The Tragic Vision in Art and Literature
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As Richard B. Seawall states, the tragic vision expressed in art and literature "calls up out of the depths the first (and last) of all questions, the question of existence: what does it mean to be?" Different figures in literature and history have answered this question in different ways, but an examination of different literary works shows that this is a prime subject in literature and that writers in different historical periods are trying to answer the same basic question.William Shakespeare in Hamlet has the main character not merely asking what it means to be but whether it is worthwhile to be at all. Hamlet considers self-destruction as he also contemplates the meaning of his own existence: "As a liberally educated Christian humanist, Hamlet approaches his problems by thinking about them, by attempting to reason them out, before taking action" (Frye 171). For Shakespeare, the question of what it means "to be" is one that occupies the human being and that is answered in terms of how the individual is related to the universe at large. For Hamlet, finding the answer could also be his undoing: "The plays name for the thing that debars Hamlet from existence is revenge--revenge taken not so much as the competitor or parody of the realm of justice, but as the destroyer of individual identity" (Cavell 188). In Hamlet as in other Elizabethan drama, the fate of kings is tied to the order of the universe, and dissension and tension in one is reflected in the other. The
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Approximate Word count = 838
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)
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