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Why is the image of Hamlet an eternal image? The image of Hamlet in Shakespeare's tragedy

Why is the image of Hamlet an eternal image? The reasons are many, and at the same time, individually or together, in a harmonious and harmonious unity, they can not give an exhaustive answer. Why? Because, no matter how hard we try, no matter what research we do, we can not control this "great secret" - the secret of Shakespeare's genius, the secret of the creative act, when one work, one image becomes eternal, and the other - disappears, dissolves into nothingness And without touching our soul. And yet, the image of Hamlet beckons, does not give rest ...

V. Shakespeare, "Hamlet": the history of creation

Before going on an exciting journey into the heart of Hamlet's soul, let us recall the summary and the history of the writing of the great tragedy. The plot of the work is based on real events described by Saxon Grammatic in the book "The History of the Danes". A certain Horwendil, the wealthy ruler of Jutland, was married to Geruthe, had the son of Amlet and his brother Fengo. The latter envied his wealth, courage and glory, and one day in front of all the courtiers severely brutalized his brother, and subsequently married his widow. Amlet did not submit to the new ruler and, despite everything, decided to take revenge on him. He pretended to be crazy and killed him. After a while, Amlet himself was killed by another uncle ... Look - the similarity is obvious!

The time of action, the place, the action itself and all the participants in the unfolding events - there are many parallels, however, the problems of Shakespeare's tragedy do not fit into the notion of "the tragedy of revenge" and goes far beyond its limits. Why? The thing is that the main characters of the Shakespearean drama led by Hamlet, the Danish prince, are ambiguous in nature, and differ significantly from the whole heroes of the Middle Ages. In those days, it was not customary to think, reason, and even more so, to doubt the adopted laws and ancient traditions. For example, blood feud was not considered evil, but as a form of justice. But in the image of Hamlet we see a different interpretation of the motive for revenge. This is the main distinguishing feature of the play, the starting point of all that unique and surprising that there is in tragedy, and that has been haunted for several centuries.

The summary of the play

Elsinore is a majestic castle of the Danish kings. Every night, the night watchman observes the appearance of the Ghost, as reported by Horatio - a friend of Hamlet. This is the ghost of the late father of the Danish prince. In the "dead hour of the night" he tells Hamlet his main secret - he died not by his own death, but was treacherously killed by his brother Claudius, who took his place - the throne and married the widow - Queen Gertrude. The inconsolable soul of the slain requires a son to take revenge, but Hamlet, distracted and stunned by everything he has heard, is not in a hurry to act: what if the ghost is not at all a father, but a messenger of hell? He needs time to be sure of the truth of the secret told to him, and he pretends to be crazy. The death of the king, who in Hamlet's eyes was not only a father, but also an ideal of a man, then hastily, despite mourning, the wedding of the mother and uncle, the story of the Ghost is the first light of the emerging incompetence of the world, this is a tie of tragedy. After it the plot develops rapidly, and along with it the main character himself changes radically. For two months he turns from an enthusiastic youth into an indifferent, melancholy "old man". This opened the topic "V. Shakespeare, Hamlet, the image of Hamlet does not end.

Treachery and betrayal

Claudius is suspicious of Hamlet's disease. To check whether the nephew had suddenly lost his reason, he conspired with Polonius, faithful to the court of the newly-made king. They decide to use the unsuspecting Ophelia, Hamlet's lover. For the same purpose, the old loyal friends of the prince - Rosencrantz and Guildensten - are also brought to the castle, who are not so faithful, and readily agree to help Claudius.

Mousetrap

A theater company arrives in Elsinore. Hamlet encourages them to play before the king and the queen the play, the plot of which is exactly the story of the Ghost. During the performance, he sees fear and confusion on the face of Claudius, and is convinced of his guilt. Well, the crime is solved - it's time to act. But Hamlet is again in no hurry. "Denmark is a prison", "time is dislocated," evil and betrayal reveal themselves not only in the murder of the king by their own brother, they are everywhere, henceforth this is the normal state of the world. The era of ideal people has long passed. Against this background, blood feud loses its original meaning, ceases to be a form of "rehabilitation" of justice, because as a matter of fact, it does not change anything.

The Way of Evil

Hamlet is at a crossroads: "To be or not to be? - that is the question". What's the point of revenge, it's empty and pointless. But even without a quick reckoning for the wrong done, it's impossible to live any further. It is a duty of honor. Hamlet's internal conflict not only leads to his own suffering, to his endless discussions about the futility of life, to thoughts of suicide, but, like boiling water in a sealed vessel, seethes and pours out into a series of deaths. The prince is directly or indirectly guilty of these murders. He kills Polonius, who overhears his conversation with his mother, mistakenly mistaking him for Claudius. On the way to England, where Hamlet was to be executed, he replaces the defamatory letter on board the ship, and his friends Rosenkrantz and Guildenster were executed instead of him. In Elsinore, Ophelia, who has gone mad with grief, dies. Laertes, brother of Ophelia, decides to avenge his father and sister, and summons Hamlet to a court duel. The tip of his sword is poisoned by Claudius. During the duel, Gertrude dies, having tried the poisoned wine from the bowl, which is actually intended for Hamlet. As a result, Laertes, Claudius is killed, and Hamlet himself dies ... Henceforth, the Danish kingdom is under the rule of the Norwegian king Fortinbras.

The image of Hamlet in the tragedy

The image of Hamlet arises precisely when the Renaissance is approaching its sunset. At the same time there are other, no less vivid, "eternal images" - Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan. So what is the secret of their longevity? First of all, they are ambiguous and multifaceted. In each of them there are great passions, which, under the influence of certain events, sharpen to the extreme the one and the other character trait. For example, the extreme of Don Quixote lies in his idealism. The image of Hamlet also put into practice, one might say, the last, extreme degree of introspection, self-interest, which does not push him to a quick decision-making, to decisive actions, does not make him change his life, but, on the contrary, paralyzes. On the one hand, the events dizzily replace each other, and Hamlet is a direct participant in them, the main character. But this is on the one hand, this is what lies on the surface. And on the other? - He is not a "director", he is not the chief administrator of the whole action, he is just a "puppet". He kills Polonius, Laertes, Claudius, becomes the culprit of the death of Ophelia, Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildensten, but all this happens by the will of fate, by tragic accident, by mistake.

The Exodus of the Renaissance

However, again not everything is so simple and unambiguous. Yes, the reader gets the impression that Hamlet's image in Shakespeare's tragedy is full of indecision, inactivity and weakness. Again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Under the impenetrable thickness of water, there is another - a sharp mind, an amazing ability to look at the world and yourself from the outside, the desire to get to the very essence, and, in the end, to see the truth, no matter what. Hamlet - a real hero of the Renaissance, a great and strong, putting on the first place spiritual and moral self-perfection, glorifying beauty and boundless freedom. However, it is not his fault that the ideology of the Renaissance at a later stage is experiencing a crisis, against which he is forced to live and act. He comes to the conclusion that everything he believed in and lived was just an illusion. The work of reviewing and reassessing humanistic values turns into disappointment, and as a result ends in tragedy.

Different approaches

We continue the theme of what is the artistic image, the characterization of Hamlet. So what is the root of the tragedy of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark? In different epochs the image of Hamlet was perceived and interpreted in different ways. For example, Johann Wilhelm Goethe, a passionate admirer of the talent of W. Shakespeare, considered Hamlet to be a beautiful, noble and highly moral person, and his death comes from the burden imposed on him by fate, which he could neither demolish nor throw.

The well-known English poet, S. T. Koldridge, draws our attention to the complete lack of will of the prince. All events taking place in the tragedy, no doubt, should have caused an unprecedented surge of emotions, and subsequently an increase in activity and determination. It could not be otherwise. But what do we see? Thirst for revenge? Instant execution of your plans? Nothing of the kind, on the contrary - endless doubts and senseless and unjustified philosophical reflections. And this is not about lack of courage. It's just the only thing he can do.

Weakness of will ascribed to Hamlet and VG. Belinsky. But, in the opinion of an outstanding literary critic, it is not its natural quality, rather conditional, conditioned by the situation. It comes from a spiritual split, when life, circumstances dictate one thing, and inner convictions, values and spiritual abilities and opportunities are the opposite, absolutely the opposite.

V. Shakespeare, "Hamlet", the image of Hamlet: conclusion

Apparently, how many people - so many opinions. The eternal image of Hamlet is amazingly multifaceted. One can say the whole picture gallery of mutually exclusive portraits of Hamlet: the mystic, the egoist, the victim of the oedipal complex, the brave hero, the outstanding philosopher, the misogynist, the supreme embodiment of the ideals of humanism, the melancholic, to which nothing is adapted ... Is there an end to this? More likely no than yes. As the expansion of the universe will continue indefinitely, so the image of Hamlet in Shakespeare's tragedy will excite people forever. He broke away from the text for a long time, left the narrow frames of the play for him, and became that "absolute", "supertype" that has the right to exist outside of time.

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