Renaissance Tragedy and Investigator Heroes
The role of the investigator in Renaissance tragedy, with special reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet and Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy
I therefore will by circumstances try, What I can gather to confirm this writ
Hieronimo The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King
Hamlet
The roots of the blossoming tree of crime fiction can be traced back to the ancient soil of The Bible, and beyond, in literature which contains mysteries to be solved, and figures who act as detectives. Mystery was present in Classical Greek tragedy. In Oedipus Rex (c. 429 bc) the identity of Oedipus is a mystery, the unravelling of which influences the movement of the plot. In fact the very term 'anagnorisis' indicates a discovery - a revealing of a mystery.
In the biblical era perhaps one of the earliest acts of 'detection' took place when Herod killed all new-born babies on one particular night in an attempt to eliminate the child prophesied to ruin him. We have other examples of detection prior to Christ too; the prophets, such as Daniel, could interpret dreams. This was detection in the sense that they had to interpret symbolic images to understand their significance. In that sense the prophets could be called 'investigators'. But these dreams were very often interpreted in a visionary state of mind, therefore detection in the strictest sense of the term cannot be used here.
We have detection in the 12th century German epic Nibelungenlied as well where Hagen, the minister of Brunhild's revenge coaxes the secret of the vulnerable spot in Siegfried's body from Kriemhild.
In Romantic fiction we see for the first time in European literature, a systematic use of mystery...
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... Zadig's innocence was acknowledged - he was presented before the Great Desterhan where he pleaded his case in these terms - "This is what happened to me. I was walking towards the little wood, where I lately encountered the venerable Eunuch and the most illustrious Vizier. I had seen on the sand the traces of an animal, and I had easily judged that they were those of a little dog. The light and long furrows imprinted on the little eminences of the sand between the traces of the feet showed me that it was a female and that it had lately given birth to pups. Other traces that appeared to have continually raised the surface of the sand by the side of the front feet told me that she had long ears. As I remarked that the sand was always less crushed by one foot than by three others, I understood that the dog of our august Queen was, if I may dare say so, a little lame."
Logos is a major factor when writing the plot of any mystery story. “The logic you use as an author or composer also significant when you tell a story. Usually follows a pattern in which the plot and characters unfold in a logical manner to the reader.”In some instances the detective, or person trying to solve the mystery is an average person. The story is laid out so that you know what they know and if you are smart enough, you can solve the mystery as quick, or even before it is revealed, without reading the end. My boyfriend is quite good at this when watching one of my favorite shows, Bones. It is a type of mystery where the story gradually unfolds and the big reveal is shown at the end tying it all together. Quite often I have to tell him to keep it to himself so I can watch the story unfold. In some instances mysteries are derived from real
The narrator in Raymond Carver’s "Cathedral" is not a particularly sensitive man. I might describe him as self-centered, superficial, and egotistical. And while his actions certainly speak to these points, it is his misunderstanding of the people and the relationships presented to him in this story which show most clearly his tragic flaw: while Robert is physically blind, it is the narrator who cannot clearly see the world around him.
The neuroanatomical approach to aphasia relies on the localization of lesions on the brain in addition to clinical observation in order to classify patients according to syndromes. For example, according to the neuroanatomical approach, Broca’s aphasia, which us usually associated with a lesions on the posterior inferior frontal gyrus of the brain, has cardinal features that distinguish is from other fluent and non-fluent aphasias (e.g. poor repetition, poor repetition and poor naming with good auditory comprehension).
Lamb, Charles. On the Tragedies of Shakespeare. N.p.: n.p.. 1811. Rpt in Shakespearean Tragedy. Bratchell, D. F. New York, NY: Routledge, 1990.
Moretti, Franco. Atlas of European Novel 1800-1900. Theoretical Interlude II. Geography of Plot. New York/London. Verso. 1998. 70. Print. 6 March 2014.
Canada is one of the developed countries of the world to adapt to progress and embrace change but this does not limit the great nation to a perfect country. Problems are still eminent and need to be resolved. Over the course of previous decades, Women in Canada and the rest of the world, started to voice out their opinions. They demanded a complete change of the way the system negatively targeted and exploited women. These were brought on by the fact that female living in Canada, were forced to endure terrible conditions before the 1960s. Some of these issues were patriarchy, rape, abortion, childcare, and discrimination of women at work places and violence against women. These were all issues that were doing harm to women in the Canadian society but the most appalling of them all was violence against women.
Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder that disrupts communication and it can deteriorate a person’s coping potential and quality of life (Parr, 2001) which involve damage to the parts of brain that contain language (ASHA, 2013). Statistics from United States indicated around 25-40% of stroke survivors developed aphasia (National Association of Aphasia, NAA, 2013). Aphasia will affect both the ability to produce or comprehend spoken language and written language while intelligence is left intact (NAA, 2013). In US, it is found that the most common cause of aphasia is stroke (85%) and others including Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), brain tumor or other degenerative diseases (NAA, 2013).
`There are two types of treatment options for aphasia, speech and language therapy. Some people with Aphasia do not completely regain their communication skills they had before the disorder. With speech and language therapy it can help the patient improved their language skills by relearning them, It can help better use of the residual language ability, It also can give the patient the ability to communicate in a different way, making up for missing words in speech.
The unnamed narrator of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” poses as an unreliable narrator for his unaccepting nature towards blind people along with his ignorant perception of many realities in his life that Carver presents for the reader to take into question. The narrator holds prejudice against Robert, a blind man whom the narrator’s wife worked with ten years earlier and eventually befriends. Unperceptive to many of the actualities in his own life, the narrator paints an inaccurate picture of Robert that he will soon find to be far from the truth.
Were the Medicis the great heroes of the Renaissance or the great villains? The Medici’s were a prominent family in the Renaissance, who ruled Florence from 1434 to 1737. They are regarded as being one of the most powerful and richest families in the whole of Europe. The Medics used this great status and wealth to develop an improved Florence, one that was significantly influenced by the Renaissance.
Meron, Theodor. “Crimes and Accountability in Shakespeare.” The American Journal of International Law. 92.1 (Jan.,1998): 1-40. JSTOR. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
In the story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver, it tells of how a blind man is open to new experiences and how he views the world compared to the husband (narrator) who is blinded by the material things of life. The husband is given the gift of sight but the true gift comes from seeing the cathedral. At the beginning of the story, the husband’s outlook on others is filled with stereotypes, discrimination, insecurities and prejudice. After interacting with Robert, his wife's friend, his outlook begins to change significantly.
In what follows, my research paper will rely on an article by Kathy Prendergast entitled “Introduction to The Gothic Tradition”. The significance of this article resides in helping to recapitulate the various features of the Gothic tradition. In this article the authoress argues that in order to overturn the Enlightenment and realistic literary mores, many of the eighteenth century novelists had recourse to traditional Romantic conventions in their works of fiction, like the Arthurian legendary tales (Prendergast).
Shakespeare thus leaves his audience to fabricate their own perception with serving only minor stage directions. They are then left with Hamlet’s lingering words, actions, and the reactions to predisposed whether Hamlet’s madness is actually feigned or legitimate. Nevertheless, The evidence does not actually define Shakespeare’s character, Hamlet. To relate, modern audiences must do their research to become accustomed to the way of thinking done by people of the Renaissance. All in all, Hamlet’s true soundness is left up to the people of today’s
Aristotle, as a world famous philosopher, gives a clear definition of tragedy in his influential masterpiece Poetics, a well-known Greek technical handbook of literary criticism. In Aristotle’s words, a tragedy is “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude, language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play, the form of action, not of narrative, through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions”(Aristotle 12). He believes that a tragedy should be serious and complete in appropriate and pleasurable language; the plot of tragedy should be dramatic, whose incidents will arouse pity and fear, and finally accomplish a catharsis of emotions. His theory of tragedy has been exerting great influence on the tragedy theories in the past two thousand years. Shakespeare, as the greatest dramatist in western literature, also learnt from this theory. Hamlet is one of the most influential tragedies written by Shakespeare. The play vividly focuses on the theme of moral corruption, treachery, revenge, and incest. This essay will first analyze Shakespeare’s Hamlet under Aristotle’s tragedy theory. Then this essay will express personal opinion on Aristotle’s tragedy theory. The purpose of this essay is to help the reader better understand Aristotle’s theory of tragedy and Shakespeare’s masterpiece Hamlet.