Hamlet & Revenge
This is an excerpt from the paper...
Respected Shakespearian scholar Harold Bloom subtitled his last work on Shakespeare, The Invention of the Human (1998). In this he is correct on many levels. Hamlet could be viewed as a modern existentialist. He is also fatalistic and secular. Hamlet’s keen intellect and insight combined with his dignity for the human soul place him in quite a dilemma. His uncle Claudius, the king of Denmark, has married his mother, Gertrude, after murdering his father, the former king, Hamlet. Despite feeling accursed he was ever “born to set things right”, Hamlet’s cognition with respect to human nature forces him to take revenge in a manner most would find surprising. For before he can choose his manner; Hamlet must endure a great deal of deliberation. As Scott (74) notes, Hamlet uses personal meditations “to make sense of his moral dilemma.”Hamlet is a student. Upon returning to Denmark he encounters the ghost of his father. Before doing so, his loyal friend Horatio asks him why is not afraid to go to the ghost. Hamlet’s reply informs us that he is fatalistic about his “mortal coil” with a strong belief in the eternal nature of the spirit, “Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life in a pin’s fee; And for my soul, what can it do to that, Being a thing immortal as itself? It waves me forth again: I’ll follow it” (Shakespeare 1076). Hamlet is not afraid and understands mortality is inevitability for all human beings, but he believes
. . .
rain at the close of Hamlet’s tragedy, achieving the secular triumph of The rest is silence” (431).
The words of Coleridge might have been appreciated by Shakespeare, because in them we find an apt description of Hamlet’s development within the play. Coleridge believed that organic form was innate, and his words define the process Hamlet develops through during the course of the play – one that makes his spirit of suicide in the final act a triumph: “It shapes as it develops from within, and the fullness of its development is one and the same with the perfection of its outward form” (Coleridge 198).
In fact, the words of Coleridge echo those of Hamlet when he informs Horatio that there are forces of nature that are bigger than the actions or desires of any individual’s, “Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When our deep plots do fail: and that should teach us There’s a rough divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will” (Shakespeare 1108). Hamlet’s manner of revenge is in recognition of this and the recognition that he is doing the right thing, at least for him. What Hamlet knows is that whether or not he is doing the “right” thing is a difficult conclusion to come to – especially when it comes to killin
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Rough-hew Shakespeare, Hamlet Despite, Harold Bloom, Emile Durkheim, Claudius Hamlet, Hamlet Shakespeare, Invention Human, Nevertheless Hamlet, manner revenge, hamlets manner, hamlets manner revenge, York Everyman, Riverhead Books, human nature, shakespeare invention human, murder claudius, manner surprising, human soul, dilemma hamlet, invention human, accursed born set, shakespeare invention, words coleridge,
Approximate Word count = 1488
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Hamlet & Revenge
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
