Oeuvres Italians de Banded, which provides an expanded account of the story recorded in the Historian Dance. From these sources Shakespeare created Hamlet, a supremely rich and complex literary work that continues to delight both readers and audiences with its myriad meanings

50、 and interpretations. In the words of Oatley, 6.“The dilemma of Hamlet the Prince and Man” is “to disentangle himself from the temptation to wreak justice for the wrong reasons and in evil passion, and to do what he must do at last for the pure sake of justice. "From that dilemma of wrong feeli

51、ngs and right actions, he ultimately emerges, solving the problem by attaining a proper state of mind.” Hamlet endures as the object of universal identification because his central moral dilemma transcends the Elizabethan period, making him a man for all ages. In his difficult struggle to somehow ac

52、t within a corrupt world and yet maintain his moral integrity, Hamlet ultimately reflects the fate of all human beings. In Scene IV, Act IV, young Fortinbras shows up again first as "a delicate and tender prince." Whose spirit with divine ambition puffs Makes mouths at the invisible event,

53、 Exposing what is mortal and unsure To all that fortune, death and danger dare, Even for an egg-shell. Once again strong contrast can be discerned between Hamlet and Fortinbras. Though being persuaded from attacking Denmark, the young courageous prince is passing Denmark on his way to assault Poland

54、. However, Hamlet has to leave his own land for an unknown or maybe fatal future. He, unlike Fortinbras, owing to too much thought, makes his action delay again and again, so he criticizes himself: How all occasions do inform against me, And spur my dull revenge! If his chief good and market of his

55、time Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. As a matter of fact, it is because of Fortinbras' action that provokes Hamlet's self -blaming soliloquy. Hamlet believes that the greatness of Fortinbras lies in that he would fight 4."even for an egg-shell.” In comparison, he actually li

56、kes a coward to take any action. That is to say here Hamlet blames himself for his hesitation of taking action. In the following scene, when Laertes believes that his dear father is killed at Claudiuss command. Thus, he comes back to Denmark from France in swift extremity to seek for revenge. He wan

57、ts nothing more beyond revenge itself. That is to say, he is willing to revenge Polonius at whatever costs to himself. He leads a group of the furious rebellions to confront the King O thou vile king, Give me my father! How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with: It seems that it is Hamlet that

58、should have reproached the king for his great sin, but not Laertes whose father' s death has nothing to do with the king. Obviously, sharp contrast can be observed here from the two revenges. Hamlet as a son is lost in the maze of thoughts and many misgivings weaken the power of his conduct. Unlike Hamlet, Laertes is so mad to take action to such a degree that he even thinks of killing Hamlet in church to deprive of his foe both his body and his soul. 2.3.2 Specific Language-Soliloquy Hamlet is the most famous soliloquy