Hamlet

1. Hamlet And the revenge tragedy tradition

2. What is a revenge tragedy? • A Renaissance form, it begins in the Tudor period during the flowering of drama in the generation before Shakespeare arrives in London (1570’s and 80’s) • Typical revenge tragedies become “tragic” because all choices open to the protagonist are dangerous or sinful – to choose to revenge oneself is always un-Christian.

3. Typical revenge tragedy plot • Protagonist discovers that a death he had believed to be natural was “murder” but that no legal recourse is open to him • No one else knows or believes it was murder • The Murderer is himself the figure that is supposed to dispense Justice • Another loved or important innocent person will suffer when the murder is avenged • Loads of people die.

4. Typical Revenge tragedies dilemmas • How does one reconcile being a good Christian (forgiving one’s enemies) with being obliged to avenge murdered kin? • What happens when doing a good thing – bringing punishment to a murderer – has unintended bad results (to those loved innocent people)? • How does one learn how to judge a person’s goodness by his outer appearance?

5. How does Hamlet move beyond these dilemmas? • As the first “modern” literary character, Hamlet is created with a human psychological complexity • In Hamlet, audiences first get the idea that motivation is complex b/c characters with exactly the same motivation act differently • Hamlet gives us characters who are both good and evil in complex ways