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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 3.15.97: Top | Help
It has been said that Hamlet is a play about aristocratic games. Revenge has
been looked at from the perspective as being a luxury of the ruling class. Only
the nobility can kill someone for vengence and get away with it; the commoners
and even the lesser nobility would likely be tried and punished for such an act.
It's ironic, then, that Hamlet should die at fencing: another aristocratic game.
In dying such a trivial death, and taking a whole swack of people along with him,
it is definately a pessimistic play.However, who is going to rule the kingdom now that Hamlet and Denmark's finest
have fallen to the stupidity of this aristocratic indulgence? Fortinbras, of
course. And he doesn't seem to suffer from the same decadence as the Danes. His
revenge occurs in the legitimate arena: that of the battlefield. Look at the final
lines of the play, where Fortinbras remarks:
Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here [within the walls of the castle] shows much amiss.
In this regard, we might view it as an optimistic play: the rot has been cut from
Denmark, and a better ruler is on his way to the throne.Posted by LunarCaustic on March 30, 1997 at 02:32:52
In Reply to "Is Hamlet an optimistic or pessimistic tragedy" posted by Elizabeth-Anne Mcgine on March 30, 1997 at 01:50:24
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 3.15.97: Top | Help