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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help
Here's the reply that I posted to one of the other areas when someone asked if Hamlet
was a mere "student of revenge". Perhaps my ramblings can help you out...I would have to agree with Hamlet being a mere student of revenge. His big-
gest flaw in the revenge department is the manner in which he executes it...Both Laertes and Fortinbras are foils to Hamlet. Like our prince, both parties
feel that they have been wronged (Fortinbras throughout and Laertes when his
father is murdered), and both take their grievances to the public forum. For-
tinbras plans to take what is rightfully his (so he feels) in battle... Laertes
returns seeking revenge for his father murder followed by a mob of supporters
who cry "Laertes shall be king!" (IV.v)Rather than play at revenge in the old, aristocratic manner that Hamlet does,
these two young men don't keep their desires secret to themselves, but rather
make their grievances known... They seek satisfaction in the legitimate arena
for revenge, that of the battlefield. The belief in the lex talionas ("eye for
an eye, and tooth for a tooth") is on its way out by this point in history.
Christianity has reached even the Danes by this point (they were among the last
Europeans to be converted, historically speaking), bringing with it changed
morality.You see, the Danes were special in that their monarchy was not one of primogenetor
(sp?) but rather one in which the king could choose a successor (who, yes, was
often times his son) and this successor could then be approved or disapproved of
by the lords and leading families. Similarly, if a more suitable leader could be
found, there were legitimate roads lords could take to instate this individual as
king... So when the people cry "Laertes shall be king!" it is a *real* threat to
Claudius. Hamlet, if he was to take revenge for his father's murder effectively,
should have tried to rouse support in a similar fashion rather than put on "an
antic dispostion" and run around in the shadows like a goof for five acts; he
should have acted more like Laertes.Let us remember that the role of the tragedy is (as Milton said) to temper the
humours of like-minded people so that they might learn from the error of their
ways. It is then necessary to place a kind of "coda" within the last scene of
the play which explains to some degree the tragic hero's flaw. Fortinbras says
of the all those dead about him in the castle:
"Such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss"
Rather than keep it in the castle, Hamlet should have been ready to go to war
for his father's murder.Just a thought.
Posted by LunarCaustic on March 24, 1997 at 11:27:54
In Reply to "private vs public Hamlet" posted by Sheri on March 24, 1997 at 09:11:20
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help