The influence of Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy is seen throughout the use the ghost in Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. This scene marks the beginning of Hamlet's action towards revenge. Through the allusions of Greek mythology, death and revenge, Elizabethan tragedy is displayed in both dialogues. The ghost present in both plays fit the what the Elizabethans held about superstition.
Depicted by Shakespeare and Kyd, the theme of revenge correlates between both ghosts' monologues. Both of their objectives are set on seeking retribution for a relative. Old Hamlet appears to his son with the intent of setting him in action to avenge his death. Don Andrea focuses on his after-life while Old Hamlet focuses on how he died. He finally sets Hamlet in motion to seek revenge. The ghost that meets Hamlet reveals as to why he appears but speaks only to him. It is to "revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (1.5.25). The repetitive use of the word 'unnatural' between Hamlet and the ghost shows how urgent the issue has become. By going into excruciating detail of his murder, it pulls on the heart strings of Hamlet. It lights a fire in him to become his father's avenger.
Don Andrea's detailed description of his soul's passage in the underworld, he wants help is plotting for appropriate revenge. He wishes to seek revenge against his murder, causing the eternal separation of he and his "worthy dame" (1.1.10), Bel-imperia by "forcing divorce betwixt my love and me...When I was slain, my soul descended straight,/ To pass the flowing stream of Acheron"(14, 18-19). According to Clark, "Ghosts were thought to appear before...to exact justice, to revenge a foul deed" (100). Both of them rise from purgatory to do exactly that.
The allusions of Gre...
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...tion. Through the ghost's revelation for Hamlet to seek revenge, Greek mythology plays an important role by linking the two plays together. Through the themes of revenge, deceit, and loss, they are able to relay their messages to receive the outcome desired. Although the ghost in Hamlet has been murdered before the play and Andrea's murder creates the plot's motivation, revenge becomes evident. Avenging their unnatural death to rest in peace can only be achieved through the immediate action.
Works Cited
Cumberland, Clark. "The Supernatural in Hamlet." Readings on Hamlet. By Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 1999. 99-105. Print.
Kyd, Thomas. "The Spanish Tragedy: Ghost's Monologue." The Spanish Tragedy: Ghost's Monologue. N.p., 2003. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square, 2002. Print.
Hamlet was not sure if the ghost was really his father or if it was the devil trying to trick him to commit a crime. He needed to prove to himself that what the ghost said was true or not. Therefore he is going to stage a play that will reenact the killing of his father to see if the King is guilty.
I personally disagree with the author W.W. Greg’s interpretation of Hamlet’s ghost, and believe that his assumption that Hamlet is simply hallucinating his father’s ghost is without merit. Many of W.W. Greg’s claims relate Hamlet to other plays that were written by Shakespeare, claiming that due to how Shakespeare portrayed ghosts in his previous works, it would follow that Hamlet also fits into the same mold as these past writings. W.W. Greg even states, “I should like to be told what Shakespeare's views were of ghosts in general ... I am forced to turn to Shakespeare's other plays for suggestions as to how he represented these phenomena” (Greg 395). W.W. Greg is simply claiming that trends in Shakespeare’s writings in the past logically must take the same form in the character of Hamlet’s ghost. This method of thinking simply does not hold up when examined critically, mainly due to the fact that there were multiple witnesses to the ghost, a...
Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is a complex and ambiguous public exploration of key human experiences surrounding the aspects of revenge, betrayal and corruption. The Elizabethan play is focused centrally on the ghost’s reoccurring appearance as a symbol of death and disruption to the chain of being in the state of Denmark. The imagery of death and uncertainty has a direct impact on Hamlet’s state of mind as he struggles to search for the truth on his quest for revenge as he switches between his two incompatible values of his Christian codes of honour and humanist beliefs which come into direct conflict. The deterioration of the diseased state is aligned with his detached relationship with all women as a result of Gertrude’s betrayal to King Hamlet which makes Hamlet question his very existence and the need to restore the natural order of kings. Hamlet has endured the test of time as it still identifies with a modern audience through the dramatized issues concerning every human’s critical self and is a representation of their own experience of the bewildering human condition, as Hamlet struggles to pursuit justice as a result of an unwise desire for revenge.
The play within a play has been used for a long time in stories ; scholars have traced it’s use back to the Arabic, Persian and Indian storytelling traditions (Bonnie Irwin, 1995). It can also be identified in Homer’s Odyssey but the first time it was probably used for drama, was in Thomas Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy. By reusing this emerging literary organ, Shakespeare is sure of his success with the presentation of his work and demonstrates to what degree drama is powerful so as to make ones self see the truth in ones acts. It is with it that Hamlet manages to surface Claudius’ guilt and to be sure that the ghost’s truthfulness. Additionally, he uses all the conventions and themes of a revenge tragedy that where extremely popular in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era and present in The Spanish Tragedy. But Shakespeare moves well beyond the usual revenge tragedy form in this play. Hamlet became a play were the themes are complicates and the psychology of its models is deepened. This is done by Hamlet’s complex characterization were he is in conflict between the Roman values of blood-right and martial valor, and Christian values of humility a...
illuminates on the mystery surrounding the death of Hamlet’s father, the King of Denmark. Often in literature the presence of a ghost indicates something left unresolved. In this case, the death of Hamlets father is the unresolved event as well the revenge necessary to give the tormented soul repose. The ghost created mystery for the audience, spawns the chain of death and treachery in Denmark, causes characters to question the death of their former king, and
Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." The Unabridged William Shakespeare. William George Clark and William Aldis Wright, ed. Running Press. 1989.
Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. 11th ed. New York: Norton, 2013.1709-1804. Print.
Taking revenge against his enemy can be a difficult task for young Hamlet, especially when the circumstances and conditions he is under require him to reevaluate his morals of life and soul. The delay in Hamlet’s revenge of his father’s death is caused by three main reasons: he is under strict and almost impossible guidelines laid out by the ghost of his father, King Hamlet, he is afraid of death either suffering it or inflicting it on someone else, and his lack of reasoning in committing a murder that he did not witness himself.
William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, is a ghost story, a detective story and a revenge story all within one plot. Throughout the play, qualities of all three types of stories are displayed. The ghost story consists of Hamlet Senior and the circumstances surrounding his untimely demise at the hands of the present King, Claudius. He is being tortured in hell until his death is properly avenged. The detective aspect of Hamlet is brought about by Hamlet trying to figure out whether or not his fathers ghost was real and also to what, if any extent, his mother the "virtuous" Queen Gertrude was involved with the murder of his Father. Both Hamlet and Laertes, bring yet another aspect to this most versatile play, by seeking revenge for their fathers death, each in their own way. By viewing the play as either one or all of these different aspects we learn to have different perspectives on the play.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. Vol. C. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: Norton, 2005. Print.
Shakespeare, William, Marilyn Eisenstat, and Ken Roy. Hamlet. 2nd ed. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, 2003. Print.
from that of the appearance of the ghost and the problems of Hamlet and his
Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. Print.
In a typical revenge tragedy, a hero is called upon by the ghost of a family member to avenge his death ("Revenge Tragedy"). Hamlet is the main protagonist and hero called upon by his father's ghost to "revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (1.5.31). When Hamlet first hears that his father was murdered, he exclaims, "Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift...may sweep to my revenge" (1.5.35-37). He is hungry to avenge his father; however, Hamlet does nothing and at the end of Act II he scolds himself that "this player...could force his soul so to his own conceit...all for nothing...yet, [he]...can say nothing for a king upon whose property and most dear life a damned defeat was made" (2.2.578-598). Hamlet is upset that he hasn't yet acted to avenge his father, but some mere actor can build up so much emotion for nothing. Shakespeare complicates the plot because revenge tragedies are supposed to have a courageous and aggressive protagonist who swiftly carries out his deed of revenge; instead, Shakespeare modifies the hero and portrays Hamlet as an indecisive and contemplative man.
A common motif in Shakespeare’s many plays is the supernatural element, to which Hamlet , with the presence of a ghost, is no exception. The story of Hamlet, the young prince of Denmark, is one of tragedy, revenge, deception, and ghosts. Shakespeare’s use of the supernatural element helps give a definition to the play by being the catalyst of the tragedy that brings upon Hamlet’s untimely demise. The ghost that appears at the beginning of the play could possibly be a satanic figure that causes Hamlet to engage in the terrible acts and endanger his soul. The supernatural element incorporated into the play is used as an instigator, a mentor, as well as mediation for the actions of the protagonist that ultimately end in tragedy, with the loss of multiple lives, as well as suscept Hamlet’s soul to hell. Shakespeare’s portrayal of the ghostly apparition causes a reader to question whether the ghost is a demonic force on the basis of its diction, conduct towards others as well as Hamlet, and it’s motive to kill.