Critical Appreciation of Hamlet

Critical Appreciation of Hamlet

Name:  Pritiba B. Gohil

Roll No. :  23

Course No. 1 :  The Renaissance Literature

Topic:   Critical Appreciation of Hamlet

M.A. English Semester - 1

Batch: 2014 - 2016

Department of English

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Submitted  to:

Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad,

Head of the Department,

Department of English

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Introduction  :-

                           

                             Hamlet is great tragedy by William Shakespeare one of the best tragedy among his five tragedies. We can say that Hamlet is the first tragedy among all his best work. Hamlet stood first in his all famous works.

Hamlet also can be sub-categorized as a revenge play, the genre popular in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Elements common to all revenge tragedy include: 1) a hero who must avenge an evil deed, often encouraged by the apparition of a close friend or relative; 2) scenes of death and mutilation; 3) insanity or feigned insanity; 4) sub-plays; and 5) the violent death of the hero.

Critical Appreciation of Hamlet :-

                                  The play Hamlet certainly produces too many feelings, thoughts and emotions in us though it is Shakespeareans tragedy so at last all the characters are died because of some reasons. 

                                  This is the story of a man who is innocent, moral and pure by acts and emotions but misfortune leads him towards death and so many people also. Hamlet is pure by acts and soul but when this play is open we found that he is very innocent but His father’s GHOST tales him to take revenge. Story is all about this thing Revenge so we can say that this is a revenge play.

                           William Shakespeare's Hamlet follows the young prince Hamlet home to Denmark to attend his father's funeral. Hamlet is shocked to find his mother already remarried to his Uncle Claudius, the dead king's brother. And Hamlet is even more surprised when his father's ghost appears and declares that he was murdered. And all play goes on with sub-plots; there are three plots in Shakespeare's Hamlet: the main revenge plot and two subplots involving the romance between Hamlet and Ophelia, and the looming war with Norway.

                          Now After this all the things Hamlet feel very angry and humiliating that his father is dead and may be killed by his uncle 
Claudius and his mother Gertrude marries to his uncle that’s why he has no faith on woman and his anger comes out when he speaks his first soliloquy that,

“Heaven and earth,
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on, and yet, within a month—
Let me not think on't—Frailty, thy name is woman!”

It is spoken by Hamlet to his mother Gertrude in due to her hasty marriage. After this we can say that now Hamlet hates all the woman because of her mother and than his father’s Ghost is appears to Hamlet and revel the secret of his death that his uncle Claudius killed his father and take my revenge and kill your uncle,

[“Ghost
I am thy father's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love--

HAMLET
O God!

Ghost
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.”]

This thing says that King Hamlet is killed by his brother Claudius and Prince Hamlet loves his father most so now Hamlet has bourdon and feels responsibility to revenge his Father's murder by his uncle Claudius, but Claudius is now the king and thus well protected. Hamlet struggles with his doubts about whether he can trust the ghost and whether killing Claudius as the appropriate thing to do. The ghost appears to Hamlet and tells Hamlet to revenge his murder; Hamlet pretends madness to his intentions. There were same themes, motifs and symbols in the play. The impossibility of certainly, the mystery of death, the Natrona as a diseared body are major themes of the play. Incestuous desires, ears and hearing, death and suicide, darkness and they supernatural misogyny are motifs. The ghost and Yorick's skull are symbols.

                            There is tension and supernatural mystery in the beginning of the novel. We feel this tension in the opening scene when Francisco feeling nervous. He is sick at heart. An element of mystery is introduced when Marcellius asks :

["What has this thing appeared again tonight ? " ] 

Horatio is the sceptical scholar and very good friend of Hamlet who doesn’t believe in the existence of a ghost unless he sees it with his own eyes. The appearance of a ghost constitutes an important supernatural element in the play. The supernatural element is heightened when Horatio refers to the strange things that were witnessed in Rome before the assassination of Julius Caesar. Horatio compare this knowledge with time of Julius Caesar and thing shows that Horatio is very knowledgeable person. This first scene supplies some information about the war of the late king who had killed the Norwegian Monarch. Young Foutinbras of Norway now threatens to invade Denamark. This is sub plot of this play. The appearance of the Ghost is regarded as a kind of evil thing and says that some bad thing has to happen and have idea about the end of the play that end is tragic end and everyone is died at the end of the play. And this is the style of Shakespeare. That’s why this play is known as Shakespearean tragedy. 

                          Then after this we reader knows that Hamlet’s mother marries to his uncle in second scene, when we meet Hamlet, the hero of the play. That time we know things about him that,  two most striking qualities of Hamlet are his melancholy and his speculative nature. His melancholy has been noticed by the king and the queen and his speculative nature appears in his two soliloquies.

            Hamlet's first soliloquy describes his state of mind before his meeting with the Ghost. He had no idea that his father had been murdered by his uncle because he loves his mother. But when he meets with his father ghost he falls in madness and we realise his things in his dialogs that he says for his mother that,

[“I will speak daggers to her but use none.My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites.How in my words somever she be shent,      To give them seals never, my soul, consent!”]     

And because of this thing now he cannot believe in any woman and he says that,

                     “Frailty, thy name is woman!”

And because of this all the things he wants to commit suicide and he think that he killed his self but after that he thinks that;

[“ What is after death I don’t know so,   To be, or not to be, that is the question”]

                        He loves Ophelia but he cannot admit that because of some reasons and Ophelia also loves Hamlet this is also Sub Plot of this play and Ophelia thinks about Hamlet that,

Oh, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!—

The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword,

Th' expectancy and rose of the fair state,

The glass of fashion and the mould of form,

But after nunnery scene Ophelia’s feeling towards Hamlet is changed and after his father Polonius death he gone mad and she is dead after some time and at her burring scene we realise that  Hamlet also loves Ophelia and this sub plot ends here.

                                There is a question about Hamlet's madness that madness is : Real or Feigned ? What may be called a mental collapse? This indicates that Hamlet's madness is genuine. The only person from whom he could expect some, sympathy, namely Ophelia, has rejected him in obedience to her Father's advices. Polonius feels that his madness is the result of Failure in love with Ophelia. The king now set spies on Hamlet to try to find out the cause of Hamlet's distraction. Hamlet pretends that he is not in his right mind in conversation with Polonius. Hamlet's subconscious regarding the motives of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in coming to him shows Hamlet's wisdom and his understanding of human nature. Hamlet's philosophical and poetic nature is seen in the manner in which he describes his interest in the theatre in seen in the fact that the news about the arrival of the players cheers him up.

                            Now his main objective and intension is to catch the conscience of the king. He consoles himself with the thought that he will, through the play that he is going to arrange. He also thinks of the ghost he has seen may be a devil who wishes to exploit his weakness and his melancholy. The king's brief soliloquy shows that the king's conscience is not utterly dead and that the sin committed by him is weighing upon his mind. Hamlet's famous soliloquy also shows his wavering mind. This soliloquy shows a loss of purpose in Hamlet's mind. Polonius has a plan in his mind to get rid of Hamlet by packing him off to England. Polonius wants the queen to have a private talk with Hamlet and he will overhear their conversation before Hamlet is sent to England. Shakespeare presents the character with the ambiguity that we do not know whether Hamlet is right about himself, or whether it is the another example of the self-laceration in which he indulges because of his delay in carrying out his task.

                  We see Hamlet's critical judgement with regard to the theatrical performances of the time. According to Coleridge, the dialogue of Hamlet with the actors in scene is one of the happiest instances of Shakespeare's power diversifying the scene while he is carrying on the plot. Hamlet has high opinion of Horatio and it can be seen in Hamlet's speech in which he seeks Horatio's co-operation with his efforts to catch the conscience of the king. He seems to very thankful to Horatio, who is his best friend and Hamlet, shares his talks with him. Hamlet shows his impatience with the two spies. Who have been set upon him and he hates them. His hatred has been shown in his speech by playwright. Hamlet's soliloquy which closes shows that he is in a bloody mood.

               Claudius is troubled by his conscience. We find him suffering from his conscience for the crime he has committed. The king expresses his state of mind in his soliloquy. He is praying but his efforts are futile. He is unable to suppress his thoughts. We were introduced about Hamlet's will and lack of Determination. He has no decision power. He does not take his decisions quickly. Hamlet finds an opportunity to kill the king, but Hamlet shrinks from the deed. But if he kills, the king now, the king will go straight to heaven. It shows his, lack of will and determination. Hamlet's plea is somewhat unconvincing and it shows that he is not really cut out for the role which the Ghost has assigned to him.

          Hamlet kills Polonius and it shows that he is certainly capable of impulsive action. He kills the innocent Polonius, in unawareness but he not feel guilty for it. Hamlet should have repented that he has killed the father of the girl whom he has loved but, instead of repenting he goes on discussing with his mother Geutrude. His brutality and rudely behaviour have been described by playwright. He scolds his mother with very hard words for here having married a man who kills his father. He almost becomes brutal in his language when he condemns her mother. The Ghost makes another appearance in this scene, though this time is variable only to Hamlet, while the queen cannot see it. On previous occasions the Ghost is variable only to Hamlet. One possible explanation of this is that in the present care the Ghost is only mentally visible to Hamlet and that it is not intended to be seen by the audience. So we can say that here we can apply psychoanalytical approach that Hamlet is mad.

            A scene when Polonius is killed accidentally in the course of time is widely admired scene. Hamlet is in his violent manner indicated to his mother the displeasure which he felt at her conduct. Hamlet here reveals to his mother his knowledge of his uncle's guilt and his purpose of revenge. She agrees to assist. From this time on the queen keeps up appearances with her husband, but is secretly a friend to Hamlet. The queen is shielding Hamlet by telling the king that Hamlet has killed Polonius in a fit of madness. The reason given by her is reasonable because the king himself feels that Hamlet is not in his right mind.

            Hamlet’s capacity for bitter and cynical wit has been described through one scene in which he is being asked what he has done with the dead body of Polonius Hamlet makes cryptic reply:

“Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service—two dishes, but to one table. That’s the end.”

            Ophelia’s madness shows one of the most pathetic situations in the play. We feel sad to hear her singing of old songs with reference to the death of her Father. The king's analysis that Ophelia’s madness is due to her Father's death and because of her disappointment in love is correct. Laertes anger on the king over the murder of his father is natural but true circumstances of that murder are unknown to him. His reaction to Ophelia’s madness is natural. The poor Laertes suffers a double domestic tragedy.

            Hamlet is very lucky person because the ship by which he was sending to England is attacked by pirates. He is saved from being murdered by the English authorities, but for his fight against the pirates he could have been killed in that battle. His boarding the pirate ship shows again his capacity impulsive. Claudius is a scheming villain. He does not take any action against Hamlet for the murder of Polonius because he has another plan in his mind for putting an end to Hamlet's life, and Laertes readily becomes a partner in that plan because Laertes has a strong reason for doing so. Laertes's desires to having his father’s murder it as natural as Hamlet's desire to avenge the murder of his Father. However the method which he has been convinced by Claudius and which he will try to murder Hamlet is by no means honourable.

            Ophelia suffers a lot because we can see her tragedy in her father, madness and death. Laertes's grief over the death of Ophelia is unbearable. The death of Ophelia is unbearable. The reader is overwhelmed by the tragedy. There is a comic relief after the tragedy effect of Ophelia's death and madness. While the grave diggers’ singing in the course of his digging a grave puzzles Hamlet, Horatio says that the grave-digger is no longer sensitive to death because it has become a habit of him to dig graves.  Hamlet's reflections on the skulls thrown up by the grave-digger in the course of his digging emphasis his speculative and philosophical tendency. But that amusing dialogue of Hamlet and the grave-digger gives place to a tragic situation when Hamlet comes to know about Ophelia's death that she is no more and dead and the new grave is meant for her. He leaps into the grave and speaks to Laertes in a challenging manner we again see that he is a man of impulse. Hamlet's love for Ophelia was genuine and deep, true but he had to suppress his love due to circumstances. It was after the revelation by the ghost that Hamlet found it necessary to suppress his love for Ophelia till he has avenged the murder of his Father.

          The Haunting Mystery of life, of Evil and of Reality in the graveyard scene is well-known scene in the play. Hamlet come forward and accepts the condition of being man. It is not simply that he now accepts death: First in the imagined persons of the politician, the courtier, and the lawyer. Who now live here and then in Yorick. Whom he knew and played with as a child.  This last death being a final cry of passion, but the contrast between his behaviour and that of Laertes reveals how deeply he has changed. The mystery of evil is present here- for this after all the universal graveyard, Where the scheming politician, the courtier, the lawyer, the queen, the emperor and the beautiful young maiden, all come together in an emblem of the world. The mystery of reality is here. There is the mystery of human limitations. The real nature of man's little joys and his big ambitions.

          Hamlet has a capacity to device murderous schemes. Hamlet's action in replacing the king's letter which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were carrying authorities to put an end to the life of these two men shows that Hamlet can be heartless. When occasion demands it When Horatio remarks that Guildenstern and Rosencrantz have gone to their death. Hamlet feels no regret in having sent them to their death. His desire for revenge upon the king once again shows compulsive force. Hamlet's expressing regret to Horatio over the manner in which he misbehaved towards Laertes shows his grace and fine feelings.

            We get further evidence of his finer feelings when he apologises to Laertes before the starting of the fencing-match. It is only when Laertes, who has been wounded, reveals the king's villainous plot against Hamlet that Hamlet urged by an impulse, stabs the king's to death and in this way at last revenged his Father's murder, though at the cost of the life of his mother, the lives of all the members of Polonius’s family and his own life. At the end of the play  lot of things happen, Osric brings Hamlet an invitation to fence with Laertes, and Hamlet agrees. The duel will happen before the court, and when it does, everything comes apart. To be specific, Claudius poisons a cup of wine, hoping to kill Hamlet that way. However, Queen Gertrude drinks it, accidentally killing herself. Laertes is using a poisoned blade. He wounds Hamlet, then they end up swapping swords and Hamlet wounds him. When he realizes that he's been betrayed again, Hamlet stabs his uncle with the poisoned blade. By the end of Act V, Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius, and Laertes  all are dead.

Conclusion :-

                                     As many of Shakespeare's plays ends same as  "Hamlet," is also ends like a tragedy with a great deal of death in the conclusion. The queen is dead from poison that was meant for Hamlet.  The king is dead of poison that was forced down his throat by Hamlet in revenge for the death of his father and now his mother.   Laertes tells Hamlet that they both will die because the rapier that each was cut with had been dipped in poison.  Fortinbras finally arrives home and finds out that he will finally be king, but he is really sad about it because he was good friends with Hamlet.   Hamlet tells Horatio to make sure everyone knows what happened to his family and what really went on so there will be no misinformation passed on to future generations.

                                     Fortinbras orders Hamlet’s body carried  “like a soldier”  to the stage, and says if Hamlet had had the chance, he would  “have proved most royal.”  He orders appropriate funeral rites for Hamlet, including the firing of ordnance, which ends the play.