By Shakespeare¡¦s time, the characteristics of tragedy in drama had been redefined. In the plays of the early Greeks, the tragic hero was a noble man who rose to the heights of success only to be plummeted to defeat and despair by his own tragic flaw, or hamartia. The plot structure in these early tragedies was relatively straightforward; the motive of the dramatist was to elicit pity and terror from the audience through empathy with the tragic hero.
What once had been a relatively simple form was gradually altered by playwrights to allow for more depth in characterization, more flexibility in plot structure, and the element of comic relief. Hamlet¡¦s situation, for example, is considered a tragic one although it differs from the relatively simple plots found in the earlier Greek tragedies. He is a nobleman, revered by his countrymen, who strives to alter the world around him. Ultimately, he must forfeit his own life to see justice done. The plot that unfolds in Shakespeare¡¦s drama includes politics, murder, and domestic strife, but still evokes pity and terror in the audience, precisely as intended by the early tragedians.
Students can analyze the elements of tragedy in Hamlet, comparing and contrasting Prince Hamlet¡¦s plight with that of tragic heroes in Greek tragedies and in modern tragedies. Suggested modern tragedies for such a comparison include Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, and Mourning Becomes Electra, by Eugene O¡¦Neill.
The play takes play in Denmark. Young Prince Hamlet has found out that his father Old King Hamlet had been killed by his uncle Claudius, who had taken the throne. The wraith of his dead father pleads for him to revenge his ¡§death most foul.¡¨ Hamlet under great pressure and stress becomes, or acts insane.
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is a well known tragedy of the 19th century. This play has several examples of tragic heroes, tragic flaws, and other elements in a tragedy. A tragic play was one that had at least on tragic hero with a tragic flaw that ended in an inevitable catastrophe, which was usually the death of the tragic hero. This describes Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark perfectly.
Beginning with the Greeks, tragedy has been an essential form of entertainment. Although it has changed slightly over time due to different religious and social values, it is still written and performed to this day. Perhaps the most well known tragedy of all time is Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet is perhaps the epitome of all tragedy. Not only does the tragic hero Hamlet meet his demise, but all the main characters in the play at some point due to some flaw in their character, or some fatal decision, also meet the same fate. It is because of their character flaw and/or their fatal decision at some time during the play that their death can be justified.
In 1600, William Shakespeare composed what is considered the greatest tragedy of all time, Hamlet, the tragedy of the Prince of Denmark. His masterpiece forever redefined what tragedy should be. Critics have analyzed it word for word for nearly four hundred years, with each generation appreciating Hamlet in its own way. While Hamlet conforms, without a doubt, to Aristotle's definition of a tragedy, one question still lingers. Did Shakespeare intend for the reader or viewer of Hamlet to feel greater sympathy for Hamlet, or for Ophelia, Hamlet's lover? Both characters tug at the heartstrings throughout the play, but it is clear that 'the tragedy of the Prince of Denmark' is a misrepresentation of Shakespeare's true intention.
A tragedy, in literary terms, is defined as a literary work in which a great person suffers extreme sorrow, or is destroyed as a result of a character flaw or a conflict with an overpowering force, often through no fault of their own. William Shakespeare is known as one of the greatest play writers in the world. Many of his tragedies exemplify this common theme: some things in life seem destined to happen, regardless of the path we take. Three of his most famous tragedies, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Romeo and Juliet, illustrate this theme.
Golden, L. (1984). "Othello, hamlet", and aristotelian tragedy. Shakespeare Quarterly, 35, 142. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/740689230?accountid=12085
Before I can answer your question, you must first understand the difference between the meaning of tragedy today and what is meant by tragedy in drama. Whereas a tragedy in life may be considered something such as a death or accident, in drama a tragedy in drama is much more. In a tragedy, although the hero may be in conflict with an opposing force, the cause of his downfall falls ultimately on himself. This is usually because of a character defect – a “tragic flaw” which causes him to act in a way which ends up bringing about his own misfortune, suffering and ultimately death. “Hamlet” is very much a tragedy, but it is also different, being a revenge tragedy where the hero is driven by the need for revenge, not unlike a modern day horror movie. Prince Hamlet is a tragedy of character where it is himself that brings his downfall, not fate.
“Tragedy is an imitation of an action of high importance . . .” states Aristotle in his book Poetics (as cited in Kennedy & Gioia, 2010). Without a doubt, he observed and analyzed countless plays throughout his life and in Poetics, he writes a broad description of what a tragedy should contain (Kennedy & Gioia). Specifically, to Aristotle, tragedies require a “Tragic Hero.” What makes this literary character unique from the other heroes of literature? The most obvious and central difference is that the hero in question always experiences a disastrous reversal of fortune, which follows the recognition of a previously unknown truth (Kennedy & Gioia). He must be “a man not preeminently virtuous or just” (Poetics part XIII, trans. 1909), yet he still must be a “good person” whom the audience grows to respect and because of this, deeply pities and fears for throughout the play (Poetics part XIII). Despite being a person of high estate and influence, surprisingly, the hero in the Greek tragedy is someone we can relate to in his humanness. Furthermore, his fall “from happiness into misery” is “brought upon him not by vice or depravity but by some error of judgment” (Poetics part XIII)—his hamartia. The Oxford English Dictionary translates this Greek word as, “The fault or error, which entails the destruction of the tragic hero” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989).
Hamlet is a story about a prince who wants revenge on the new king for killing his father. Most people believe that revenge and the events drive the story, but Hamlet’s plot and actions are driven based on the conflicts between two characters and themselves. Their conflicts affect more than themselves, it also affects other characters within the story and the audience reading the story, making it hard for the reader to cheer for a character and want them to succeed but yet at the same time forcing them to continue to read to solve their own conflict. Even though conflict is the major backbone to the plot both the theme or revenge and other events have a strong case of why they are the actual reasons the plot development and not conflict.
Hamlet is a classic example of a story that has a tragic effect. In order for a story to have this effect it must have a tragic hero that receives sympathy from the audience members. To be a tragic hero a character must possess good characteristics: bravery and loyalty, but they also can possess a bad one like pride. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet became the tragic hero after his father is killed. His father, King Hamlet, is killed by his brother Claudius so that he could inherit the throne and everything that came with the kingdom of Denmark. After his father’s death, Hamlet avenges his father’s death by trying to kill Claudius. Hamlet is the tragic hero because he is brave and loyal, but he could not move past his father’s death quick enough which ultimately play a key role in his death. The audience feels sympathy for the predicament that hamlet is in which makes him the perfect tragic hero of the play Hamlet.
The concept of tragic hero is very important in the construction of tragedy. It is the main cause of pity and fear. The tragic hero is a character between the two extremes; he is neither virtuous nor evil. At the same time, this character is better than the ordinary men or audience, he has some good qualities. Moreover, as a tragic hero, he is moving from happiness to misery by his downfall at the end. In fact, this downfall is caused by an error or a flaw in his character not by a vice or depravity. Another feature in the tragic hero is that he has good reputation and he is a man of prosperity. It can be said that Oedipus is a tragic hero because he has all the previous mentioned characteristics and the whole play is a classical application of this concept.
Shakespeare uses conflict in Hamlet as a way of exploring ideas. He does this thorough the internal and external conflict that his characters face within the kingdom of Denmark. The conflict that follows is an outcome of lies and deceit which brings about tragedy. From this play we learn of the difficulty associated with taking a life as Hamlet agonises as to how and when he should kill Claudius and furthermore whether he should take his own life. Hamlet being a logical thinker undergoes major moral dilemma as he struggles to make accurate choices. From the internal conflict that the playwright expresses to us it is evident that it can kill someone, firstly mentally then physically. The idea of tragedy is explored in great detail through conflict where the playwright’s main message is brought across to the audience; Shakespeare stresses to his audience the point that conflict be it internal or external it can bring upon the downfall of great people and in turn have them suffer a tragic fate. It is Shakespeare’s aim to show us the complexity of man and that moral decisions are not easily made.
Before the twentieth century plays were mainly written as either a tragedy or comedy. In a tragic play the tragic hero will often do something that will eventually destroy him. In the book Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the tragic hero. In this tragic play the main character, which is portrayed as Oedipus, will do a good deed that will in turn make him a hero. This hero will reach his height of pride in the story, and in the end the action, which he had committed earlier, will return and destroy this man who was once called a hero.
...n Aristotle’s view of characters. Aristotle also suggests that a tragedy should have the power to provoke audience’s emotion of pity and fear. The suffering and behavior of each character in Hamlet possess that power. The author agrees with the Aristotelian analysis of Hamlet, the story of Hamlet was perfectly based on Aristotle’s tragedy theory. However, the author thinks that the tragedy doesn’t always have to end up in misery. A tragic story can also have some hidden happiness in the suffering, misery of tragic hero(s), in which way can audience realize that there is still hopeful when your life is tragic and encourage people to strive hard to create a better life.
In 350 B.C.E., a great philosopher wrote out what he thought was the definition of a tragedy. As translated by S.H. Butcher, Aristotle wrote; “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Thought, Diction, Spectacle, Melody. (http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html)” Later in history, William Shakespeare wrote tragedies that epitomized Aristotle’s outline of a tragedy. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one such tragedy.
The tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare’s most popular and greatest tragedy, presents his genius as a playwright and includes many numbers of themes and literary techniques. In all tragedies, the main character, called a tragic hero, suffers and usually dies at the end. Prince Hamlet is a model example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. Every tragedy must have a tragic hero. A tragic hero must own many good traits, but has a flaw that ultimately leads to his downfall. If not for this tragic flaw, the hero would be able to survive at the end of the play. A tragic hero must have free will and also have the characteristics of being brave and noble. In addition, the audience must feel some sympathy for the tragic hero.