(301 words) The medieval legend about Prince Hamlet, reworked by Shakespeare, laid the foundations for many fundamentally new problems in literature, filling the world of tragedy with new characters. Chief among them is the image of a thinking humanist.
The Prince of Denmark is a largely ambiguous character, an image that embodies all the complex inconsistency of the human soul, torn apart by doubts and the problem of choice. Thinking and analyzing each of his actions, Hamlet is another victim of the tragedy of life, characteristic of many of Shakespeare's plays. Having its own prehistory in terms of literature, tragedy brings to the surface a whole range of topics, universal and literary.
Hamlet is a revenge tragedy. Shakespeare here refers to the most ancient crime - fratricide, creating the image of Hamlet as an avenger for the death of his father. But the deep, doubtful character lingers. A highly moral worldview and a primitive thirst for retribution, largely based on the existing order, the conflict of duty and morality become the cause of Hamlet's torment. The plot of the tragedy is structured in such a way that the motive of revenge on Claudius slows down and recedes into the background, giving way to deeper and insoluble reasons and contradictions.
Hamlet is a tragedy of personality. The Shakespearean age is the time of the birth of humanist thinkers who dream of fair relations between people, built on universal equality. However, they are powerless to translate such a dream into reality. "The whole world is a prison!" - the hero repeats the words of another great humanist of his time, Thomas More. Hamlet does not understand the cruel contradictions of the world in which he lives; he is sure that man is the “crown of creation”, but in reality he is faced with the opposite. The boundless possibilities of knowledge, the inexhaustible strength of Hamlet's personality are suppressed in him by the environment of the royal castle, people living in rude complacency and the ossified atmosphere of medieval traditions. Acutely feeling his alienness, the discrepancy between the inner world and the outer world, he suffers from loneliness and the fall of his own humanistic ideals. This causes the hero's internal discord, which later takes the name of "hamletism", and leads the plot of the play to a tragic denouement.
Hamlet faces a hostile world, feeling his inadequacy in the face of evil, becomes a symbol of a tragic humanist, an antagonist - a loser in whom disappointment and awareness of the insignificance of his own forces give rise to an internal conflict that is destructive in its strength.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!Shakespeare is a writer who wrote many wonderful works that are known throughout the world. One of these works is the play "Hamlet", where different destinies are intertwined and social and political issues of the 16th-17th centuries are touched upon. Here in the tragedy both betrayal and the desire to restore justice are shown. Reading the work, the characters and I experience, feel their pain, loss.
In his work "Hamlet" Shakespeare created different characters, whose images are ambiguous. Each hero of the tragedy "Hamlet" by Shakespeare is a separate world, where there are shortcomings and positive aspects. Shakespeare in the tragedy "Hamlet" created a variety of heroes of the work, where there are both positive and negative images.
So, in the work we get acquainted with Gertrude, the mother of Hamlet, who was smart, but weak-willed. Immediately after the death of her husband, she marries his killer. She does not know the feeling of maternal love, so she easily agrees to become Claudius' accomplice. And only after she drank the poison that was intended for her son, she realized her mistake, realized how wise and just her son was.
Ophelia, a girl who loved Hamlet until her last breath. She lived surrounded by lies and espionage, was a toy in the hands of her father. In the end, she goes crazy, because she could not endure the trials that fell on her fate.
Claudius - goes to fratricide, just to achieve his goals. Sneaky, cunning, a hypocrite, who was also smart. This character has a conscience and it also torments him, preventing him from fully enjoying his dirty achievements.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a vivid example of what real friends should not be, because friends do not betray, but here, making a characterization of the heroes of Shakespeare's Hamlet, we see that these heroes easily betray the prince, becoming Claudius' spies. They easily agree to take the message, which talks about the murder of Hamlet. But in the end, fate does not play into their hands, because in the end it is not Hamlet who dies, but they themselves.
Horatio, on the contrary, is a true friend to the last. Together with Hamlet, he experiences all his anxieties and doubts and asks Hamlet, after he felt the inevitable tragic end, to breathe more in this world, and to tell everything about him.
In general, all the characters are bright, unforgettable, unique in their own way, and among them, of course, it is impossible not to recall in Shakespeare's work "Hamlet" the image of the main character, that same Hamlet - the Danish prince. This hero is multifaceted and has an extensive image that is filled with vital content. Here we see Hamlet's hatred for Claudius, while he has a wonderful attitude towards actors. He can be rude, as in the case of Ophelia, and he can be suave, as in the case of Horatio. Hamlet is witty, wields a sword well, he is afraid of God's punishment, but at the same time, he blasphemes. He loves his mother, despite her attitude. Hamlet is indifferent to the throne, always remembers his father with pride, thinks and reflects a lot. He is smart, not arrogant, lives by his thoughts, guided by his judgment. In a word, in the image of Hamlet we see the versatility of the human personality, who thought about the meaning of people's existence, which is why he utters the well-known monologue: "To be or not to be, that is the question."
MUSIC
Music is born from the tragedy of the spirit, the tragedy of Hamlet himself. Music sounds in the play from the first to the last act. Deaf and anxious - this is Claudius sneaking up on his sleeping brother. The booming trumpet sounds herald the appearance of a ghost. The flute murmurs Ophelia's speech until the moment when she began to spy on Hamlet at the instigation of her father.The timpani rumble at the appearance of Claudius, as if in mockery of his vanity.
" This is reported by the thunder of the timpani,
How about winning."
The violins pierce us with their sounds like swords, when, after the performance of wandering actors, Hamlet is convinced of the veracity of the words of the ghost, and Claudius realizes that his secret is open. The same violins cry out for the drowned Ophelia. The drums accompany the duel between Hamlet and Laertes. And finally, in the finale, a funeral march is played.
"Let music and abusive rites
Rattle about him."
THEATER, ACTORS, MASKS
"The whole world is a theater.
In it, women, men - all actors.
They have their own exits, departures,
And each one plays a role."
Hamlet plays with his son respectfulness to his mother and uncle. True, he is not very good at it. After he takes the role of a madman. He convinces everyone of his madness, with the possible exception of the suspicious Claudius.
Wandering actors reveal the secret of fratricide with their performance.
Ophelia, sincerely in love with Hamlet and, apparently, loved by him, loses her sincerity and becomes a spy for Claudius at the behest of her father. Hamlet understands this and also begins to play with her. Their feelings are dying. Ophelia will also die.
The uncle plays the role of a just king, a loving husband, a caring uncle who replaces Hamlet's father, who was killed by him.
Polonius is playing his game - a dodgy courtier with the guise of a sage. Intrigue, hypocrisy, cunning became the norm of his behavior in the palace and his own house. Everything is subject to calculation. He teaches the same to others: his son Laertes: "Keep thought away from language... Collect all opinions, but keep your own...".
Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, is also included in the overall game. Realizing the indecency of her behavior (haste in marriage after the funeral of her first husband) and tormented by vague and terrible guesses about her second husband, she pretends that everything is in perfect order. Her game ends when she talks about the poison in the goblet.
Laertes' game ends like Gertrude's with death approaching:
"I am dying myself for meanness and will not get up.
There is no queen. I can not anymore…
King of everything, king of everything! "
The roles allotted to them are played by former university comrades of Hamlet - Guildenstern and Rosencrantz.
Hamlet wants to believe that he is acting, but plays a special independent role in the play.
"What do you think, I'm worse than a flute?
Declare me any instrument
you can upset me
but I can't play."
And even imagines himself the author of a play written by himself. But this is a delusion and a manifestation of pride. Shakespeare proves to us that the plays of people's lives cannot be written by people themselves. They are written by the providence of the Lord.
WIDOW OF FATHER AND MOTHER
"Prudence, Horace! From the funeral
A commemorative pie went to the wedding table.
THE ETERNAL QUESTION OF LIFE
To be or not to be, that is the question.
Is it worthy to endure the disgrace of fate without a murmur
Do you need to resist?
Rise, Arm, Conquer
Or die, die, sleep?
And to know that this breaks the chain of heart torment
And thousands of hardships inherent in the body!
Is this not the goal that everyone desires -
Die, sleep, sleep?
And see dreams?
Here is the answer.
What kind of dreams in that mortal dream will dream,
When was the veil of earthly feeling removed?!
Here is the solution.
This is what lengthens our misfortunes for so many years!
Shakespeare's contemporaries and people of subsequent generations explained this great question in different ways. Some are simple: to live or not to live; act or not act. Philosophers see it as an attempt to understand the meaning of human existence. One way or another, to the great and eternal question of life, which Shakespeare posed before us, we each answer in our own way.
ENVY, SIN
EVILITY
"What would goodness do without evil?
Why would mercy be needed?
We pray that God won't let us fall
Or saved us from the depths of the fall ". (Claudius)
"The king does not sleep and dances until he drops,
And he drinks and feasts until the morning."
Perhaps gluttony, drunkenness and constant holidays help Claudius to drown out the pangs of conscience. Anger manifests in him when he feels the approach of retribution.
GHOST, SHADOW OF HAMLET'S FATHER
RETRIBUTION
DEATH
T tragedy is filled with death to the limit. Almost all the main characters die. Polonius is killed by Hamlet's sword. Ophelia goes mad because of her father's death and drowns in the river. Hamlet's father and his mother Gertrude die from the poison of Claudius. Laertes, Claudius and Hamlet himself are killed by a rapier smeared with the poison of the same Claudius. And even the characters of the second plan - Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, as we see from the text, will inevitably lay down their heads on the chopping block thanks to the forged letter of Hamlet. Death, therefore, although not declared by the author in the credits of the tragedy, is undoubtedly one of its characters.
FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION
STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
TOMSK STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY
STUDY CONTROL WORK
According to the History of Foreign Literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
"Image of Hamlet
in W. Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet"
Done: student
030 gr. 71РЯ
Introduction 3
1. The image of Hamlet at the beginning of tragedy 4
2. Ethics of Hamlet's revenge. The climax of tragedy. 10
3. Death of the protagonist 16
4. Perfect Rebirth Hero 19
Conclusion 23
References 23
Introduction
Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" (1600) is the most famous of the plays of the English playwright. According to many highly respected connoisseurs of art, this is one of the most thoughtful creations of human genius, a great philosophical tragedy. It deals with the most important issues of life and death, which cannot but excite every person. Shakespeare the thinker appears in this work in all his gigantic stature. The questions posed by the tragedy are of truly universal significance. Not without reason, at different stages of the development of human thought, people turned to Hamlet, looking for confirmation of their views on life and the world order in it.
As a true work of art, "Hamlet" attracts many generations of people. Life changes, new interests and concepts arise, and each new generation finds something close to itself in the tragedy. The power of tragedy is confirmed not only by its popularity with readers, but also by the fact that for almost four centuries it has not left the stage.
The tragedy "Hamlet" heralded a new period in Shakespeare's work, new interests and moods of the writer.
According to Shakespeare's words, each drama is a whole, separate world that has its own center, its own sun, around which the planets with their satellites circulate "and in this universe, if we mean tragedy, the sun is the main character who has to fight against everything unfair peace and give life.
The most attractive thing in tragedy is the image of the hero. "It's beautiful, like Prince Hamlet!" - exclaimed one of Shakespeare's contemporaries Anthony Skoloker, and his opinion was confirmed by many people who understand a lot about art over the centuries that have passed since the creation of the tragedy (1; p.6)
To understand Hamlet and sympathize with him, one does not need to find himself in his life situation - to find out that his father was murdered, and his mother betrayed her husband's memory and married another. Even with the dissimilarity of life situations, Hamlet turns out to be close to readers, especially if they have spiritual qualities similar to those inherent in Hamlet - the tendency to peer into themselves, immerse themselves in their inner world, sharply perceive injustice and evil, feel someone else's pain and suffering as their own. .
Hamlet became a beloved hero when romantic sensibilities became widespread. Many began to identify themselves with the hero of Shakespeare's tragedy. The head of the French romantics Victor Hugo () wrote in his book "William Shakespeare": "In our opinion," Hamlet "is the main creation of Shakespeare. Not a single image created by the poet disturbs and excites us to such an extent.
Russia also did not remain aloof from the fascination with Hamlet. Belinsky argued that the image of Hamlet has a universal significance.
The image of Hamlet at the beginning of the tragedy
At the beginning of the action, Hamlet does not yet appear on the scene, but he is mentioned, and this is more significant than it seems at first glance.
In fact, the night watchmen are the king's guard. Why don’t they report the appearance of the Phantom, as they should, “by the authorities”, to one of the king’s close associates, even Polonius, but attract Horatio, a friend of the prince, and he, having made sure that the Phantom looks like the late king , advises telling about this not to the current king, but to Hamlet, who has no power and has not yet been proclaimed heir to the crown?
Shakespeare builds the action not according to the Danish rules of guard duty, but immediately directs the audience's attention to the figure of the Danish prince.
He singled out the prince with a black suit, in stark contrast to the colorful robes of the courtiers. Everyone dressed up for an important ceremony marking the beginning of a new reign, only one in this motley crowd in mourning attire - Hamlet.
His first words, a remark to himself, apparently pronounced on the proscenium and addressed to the audience: “Let him be a nephew, but by no means cute” - immediately emphasizes that not only attire, but with his whole being, he does not belong to a submissive and servile host those around the king.
Hamlet restrained himself, answering the king and mother. Left alone, he pours out his soul in a passionate speech.
What feelings fill the soul of Hamlet when he first appears on the stage? First of all, grief caused by the death of his father. It is aggravated by the fact that the mother so soon forgot her husband and gave her heart to another. The parents' relationship seemed ideal to Hamlet. But a month later she was already remarried, and “she had not yet worn out the shoes in which she walked behind the coffin”, “even the salt of her dishonorable tears on her reddened eyelids had not disappeared.”
For Hamlet, the mother was the ideal of a woman, a natural feeling in a normal, and even more so in such a good family that surrounded Hamlet.
Gertrude's betrayal of her husband's memory revolts Hamlet also because in his eyes the brothers are incomparable: "Phoebus and the satyr." Added to this is the fact that, according to the concepts of the Shakespearean era, marriage with the brother of the deceased husband was considered the sin of incest.
The very first monologue of Hamlet reveals his tendency to make the broadest generalizations from a single fact. Mother's behavior
leads Hamlet to a negative judgment about all women
With the death of his father and the betrayal of his mother, Hamlet experienced a complete collapse of the world in which he had lived until then. The beauty and joy of life has disappeared, I don’t want to live anymore. It was just a family drama, but for the impressionable and strongly feeling Hamlet, it turned out to be enough to see the whole world in black:
How insignificant, flat and stupid
It seems to me that the whole world is in its aspirations! (6; p. 19)
Shakespeare is faithful to the truth of life when he depicts Hamlet's spiritual reaction to what happened in this way. Natures endowed with great sensitivity deeply perceive the terrible phenomena that directly affect them. Hamlet is just such a person - a man of hot blood, a big heart capable of strong feelings. He is by no means the cold rationalist and analyst he is sometimes imagined to be. His thought is excited not by the abstract observation of facts, but by their deep experience. If we feel from the very beginning that Hamlet rises above those around him, then this is not the elevation of a person above the circumstances of life. On the contrary, one of the highest personal virtues of Hamlet lies in the fullness of the feeling of life, his connection with it, in the consciousness that everything that happens around is significant and requires a person to determine his attitude to things, events, people.
Hamlet survived two shocks - the death of his father and the hasty second marriage of his mother. But a third blow awaited him. He learned from the Ghost that his father's death was the work of Claudius. As Ghost says:
You should know my noble boy
The snake is your father's killer-
In his crown. (6; p. 36)
Brother killed brother! If it has already come to this, then the rot has corroded the very foundations of humanity. Evil, enmity, betrayal crept into the relationship of people who are closest to each other by blood. This is what struck Hamlet the most in the revelations of the Phantom: not a single person, even the closest and dearest, can be trusted! Hamlet's anger turns against both mother and uncle:
Oh, the woman is a villain! O scoundrel!
O baseness, baseness with a low smile! (6; p. 38)
The vices that corrode human souls are hidden deep. People have learned to cover them up. Claudius is not the scoundrel whose abomination is already visible in his very outward appearance, as, for example, in Richard III, the main character of Shakespeare's early chronicle. He is "a smiling scoundrel, hiding under the mask of complacency, statesmanship and a penchant for fun the greatest heartlessness and cruelty."
Hamlet draws a sad conclusion for himself - no one can be trusted. This determines his attitude towards everyone around him, with the exception of Horatio. In each he will see a possible enemy or accomplice of his opponents. Hamlet accepts the task of revenge for his father with a somewhat unexpected ardor for us. After all, quite recently we heard from him complaints about the horrors of life and the recognition that he would like to commit suicide, just not to see the surrounding abomination. Now he is imbued with indignation, gathering strength.
The ghost entrusted Hamlet with the task of personal revenge. But Hamlet understands it differently. The crime of Claudius and the betrayal of his mother in his eyes are only partial manifestations of the general corruption:
The century was shaken - and worst of all,
That I was born to restore it!
If at first, as we have seen, he fervently swore to fulfill the Ghost's covenant, now it is painful for him that such a huge task fell on his shoulders, he looks at her as a "curse", she is a heavy burden for him. Those who consider Hamlet weak, see in this the inability, and perhaps even the unwillingness of the hero to join the fight.
He curses the age in which he was born, curses that he is destined to live in a world where evil reigns and where, instead of surrendering to truly human interests and aspirations, he must devote all his strength, mind and soul to the struggle against the world of evil.
This is how Hamlet appears at the beginning of the tragedy. We see that the hero is truly noble. He has already won our sympathy. But can we say that he is able to easily and simply, without hesitation, solve the problem facing him and go ahead? No, Hamlet seeks first to comprehend what is happening around.
It would be a mistake to look for completeness of character and clarity of outlook on life in him. We can say about him so far that he has an innate spiritual nobility and judges everything from the point of view of true humanity. He is going through a deep crisis. Belinsky aptly defined the state in which Hamlet was before the death of his father. It was an "infantile, unconscious harmony," a harmony based on ignorance of life. Only when faced with reality as it is, a person is faced with the opportunity to know life. For Hamlet, the knowledge of reality begins with shocks of great power. The very introduction to life is a tragedy for him.
Nevertheless, the position in which Hamlet found himself has a broad and, one might say, typical meaning. Not always realizing this, every normal person is imbued with sympathy for Hamlet, because rarely anyone escapes the blows of fate (1; p. 86)
We parted from the hero when he took upon himself the task of revenge, accepted it as a heavy but sacred duty.
The next thing we learn about him is his insanity. Ophelia rushes in to tell her father about the prince's strange visit.
Polonius, who has long been worried about his daughter's relationship with the prince, immediately suggests: "Mad with love for you?" After listening to her story, he affirms his conjecture:
Here is a clear explosion of love madness,
In the fury of which sometimes
They come up with desperate decisions. (6; p.48)
Moreover, Polonius sees this as a consequence of his banning Ophelia from meeting the prince: "I'm sorry that you were harsh with him these days."
So there is a version that the prince has gone mad. Has Hamlet really lost his mind? The question has occupied a significant place in Shakespeare studies. It was natural to assume that the misfortunes that befell the young man caused insanity. It must be said right away that this was not actually the case. Hamlet's madness is imaginary.
It wasn't Shakespeare who invented the hero's madness. It was already in the ancient saga of Amlet and in its French retelling by Belfort. However, under the pen of Shakespeare, the nature of Hamlet's pretense has changed significantly. In pre-Shakespearean interpretations of the plot, assuming the guise of a madman, the prince sought to lull the vigilance of his enemy, and he succeeded. He waited in the wings and then dealt with the killer of his father and his entourage.
Shakespeare's Hamlet does not lull Claudius' vigilance, but deliberately arouses his suspicions and anxiety. Two reasons determine this behavior of the Shakespearean hero.
On the one hand, Hamlet is not sure of the truth of the Ghost's words. In this, the prince discovers that he is far from alien to the prejudices about spirits, which were still very tenacious in the era of Shakespeare. But, on the other hand, Hamlet, a man of the new time, wants to confirm the message from the other world with absolutely real earthly proof. We will encounter this combination of old and new more than once, and, as will be shown later, it had a deep meaning.
Hamlet's words deserve attention in another aspect. They contain a direct recognition of the oppressed state of the hero. What has been said now echoes the sad thoughts of Hamlet, expressed at the end of the second picture of the first act, when he was thinking about death.
The cardinal question connected with these confessions is this: is Hamlet such by nature, or is his state of mind caused by the terrible events that he faced? The answer, of course, can only be one. Before all the events known to us, Hamlet was an integral harmonic personality. But we meet him already when this harmony is broken. Belinsky explained the state of Hamlet after the death of his father in this way: “... The higher a person is in spirit, the more terrible is his disintegration, and the more solemn is his victory over his limbs, and the deeper and holier is his bliss. This is the meaning of Hamlet's weakness."
By "disintegration" he does not mean the moral decay of the hero's personality, but the disintegration of the spiritual harmony that was previously inherent in him. The former integrity of Hamlet's views on life and reality, as it then seemed to him, was broken.
Although Hamlet's ideals remain the same, everything he sees in life contradicts them. His soul splits. He is convinced of the need to fulfill the duty of revenge - the crime is too terrible and Claudius is disgusting to the limit. But Hamlet's soul is full of sadness - grief over the death of his father and grief caused by his mother's betrayal did not pass. Everything that Hamlet sees confirms his attitude to the world - a garden overgrown with weeds, "wild and evil rules in it." Knowing all this, is it surprising that the thought of suicide does not leave Hamlet?
In Shakespeare's time, the attitude toward madmen inherited from the Middle Ages was still preserved. Their bizarre behavior was a cause for laughter. Pretending to be insane, Hamlet at the same time, as it were, puts on the guise of a jester. This gives him the right to tell people to their faces what he thinks of them. Hamlet makes extensive use of this opportunity.
In Ophelia, he settled confusion with his behavior. She is the first to see the dramatic change that has taken place in him. Polonia Hamlet is simply fooling, and he easily succumbs to the inventions of a pretended madman. Hamlet plays him in a certain way. “He plays with my daughter all the time,” says Polonius, “but at first he did not recognize me; said I was a fishmonger…”. The second motive in Hamlet's "game" with Polonius is his beard. As the reader remembers, to the question of Polonius about the book in which the prince always looks, Hamlet answers: "this satirical rogue says here that old people have gray beards ...". When Polonius later complains that the monologue read by the actor is too long, the prince abruptly cuts him off: "This will go to the barber, along with your beard ...".
With Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, fellow students, Hamlet plays differently. With them, he behaves as if he believed in their friendship, although he immediately suspects that they were sent to him. Hamlet answers them with frankness for frankness. His speech is one of the most significant passages in the play.
“Recently - and why, I don’t know myself - I have lost my gaiety, abandoned all my usual activities; and, indeed, it’s so hard on my soul that this beautiful temple, the earth, seems to me a desert cape ... What a masterful creature - a man! How noble of mind! How infinite capacity! In appearance and in movements - how expressive and wonderful. In action - how similar to an angel! In comprehension - how similar to the deity! The beauty of the universe! The crown of all living! And what is this quintessence of dust for me. Not one of the people makes me happy, no, neither, although with your smile you seem to want to say something else.
Hamlet, of course, is only playing frankly with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. But, although Hamlet masterfully plays his university friends, he is indeed torn apart by contradictions. The spiritual balance of Hamlet is completely broken. He mocks the spies sent to him, and tells the truth about his changed attitude towards the world. Of course, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who did not know anything about the secret of the death of the former king, could not guess that Hamlet's thoughts were occupied with the task of revenge. Nor did they know that the prince reproached himself for his slowness. We will not be far from the truth if we assume that Hamlet wants to see himself as such an avenger who hesitates, but the stronger the blow will be when he strikes it with the same inexorability. (1, p. 97)
We know, however, that Hamlet had doubts as to how far the Ghost could be trusted. He needs such proof of the guilt of Claudius, which would be earthly reliable. He decides to take advantage of the troupe's arrival in order to show the king a play that will present exactly the villainy that he committed:
"the spectacle is a loop,
To lasso the king's conscience."
This plan probably arose when the First Actor so excitedly read a monologue about Pyrrhus and Hecuba. Sending the actors away on his behalf, Hamlet orders the head of the troupe to present the play "The Murder of Gonzago" and asks to include sixteen lines written by himself in it. Thus arises Hamlet's plan to test the truth of the words of the Phantom. Hamlet does not rely on his intuition or on a voice from the other world, he needs a proof that satisfies the requirements of reason. It is not for nothing that in a long speech expressing Hamlet's view of the universe and man (it was mentioned above), Hamlet puts reason in the first place when he exclaims: “What a masterful creation - man! How noble of mind! It is only through this highest human ability that Hamlet intends to condemn the hated Claudius.
Having paid tribute to the close reading of individual scenes of the tragedy, let's not forget about those strong adhesions that hold its beginning and the entire ascending line of action. Such a role is played by two great monologues of Hamlet - at the end of the palace scene and at the end of the second act.
First of all, let's pay attention to their tonality. Both are unusually temperamental. “Oh, if this dense clot of meat// Melted, perished, came out with dew!”. This is followed by a frank admission that Hamlet would like to die. But the mournful intonation is replaced by anger at the mother. Words flow from the mouth of Hamlet in a stormy stream, finding more and more new expressions to condemn her (1; P. 99)
The noble anger of the hero makes him sympathetic. At the same time, we feel: if the thought of suicide flickers in Hamlet's mind, then the instinct of life in him is stronger. His grief is enormous, but if he really wanted to part with his life, a person of such temperament would not talk so extensively.
What does the first big monologue of the hero say about his character? At least not about weakness. The internal energy inherent in Hamlet receives a clear expression in his anger. A person of weak character would not indulge in indignation with such force.
The monologue that concludes the second act is full of reproaches for inaction. And again, indignation strikes him, this time directed against himself. What kind of abuse does not bring down on his head Hamlet: "Stupid and cowardly fool", "rotozey", "coward", "donkey", "woman", "dishwasher". We have seen before how severe he is towards his mother, how full of enmity towards Claudius. But Hamlet is not one of those who finds evil only in others. He is no less severe and merciless towards himself, and this feature of him further confirms the nobility of his nature. It takes the utmost honesty to judge yourself as, if not more severely, than others.
The end of the monologue, in which Hamlet lays out his plan, refutes the idea that he does not want to do anything to carry out revenge. Before acting, Hamlet wants to prepare suitable conditions for this (1; p. 100).
The Ethics of Hamlet's Revenge. The climax of tragedy.
Hamlet has his own ethics of revenge. He wants Claudius to know what punishment awaits him for. He seeks to arouse in Claudius the consciousness of his guilt. All the hero's actions are devoted to this goal, up to the "mousetrap" scene. To us, such a psychology may seem strange. But one must know the history of the bloody revenge of the era; when a special sophistication of retribution to the enemy arose, and then Hamlet's tactics would become clear. He needs Claudius to be imbued with the consciousness of his criminality, he wants to punish the enemy first with internal torments, pangs of conscience, if he has one, and only then deliver a fatal blow so that he knows that he is punished not only by Hamlet, but by the moral law, universal justice.
Much later, in the queen's bedroom, after slaying Polonius hiding behind a curtain, Hamlet sees in what seems to be an accident a manifestation of a higher will, the will of heaven. They entrusted him with the mission to be the Scourge and minister - the scourge and the executor of their destiny. This is how Hamlet looks at the matter of revenge. And what is the meaning of the words: “he punished me and me him”? (1; p.101)
That Polonius was punished for his interference in the struggle between Hamlet and Claudius is clear from Hamlet's words: "That's how dangerous it is to be too fast." But what is Hamlet punished for? For acting thoughtlessly and slaying the wrong person, and thereby making it clear to the king who he was aiming at.
Our next meeting with Hamlet takes place in the gallery of the castle, where he was called. Hamlet comes, not knowing who and why is waiting for him, completely at the mercy of his thoughts, expressing them in his most famous monologue.
The monologue "To be or not to be" is the highest point of Hamlet's doubts. It expresses the mood of the hero, the moment of the highest discord in his mind. For this reason alone, it would be wrong to look for strict logic in it. She is not here. The hero's thought is transferred from one subject to another. He starts thinking about one thing, moves on to another, a third, and none of them.
questions he himself put to himself, does not receive an answer.
Does “to be” mean for Hamlet only life in general? Taken by themselves, the first words of the monologue can be interpreted in this sense. But it does not take much attention to see the incompleteness of the first line, while the following lines reveal the meaning of the question and the opposition of two concepts - what is meant by "to be" and what is "not to be":
What is nobler in spirit - to submit
Slings and arrows of a furious fate
Or, taking up arms against the sea of troubles, slay them
Confrontation?
Here the dilemma is expressed quite clearly: “to be” means to rise up on the sea of unrest and slay them, “not to be” means to submit to the “slings and arrows of a furious fate”.
The posing of the question has a direct bearing on Hamlet's situation: should one fight against the sea of evil or avoid the fight? Here, finally, a contradiction appears with great force, the expressions of which have been encountered before. But at the beginning of the third act, Hamlet again finds himself in the power of doubt. These mood swings are extremely characteristic of Hamlet. We do not know whether he is characterized by hesitations and doubts in the happy time of his life. But now this instability manifests itself with all certainty.
Which of the two possibilities does Hamlet choose? "To be", to fight - such is the lot that he has taken upon himself. Hamlet's thought runs ahead, and he sees one of the outcomes of the struggle - death! Here a thinker wakes up in him, asking himself a new question: what is death? Hamlet again sees two possibilities of what awaits a person after death. Death is an immersion in non-existence in the complete absence of consciousness:
Die, sleep
And only: and say that you end up sleeping
Longing and a thousand natural torments ...
But there is also a terrible danger: “What dreams will be dreamed in a death dream, / / When we drop this mortal noise ...”. Perhaps the horrors of the afterlife are no worse than all earthly troubles: “This is what brings us down; where is the reason// That disasters are so long-lived…”. And further:
Let's get a grasp of the monologue and it will become clear that Hamlet talks in general - about all people, and they have never met people from the other world. Hamlet's thought is correct, but it diverges from the plot of the play.
The second thing that catches your eye in this monologue is the idea that it is easy to get rid of the hardships of life if you "Give yourself a calculation with a simple dagger."
Now let's turn to the part of the monologue in which the disasters of people in this world are listed:
Who would take down the whips and mockery of the century,
The oppression of the strong, the mockery of the proud,
The pain of despicable love, judges slowness,
The arrogance of the authorities and insults.
Made to meek merit,
If only he could figure it out for himself...
Note that none of these calamities concerns Hamlet. He talks here not about himself, but about the whole people, for whom Denmark is really a prison. Hamlet appears here as a thinker concerned about the plight of all people suffering from injustice. (1;p.104)
But the fact that Hamlet thinks about all of humanity is another feature that speaks of his nobility. But what about the hero's idea that everything can be ended with a simple blow of a dagger? The monologue "To be or not to be" is permeated from beginning to end with a heavy consciousness of the sorrows of being. We can safely say that already starting from the first monologue of the hero it is clear: life does not give joys, it is full of grief, injustice, various forms of desecration of humanity. Living in such a world is hard and undesirable. But Hamlet must not part with his life, for the task of revenge lies with him. He must make a calculation with a dagger, but not on himself!
Hamlet's monologue ends with a thought about the nature of reflection. In this case, Hamlet comes to a disappointing conclusion. Circumstances require action from him, and thoughts paralyze the will. Hamlet admits that an excess of thought weakens the ability to act (1; p. 105).
As already mentioned, the monologue "To be or not to be" is the highest point of the hero's thoughts and doubts. He reveals to us the soul of a hero who is unreasonably hard in the world of lies, evil, deceit, villainy, but who, nevertheless, has not lost the ability to act.
We are convinced of this by observing his meeting with Ophelia. As soon as he notices her, his tone immediately changes. Before us is no longer a thoughtful Hamlet, reflecting on life and death, not a man full of doubts. He immediately puts on the mask of madness and speaks harshly to Ophelia. Fulfilling the will of her father, she ends their break and wants to return the gifts she once received from him. Hamlet also does everything to push Ophelia away from him. “I once loved you,” he says at first, and then denies this too: “I did not love you.” Hamlet's speeches to Ophelia are full of mockery. He advises her to go to a monastery: “Go to a monastery; why should you breed sinners?” "Or, if you absolutely want to marry, marry a fool, because smart people know well what monsters you make of them." The king and Polonius, eavesdropping on their conversation, are once again convinced of Hamlet's madness (1; p. 106).
Immediately after this, Hamlet gives instructions to the actors, and there is not a trace of insanity in his speech. On the contrary, what he said down to our time is cited as the indisputable basis of the aesthetics of the theater. There are no traces of madness in Hamlet's next speech to Horatio, in which the hero expresses his ideal of a man, and then asks a friend to watch Claudius during the performance. New touches that appeared in the image of Hamlet in the scene of a conversation with the actors - the warmth of the soul, the inspiration of the artist, who is counting on mutual understanding (3; p. 87)
Hamlet begins to play the insane again only when the whole court, led by royalty, comes to watch the performance ordered by the prince.
When asked by the king how he is doing, the prince sharply replies: “I feed on air, I feed on promises; capons are not fattened like that.” The meaning of this remark becomes clear if we remember that Claudius declared Hamlet his heir, and this is confirmed by Rosencrantz. But Hamlet understands that the king, who killed his brother, can calmly deal with him. No wonder the prince says to Rosencrantz: "while the grass grows ..." This beginning of the proverb is followed by: "... the horse can die."
But most noticeable is the defiant nature of Hamlet's behavior when he answers the king's question whether there is anything reprehensible in the play: “This play depicts a murder committed in Vienna; the name of the duke is Gonzago; his wife is Baptista; you will see now; it's a mean story; but does it matter? Your Majesty and us, whose soul is pure, this does not concern ... ". The words sound even sharper and more direct when, on stage, Lucian pours poison into the ear of the sleeping king (actor); Hamlet's "commentary" leaves no doubt: "He poisons him in the garden for the sake of his power. His name is Gonzago. Such a story exists and is written in the most excellent Italian language. Now you will see how the murderer earns the love of Gonzaga's wife. Sarcasm has two addresses here. However, the whole play, played out by the actors, aims at Claudius at the same time; and Gertrude! (1; p. 107)
The behavior of the king, who interrupted the performance, leaves no doubt in Hamlet: "I would vouch for the words of the Ghost with a thousand gold pieces." Horatio confirms Hamlet's observation - the king was embarrassed when a theatrical villain poured poison into the sleeping king's ear.
After the introduction, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern come to Hamlet, they inform him that the king is upset and that his mother invites him for a conversation. This is followed by one of the most famous passages in the play.
Rosencrantz makes another attempt to find out the secret of the prince, referring to their former friendship. After that, Hamlet plays Polonius, and finally, after all the worries of this day and evening, he is left alone. Now left alone, Hamlet admits to himself (and to us):
... now I'm hot blooded
I could drink and do such a thing,
That the day would tremble.
Hamlet gained confidence in Claudius's guilt. He is ripe for revenge: he is ready to deal with the king and reveal to his mother all her crime. (1; p.108)
The Mousetrap is the culmination of a tragedy. Hamlet sought the correct second and third acts. None of the characters, with the exception of Horatio, knows the secret that the Ghost told the Prince. Viewers and readers are aware of it. They tend, therefore, to forget that Hamlet has a secret and that all his behavior is due to the desire to obtain confirmation of the words of the Ghost. The only one who is truly concerned about Hamlet's behavior is Claudius. He would like to believe Polonius that Hamlet has lost his mind because Ophelia rejected his love. But during the meeting, he could make sure that it was not Ophelia who expelled him from her heart, but Hamlet renounced his beloved girl. He heard the prince's strange threat: “We will have no more marriages; those who are already married, all but one will live…”. Then Claudius could not yet know what she meant - perhaps just dissatisfaction with the hasty marriage of his mother. Now opponents know the main thing about each other.
Claudius immediately makes a decision. He, who at first kept the prince near him, so that it would be easier to follow him, now decides to send him to England. We do not yet know the whole insidiousness of Claudius' plan, but we see that he is afraid to keep the prince close. For this, as it will become clear very soon, the king has reasons. Now that Hamlet is aware of his crime, nothing can stop his revenge. And the case, it would seem, turns up. Going to his mother, Hamlet finds himself face to face with the king, who is trying to pray for his sin. Hamlet enters, and his first thought is:
Now to complete everything...
But the prince's hand stops: Claudius is praying, his soul is turned to heaven, and if he is killed, it will ascend to heaven. This is not revenge. This is not the kind of retribution Hamlet wants:
... will I be avenged,
Having smitten him in spiritual cleansing,
When is he equipped and ready to go?
No. (1; p. 109)
Hamlet does not prevaricate, does not deceive himself and us when he says that to kill the praying Claudius means to send him to heaven. Recall what was said above about the ethics of revenge. Hamlet saw the Ghost-father, who is tormented because he died without proper repentance, Hamlet wants to take revenge on Claudius so that he would forever writhe in torment in the afterlife. Let's listen to the hero's speech. Is it the slightest echo of spiritual weakness?
Back, my sword, find out the girth more terrible;
When he is drunk or angry
Or in the incestuous pleasures of the bed;
In blasphemy, at a game, at something,
What is not good. - Then knock him down.
Hamlet longs for effective revenge - to send Claudius to hell for eternal torment. Accordingly, to kill Claudius at the moment when the king turns to God, according to Hamlet, is tantamount to sending the killer's soul to paradise. (5; p. 203) When in the next scene Gertrude, fearful of Hamlet's threatening words, cries out for help, a scream is heard from behind the curtain. Hamlet, without hesitation, pierces this place with a sword. He thinks that the king was eavesdropping on his conversation with his mother - and now is the right moment to strike him down. Hamlet is regretfully convinced of his mistake - it was only Polonius, "a miserable, fussy buffoon." There is no doubt that Hamlet aimed precisely at Claudius (1; p. 110). When the body falls behind the curtain, the prince asks his mother: "Was that the king?" Seeing the body of Polonius, Hamlet confesses: "I aimed at the highest." Hamlet's blow not only missed its mark, it gave Claudius a clear understanding of the prince's intentions. “So it would be with us if we were there,” says the king, having learned about the death of Polonius.
Thus, there is no reason to doubt the determination of Hamlet. He does not look like a relaxed person who has lost all ability to act. But this does not mean at all that the hero is concerned with only one goal - to defeat his offender. The whole conversation between Hamlet and his mother undoubtedly shows the bitterness of the prince, who sees that evil has captured the soul of such a dear person as his mother.
From the very beginning of the tragedy, we saw Hamlet's grief caused by the hasty marriage of his mother. In The Mousetrap, the lines uttered by the actor who played the queen are specially designed for her:
Betrayal does not live in my chest.
The second spouse is a curse and shame!
The second is for those who killed the first ...
Critics debate which sixteen lines Hamlet inserted into the text of The Murder of Gonzago. Most likely those that contain direct reproaches of the mother. But no matter how correct this assumption is, Hamlet, after hearing the words of the old play quoted here, asks his mother: “Madame, how do you like this play?” - and hears in response restrained, but quite significant words, corresponding to the current position of Gertrude: "This woman is too generous with assurances, in my opinion." One might ask why Hamlet had never said anything to his mother before? He waited for an hour when he would be sure of the crime of Claudius (1; p. 111). Now, after the Mousetrap, Hamlet reveals to her that she is the wife of the one who killed her husband. When Gertrude reproaches her son for committing "a bloody and crazy act" by killing Polonius, Hamlet replies:
A little worse than in damned sin
After killing the king, marry the king's brother.
But Hamlet cannot blame the mother for the death of her husband, since he knows who the murderer was. However, if before Hamlet saw only the betrayal of his mother, now she is tarnished by her marriage to her husband's murderer. Hamlet puts the murder of Polonius by him, the crime of Claudius, and the betrayal of his mother into one criminal series. You should pay attention to how Hamlet pronounces his appeals to his mother. We must listen to the intonation of his tirades:
Don't break your hands. Quiet! I want
break your heart; I will break it...
Accusing the mother, Hamlet says that her betrayal is a direct violation of morality. The behavior of Gertrude is equated by Hamlet with those violations of the world order that make the whole Earth tremble. Hamlet can be reproached for taking on too much. Let us recall, however, his words: he is a scourge and a executor of the highest will.
The whole tone of Hamlet's conversation with his mother is marked by cruelty. The appearance of the Ghost increases his thirst for revenge. But now its implementation is hindered by being sent to England. Suspecting a trick on the part of the king, Hamlet expresses confidence that he can eliminate the danger. The thinking Hamlet gives way to the active Hamlet.
During the interrogation, which is carried out by the king himself, prudently surrounded by guards, Hamlet allows himself buffoonish speeches that can be mistaken for the delirium of a madman, but the reader and viewer know that Hamlet's reasoning about how the king can become food for worms is fraught with danger; the hidden meaning of the king's answer to the question where Polonius is is especially clear. Hamlet says: “In heaven; send there to see; if your messenger does not find him there, then look for him elsewhere yourself”, that is, in hell; we remember where the prince intends to send Claudius...
We have followed Hamlet's behavior through two stages of the development of the action after he learned from the Ghost the secret of his father's death. Hamlet has a firm intention to put an end to Claudius, if he manages to overtake him at the moment when he does something bad, then, slain by the sword, he will go to hell for eternal torment.
The task of revenge not only does not interfere, but exacerbates the disgust for the world, as he opened himself to the prince after the death of his father.
A new phase of action begins. Hamlet is sent to England with reliable guards. He understands the king's intention. While waiting to board the ship, Hamlet sees the passage of Fortinbras' troops. For the prince, this serves as a new reason for reflection.
Doubts ended, Hamlet found determination. But now circumstances are against him. He needs to think not about revenge, but about how to avoid the trap prepared for him.
Death of the main character
Death has hovered over the tragedy from the very beginning, when the Ghost of the slain king appears. And in the scene at the cemetery, Hamlet sees the reality of death - the earth, which stores decayed corpses. The first gravedigger famously throws skulls out of the ground in which he is digging a grave for Ophelia. Among them is the skull of the royal jester Yorick.
Hamlet is struck by the frailty of everything that exists. Even human greatness will not escape such a fate: Alexander the Great had the same appearance in the ground and he smelled just as bad.
In tragedy, two concepts of death collide, two points of view on it: the traditional, religious one, which claims that human souls still continue to exist after death, and the real one: the appearance of death is the bones that remain from a person. Hamlet discusses this with irony: “Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander turns to dust; dust is earth; clay is made from the earth; and why can't they plug a beer barrel with this clay into which he has turned?
Sovereign Caesar turned into ashes,
Went, perhaps, to plastering the walls.
Two ideas about death - religious and real - do not seem to contradict each other. One is about the human soul, the other about his body. However, the stranger from the next world, as the reader remembers, does not describe himself in the best possible way - after poisoning: vile scabs stuck around his body. This means that the earthly scab comes to the afterlife ... (1; P. 117)
So far, we have been talking about death in general. Yorick's skull brought death closer to Hamlet. He knew and loved this jester. However, even this death remains a distraction for the prince. But then a funeral procession appears at the cemetery and Hamlet learns that his beloved is being buried.
After sailing for England, he could not hear anything about the fate of Ophelia. I didn't have time to tell him about her and Horatio. We know how the death of his father plunged Hamlet into grief. Now he is shaken to the core again. Laertes spared no words to express grief. Hamlet did not yield to him in this. We have heard the passionate speeches of the hero more than once. But now he seems to have outdone himself:
I loved her; forty thousand brothers
With all the multitude of your love with me
Wouldn't equalize
That Hamlet's grief is great is undeniable, and it is just as true that he is truly shaken. But in this ardent speech there is something unnatural, not characteristic of other, even the most ardent speeches of Hamlet. It seems that the bombast of Laertes' rhetoric was passed on to Hamlet. Hamlet's hyperbole is too obvious to be believed, as we believe other powerful speeches of the hero. True, in life it happens that a deep shock causes a stream of words that are devoid of meaning. Perhaps this is exactly what is happening at the moment with Hamlet. The queen finds a direct explanation for her son's behavior: "This is nonsense." He will rage and calm down, she believes (1; p. 119). Was Hamlet's grief feigned? I don't want to believe this. The Queen's words cannot be trusted. She is convinced of the madness of her son and sees only this in all his behavior.
If it is possible to explain Hamlet's loud speech over the ashes of his beloved, then his unexpectedly conciliatory appeal to Laertes sounds strange: “Tell me, sir, Why do you treat me like that? I have always loved you." From the point of view of ordinary logic, Hamlet's words are absurd. After all, he killed Father Laertes ...
Hamlet returned to Denmark in many ways a new man. Previously, his anger extended to absolutely everyone. Now Hamlet will be at enmity only with the main enemy and his direct accomplices. He intends to treat the rest of the people tolerantly. In particular, this applies to Laertes. In the scene following the cemetery, Hamlet says to a friend:
I am very sorry, friend Horatio,
That I forgot myself with Laertes;
In my destiny I see a reflection
his destiny; I will deal with it...
Hamlet's words in the cemetery are the first manifestation of this intention. He knows that he caused grief to Laertes by killing his father, but apparently believes that Laertes should understand the unintentionality of this murder.
Concluding a conversation with Horatio, Hamlet admits that he got excited at the cemetery, but Laertes "enraged me with his puffy grief." Here is an explanation for Hamlet's exaggerated expressions of grief. Leaving the cemetery, the prince does not forget about the main task and again pretends to be insane.
But melancholy in the sense accepted by Shakespeare's contemporaries, the intention to "cleanse the stomach of the dirty world" does not leave Hamlet. Just as Hamlet used to make fun of Polonius, he makes fun of Osric.
Having received an invitation to compete with Laertes in fencing, Hamlet does not feel any suspicion. He considers Laertes a nobleman and does not expect a dirty trick from him. But the prince's heart is restless. He confesses to Horatio: “... you can’t imagine how heavy my heart is here, but it’s all the same. This, of course, is nonsense; but this is like some kind of premonition, which, perhaps, a woman would have embarrassed.
Horatio advises heeding the premonition and abandoning the duel. But Hamlet rejects his proposal with words that critics have long attached great importance to, because they contain both thought and intonation new to Hamlet:
“... We are not afraid of omens, and there is a special craft in the death of a sparrow. If now, so, then not later; if not later, so then now; if not now, then someday anyway; willingness is everything. Since what we part with does not belong to us, does it matter if it is too early to part? Let it be". This speech of Hamlet should be equated with his great monologues.
Returning to Elsinore, Hamlet cannot directly attack the king, who is under strong guard. Hamlet understands that the struggle will continue, but he does not know how and when. He does not suspect about the conspiracy of Claudius and Laertes. But he firmly knows that the moment will come, and then it will be necessary to act. When Horatio warns that the king will soon find out what the prince did with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet replies: “My gap” (1; p. 122). In other words, Hamlet expects to put an end to Claudius in the shortest possible time and only waits for the right opportunity.
Hamlet cannot control events. He has to rely on a happy accident, on the will of Providence. He tells a friend:
Praise of surprise: us recklessness
Sometimes it helps out where it dies
Deep intent; that deity
Our intentions are completed,
At least the mind has planned and not so ...
It is difficult to say when exactly Hamlet came to the conviction of the decisive role of higher powers for human affairs - whether then on the ship, or having fled from it, or upon returning to Denmark. In any case, he, who previously thought that everything depends on his will, when he decides on his revenge, was convinced that the implementation of human intentions and plans is far from being in the will of man; a lot depends on the circumstances. Hamlet found what Belinsky called courageous and conscious harmony. (1; C; 123)
Yes, this is the Hamlet of the final scene. Unaware of the trick, he goes to the competition with Laertes. Before the fight begins, he assures Laertes of his friendship and asks for forgiveness for the damage done to him. Hamlet - inattentively reacted to his answer, otherwise he would have suspected something was wrong earlier. A hunch dawns on him only during the third fight, when Laertes wounds the prince with a poisoned blade. At this time, the queen also dies, having drunk the poison prepared by the king for Hamlet. Laertes confesses his betrayal and names the culprit. Hamlet turns the poisoned weapon against the king and, seeing that he is only wounded, forces him to drink the poisoned wine.
Hamlet's new mindset was reflected in the fact that, recognizing treason, he immediately killed Claudius - exactly as he once wanted.
Hamlet dies as a warrior, and his ashes are carried off the stage with military honors. The viewer of the Shakespeare theater fully appreciated the significance of the military ceremony. Hamlet lived and died like a hero.
The evolution of Hamlet is depicted in the tragedy in harsh colors and appears in all its complexity. (3; p. 83)
The perfect resurrection hero
In Shakespeare's plays there is such a feature: whatever the length of time when the action takes place; during it, a person goes through his life path. The life of the heroes of Shakespeare's tragedies begins from the moment when they are involved in a dramatic conflict. Indeed, the human personality reveals itself completely when, voluntarily or involuntarily, it is involved in a struggle, the outcome of which sometimes turns out to be tragic for it (1; p. 124).
The whole life of Hamlet passed before us. Yes exactly. Although the action of the tragedy covers only a few months, they were the period of the true life of the hero. True, Shakespeare does not leave us in the dark about what the hero was like before the fatal circumstances arose. With a few strokes, the author makes it clear what Hamlet's life was like before the death of his father. But everything that precedes the tragedy is of little importance, because the moral qualities and character of the hero are revealed in the process of life's struggle.
Shakespeare acquaints us with Hamlet's past by two means: his own speeches and the opinion of others about him.
From the words of Hamlet "I have lost my gaiety, abandoned all my usual activities" it is easy to draw a conclusion about the state of mind of Hamlet the student. He lived in a world of intellectual interests. It is no coincidence that Shakespeare the artist chose Wittenberg University for his hero. The fame of this city was based on the fact that it was here that Martin Luther on October 31, 1517 nailed his 95 theses against the Roman Catholic Church to the doors of the cathedral. Thanks to this, Wittenberg became synonymous with the spiritual reformation of the 16th century, a symbol of free thought. The circle in which Hamlet revolved was made up of his university comrades. With all the savings necessary for the drama, Shakespeare introduced three of Hamlet's classmates at the university - Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - into the number of characters. From these latter we learn that Hamlet was a theater lover. We also know that Hamlet not only read books, but also wrote poetry himself. This was taught in the universities of that time. There are even two samples of Hamlet's literary writing in the tragedy: a love poem addressed to Ophelia, and sixteen lines of poetry inserted by him into the text of the tragedy "The Murder of Gonzago".
Shakespeare presented him as the typical "universal man" of the Renaissance. This is exactly how Ophelia draws him, regretting that, having lost his mind, Hamlet has lost his former qualities.
She also calls him a courtier, a warrior (soldier). As a true "courier", Hamlet also wields a sword. He is an experienced swordsman, constantly practicing this art and demonstrating it in a fatal duel that completes the tragedy.
The word "scholar" here means a highly educated person, not a scientist.
In Hamlet they also saw a person capable of governing the state, not without reason he is "the color and hope of a joyful state." Due to his high culture, much was expected of him when he inherited the throne-. All the internal perfections of Hamlet were reflected in his appearance, manner, grace of behavior (1; P. 126)
This is how Ophelia saw Hamlet before the dramatic change took place in him. The speech of a loving woman is at the same time an objective characteristic of Hamlet.
Joking conversations with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern give an idea of the secularity inherent in Hamlet. The scattering of thought that fills the prince's speech speaks of his intelligence, observation, and ability to sharply formulate a thought. Fighting spirit he shows in a clash with pirates.
And how can we judge how right Ophelia is, arguing that they saw in him the hope for all of Denmark to receive a wise and just monarch? To do this, it suffices to recall that part of the monologue "To be or not to be", where Hamlet condemns "judges slowness, arrogance of the authorities and insults inflicted on uncomplaining merit". Among the disasters of life, he calls not just “the wrath of the strong”, but the injustice of the oppressor (oppressor's wrong), “the mockery of the proud” means the arrogance of the nobility towards ordinary people.
Hamlet is depicted as a follower of the principles of humanism. As the son of his father, he must take revenge on his murderer and is full of hatred for Claudius.
If evil were embodied in one Claudius, the solution to the problem would be simple. But Hamlet sees that other people are also subject to evil. For whom to cleanse the world of evil? For Gertrude, Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Osric?
Here are the contradictions oppressing the consciousness of Hamlet. (1; С127)
We have seen that he is waging a struggle, morally destroying those who betray human dignity, and finally, he is using weapons. Hamlet would like to fix the world, but does not know how! He realizes that by killing himself with a simple dagger, you will not destroy evil. Can it be destroyed by killing another?
It is known that one of the cardinal issues of Hamlet's criticism is the slowness of the prince. From our analysis of Hamlet's behavior, it cannot be deduced that he is slow, because, one way or another, he acts all the time. The real problem is not why Hamlet hesitates, but what he can achieve by acting. Not just to carry out the task of personal revenge, but to straighten the dislocated joint of Time (I, 5, 189-190).
He is bold, without fear he rushes to the call of the Ghost and follows him, despite the fearful warnings of Horatio.
Hamlet is able to quickly make decisions and act, as when he heard Polonius scream behind the curtain.
Although Hamlet often worries about death, he is not afraid of it: “My life is cheaper for me than a pin ...” This is said at the beginning of the tragedy and repeated shortly before its end: “A person’s life is to say:“ Once ”. The conclusion is prompted by all the previous experience of the hero ...
For a correct understanding of the hero, two more important circumstances must be taken into account.
The first of them is Hamlet's chivalry and his high concept of honor. Shakespeare did not accidentally choose the prince as the hero. Rejecting the obscurantism of the Middle Ages, the humanists by no means crossed out the valuable that they saw in the heritage of this era. Already in the Middle Ages, the ideal of chivalry was the embodiment of high moral qualities. It is no coincidence that it was in knightly times that beautiful legends about true love arose, such as, for example, the story of Tristan and Isolde. In this legend, love was sung not only to death, but also beyond the grave. Hamlet experiences his mother's betrayal both as a personal grief and as a betrayal of the ideal of fidelity. Any betrayal - love, friendship, duty - is regarded by Hamlet as a violation of the moral rules of chivalry.
Knightly honor did not tolerate any, even the slightest damage. Hamlet reproaches himself precisely for the fact that he hesitates when his honor is offended by not trifling reasons, while the soldiers of Fortinbras “for the sake of a whim and absurd glory / / Go to the grave ...”.
However, there is a clear contradiction here. One of the rules of knightly honor is truthfulness. Meanwhile, in order to carry out the first part of his plan and to make sure that Claudius is guilty, Hamlet pretends not to be what he really is. Paradoxical as it may seem, Hamlet decides to pretend to be crazy, and this is exactly what hurts his honor the least.
Hamlet puts “nature, honor” side by side, and, perhaps, it is not by chance that “nature” comes first, because in his tragedy it is the nature of man that is affected first of all. The third reason, called by Hamlet, is not a "feeling" at all - a feeling of resentment, insult. The prince said of Laertes: "In my fate I see the reflection of His fate!" Indeed, Hamlet's nature is also hurt by the murder of his father, that is, his filial feeling, and honor.
Hamlet's attitude to regicide is very important. With the exception of Richard III, Shakespeare everywhere shows that the assassination of a monarch is fraught with trouble for the state. This idea receives a clear and unambiguous expression in Hamlet:
From time immemorial
The royal sorrow is echoed by a general groan.
Other readers will probably be confused by the fact that these words are not spoken by the hero of the tragedy, but only by Rosencrantz.
Rosencrantz, not knowing the main circumstance, thinks that everything in Denmark will collapse if Claudius is killed. In fact, the tragedy of the country is caused by the fact that Claudius killed its rightful king. And then something happened that Rosencrantz so figuratively described: everything was mixed up, chaos arose, ending in a general catastrophe. The Prince of Denmark is by no means a rebel. He is, one might say, a statesman. His task of revenge is also complicated by the fact that, fighting against the tyrant and usurper, he must do the same thing that Claudius did - kill the king. Hamlet has a moral right to do so, but...
Here it is necessary to turn once again to the figure of Laertes (1; p.132)
Having learned about the murder of his father and suspecting Claudius of this, Laertes raises the people to revolt and breaks into the royal castle. In anger and indignation, he exclaims:
Loyalty to hell! Oaths to black demons!
Fear and piety into the abyss of abysses!
Laertes behaves like a recalcitrant feudal lord who, in the name of personal interests, refuses allegiance to the sovereign and rebels against him.
It is appropriate to ask why Hamlet did not do the same as Laertes, all the more appropriate that the people loved Hamlet. This is admitted with regret by none other than Claudius himself. Upon learning that Hamlet killed Polonius, the king says:
How pernicious that he walks free!
However, one cannot be strict with him;
A violent crowd is attached to him ...
Returning from France, Laertes asks the king why he did not take action against Hamlet. Claudius replies: "the reason / / Do not resort to open analysis - // The love of a simple crowd for him."
Why doesn't Hamlet revolt against Claudius?
Yes, because with all the sympathy for the disasters of ordinary people, Hamlet is completely alien to the idea of drawing the people to participate in the affairs
states (1; p.133)
Hamlet cannot achieve his goal - “to set the dislocated joint of Time” by violating the law himself, raising the lower class against the higher one. Personal offense and violated honor give him a moral justification, and the political principle that recognizes tyrannicide as a legitimate form of restoring state order gives him the right to kill Claudius. These two sanctions are enough for Hamlet to carry out revenge.
How does the prince look at his position when Claudius, having seized the throne, removed him from power? We remember that he considered the ambition of Fortinbras a natural trait of chivalry. Is ambition inherent in him? One thing is honor, the highest moral dignity, another is ambition, the desire to exalt at any cost, including crime and murder. As high as Hamlet's concept of honor, he despises ambition. Therefore, he rejects the suggestion of royal spies that he is gnawed by ambition. Shakespeare portrayed the ambitious many times. In this tragedy, it is Claudius. Hamlet does not lie when he denies this vice in himself. Hamlet is by no means power-hungry. But, being a royal son, he naturally considered himself heir to the throne. Knowing the humanity of Hamlet, his condemnation of social injustice, it would not be an exaggeration to assume that, having become king, he would have sought to alleviate the fate of the people. From the words of Ophelia, we know that he was looked upon as the "hope" of the state. The realization that power is in the hands of a usurper and Elodea, and that he is not at the head of the state, intensifies Hamlet's bitterness. He once admits to Horatio that Claudius "stands between the election and my hope", that is, the hope of the prince to become king.
Fighting against Claudius, Hamlet seeks not only to carry out his revenge, but also to restore his hereditary right to the throne.
Conclusion
The image of Hamlet is given in the tragedy close-up. The scale of Hamlet's personality increases because not only the contemplation of all-encompassing evil characterizes the hero, but also the single combat with the vicious world. If he was unable to heal the “loose” age, to give a new direction to time, then he emerged victorious from his spiritual crisis. The evolution of Hamlet is depicted in the tragedy in harsh colors and appears in all its complexity. This is one of Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedies. Polonius and Ophelia parted with their lives, Gertrude was poisoned, Laertes and Claudius were killed, Hamlet dies from a wound. Death tramples down death, Hamlet alone wins a moral victory.
Shakespeare's tragedy has two denouements. One directly completes the outcome of the struggle and is expressed in the death of the protagonist. And the other is brought into the future, which will be the only one capable of accepting and enriching the unfulfilled ideals of rebirth and establishing them on earth. The author points out that the struggle is not over, that the resolution of the conflict is in the future. A few minutes before his death, Hamlet bequeaths Horatio to tell people about what happened. They must know about Hamlet in order to follow his example, in order to “combat with confrontation” evil on earth and turn the world - prison into a world of freedom.
Despite the gloomy ending, there is no hopeless pessimism in Shakespeare's tragedy. The ideals of the tragic hero are indestructible, majestic
and his struggle with a vicious, unjust world should serve as an example for other people (3; p. 76). This gives the tragedy "Hamlet" the meaning of a work that is relevant at all times.
Bibliography
1. Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet" .- M: Enlightenment, 1986.-124p.
2. Shakespeare. - M: Young Guard, 196s.
3. Dubashinsky Shakespeare.- M: Enlightenment, 1978.-143 p.
4. Holliday and his world. - M: Rainbow, 1986. - 77p.
5. Shvedov The evolution of Shakespeare's tragedy. - M: Art, 197p.
6. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. - Izhevsk, 198p.
The philosophical fabrications of the prince, described in Shakespeare's great tragedy, find a response and sympathy in the hearts of readers five centuries later. "To be or not to be?" - the young man asks himself, after a series of betrayals. The characterization of Hamlet creates an idea of him as a very strong and wise man who managed to defend his honor and avenge the death of his father.
Despite the fact that he does not give an external description of his main character - - an eternal image in world literature. Only by small hints, one can notice that Hamlet is not a strong man at all, but a pampered, even slightly plump young man.
Beloved Ophelia believed that Hamlet had: the gaze of a nobleman, the sword of a fighter, the language of a scientist. She called him the "color and hope" of all of Denmark.
After an imaginary madness, Hamlet appears as Ophelia in a new image. He comes to her sloppily dressed, in dirty stockings that fall to the heels, his camisole is not fastened. He knocks with his knees and is "pale than the shirt." She cannot recognize him, she says that Hamlet's mind cracked like an old deck, and "the appearance of blooming youth" was torn to pieces by delirium and madness.
Behind the outward appearance of the insane Hamlet in Shakespeare's tragedy lies a clever and cunning avenger. But the inner nobility does not allow him to immediately take his revenge. He doubted his decision for a long time.
Hamlet fully corresponds to his characterization, the noble prince of Denmark. Shakespeare wrote that he lived in a happy and caring family until his father died. Hamlet is forced to put up with the fact that his mother married a murderous uncle.
"... He is in the citizenship of his birth ..." - Laertes says about him.
For Hamlet, servants and luxury are habitual: “... He does not cut his own piece like others ...”
Despite outward indecision and spoiledness, Hamlet is brave, not even afraid of a ghost:
“... And if again he takes the form of a father,
I'll talk to him, even if hell breaks open,
Telling me to shut up…”
He compares himself to the brave German lion, every vein of which is full of courage.
Having learned about the murder of his father, the cunning and prudent prince does not immediately decide on an open confrontation. He checks the words of the ghost and, only after learning the truth, begins to act.
Without revenge, life loses its meaning. He says to Horatio:
"My life is cheaper to me than a pin."
Hamlet's uncle, King Claudius of Denmark, recognizes a strong personality in his mad nephew. He says that: "The madness of the strong requires supervision."
The protagonist of the work, Hamlet, is undoubtedly smart and savvy in his characteristics. Calls on friends: "... Give everything a meaning, but not a language."
He calls traitors, imaginary friends sponges, absorbing the bounties of the king. He sees their futile attempts to “play it” like a flute, wanting “... to tear out the heart<...>secrets..."
