What kind of plays?

1. What kind of plays? • During Shakespeare’s career, fashions and tastes in drama changed. • He wrote mostly comedies and history plays during the Elizabethan period – 1558-1603 • Tragedies and tragicomedies during the reign of King James – 1603-1625

2. What Kind of Plays? • Tragedy • Ends in the death of one or more of the main characters. • Most of his tragedies involve historical individuals and events

3. What Kind of Plays? • Comedy • Usually has a happy ending • Can also include jokes, farce and innuendo • His are usually love stories • Settings are far away from England

4. What Kind of Plays? • Tragicomedy • A mixture of tragedy and comedy • Seems to move toward a tragic ending but a twist in the plot saves the characters.

5. What Kind of Plays? • History plays • Usually tell the stories of great leaders and kings • He sometimes altered what he found in the history books to suit his own dramatic purposes and make the plays more exciting.

6. Aristotle and his Principles of Tragedy – The Poetics • Tragedy is a representation of an action, which is serious, complete in itself and of a certain length • Acted and not narrated • Excites pity or fear and allows catharsis - a healthy release for such emotions • Tragic heroes are virtuous and good men whose misfortune is a tragic flaw in character and not a vice • Tragic plot is from happiness to misery – fall from a great height

7. Aristotle’sPoetics • The philosopher Aristotle said in his work Poetics that tragedy is characterized by seriousness and dignity and involving a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune. Tragedy results in a catharsis (emotional cleansing) or healing for the audience through their experience of these emotions in response to the suffering of the characters in the drama. • According to Aristotle, "the structure of the best tragedy should be not simple but complex and one that represents incidents arousing fear and pity--for that is peculiar to this form of art." This reversal of fortune must be caused by the tragic hero's hamartia, which is often mistranslated as a character flaw, but is more correctly translated as a mistake. According to Aristotle, "The change to bad fortune which he undergoes is not due to any moral defect or flaw, but a mistake of some kind." The reversal is the inevitable but unforeseen result of some action taken by the hero. It is also a misconception that this reversal can be brought about by a higher power (e.g. the law, the gods, fate, or society.

8. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition. Aristotle terms this sort of recognition "a change from ignorance to awareness." • According to Aristotle :Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is admirable, complete (composed of an introduction, a middle part and an ending), and possesses magnitude; in language made pleasurable, each of its species separated in different parts; performed by actors, not through narration; effecting through pity and fear the purification of such emotions. • Common usage of tragedy refers to any story with a sad ending, whereas to be an Aristotelian tragedy the story must fit the set of requirements as laid out by Poetics

9. Shakespearean tragedy • Shakespeare wrote tragedies from the beginning of his career. One of his earliest plays was the Roman tragedy Titus Andronicus, which he followed a few years later with Romeo and Juliet. However, his most admired tragedies were written in a seven-year period between 1601 and 1608. These include his four major tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, along with Antony & Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Julius Caesarand Troilus and Cressida.

10. Shakespearean Tragedy • Though he had no more than common education, followed no set of rules or patterns. • Prof.Bradley said..”Shakespeare had no conception of tragedy nor had any philosophy”, he had only ‘a sense for tragedy’,‘ genius is not bound by rules, he makes his own rules and depicts life as he sees it ‘ • A Shakespearean tragedy is a story of exceptional suffering leading to the death of a man, occupying high position , with other characters also

11. Shakespeare’s conception of Tragedy • A Tragedy: a dramatic representation of serious and important actions end in a disastrous conclusion for the protagonist • It started with Aristotle in his Poetics (4th c) with its elements: • Catharsis : purgation • Hamartia : Tragic-flaw • Tragic hero: of high rank ,suffers misfortunes because of his hamartia, ends in death. • In his early tragedies, Shakespeare was influenced by Aristotle, Seneca as well as by Marlowe and kyd, by the time he came to write his great tragedies he deviated radically from the influence of the Aristotelian norms to follow his own style and rules

12. Shakespearean Tragedy • Evil and the corruption of man’s heart by evil. • Hamlet: fighting against the outside evil; • Othello: an outward evil causes a man’s fall; • King Lear: man’s mistakes set free the evils; • Macbeth; an outward evil destroys a hero.

13. The elements of a Shakespearean tragedy • The Hero, a Person of High Rank • The element of Melodrama • A Defect in the Hero’s Character • Element of Fate • The Element of Conflict • Development in the Hero’s Character • Comic Elements in a Tragedy

14. The Hero, a Person of High Rank • The tragic hero must be a man holding a lofty position and commanding respect; and the suffering or misfortune must be of an exceptional or extraordinary kind so as to produce strong tragic feelings, especially of pity, awe, and terror. • Hamlet is primarily and chiefly the tragedy of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark. Hamlet was a well-known, honored, and well-beloved figure of the political life of Denmark • The play depicts the mental suffering and torture which Hamlet endures as a result of what he rightly considers to be the shameful conduct of his mother in remarrying within two months of the death of her first husband, and in marrying this time a man who is in every respect inferior to her first husband • Hamlet’s mental suffering is intensified by the revelation which the Ghost makes to him and by the task which the Ghost now imposes on him. Unable to avenge the murder of his father because of a temperamental inability, Hamlet undergoes even greater mental suffering till ultimately he dies as a result of the wound that he sustains in a fencing-match with Laertes, but not before he has stabbed the murderer of his father and thus at last taken his revenge. • Apart from the conduct of his mother in having re-married hastily, and apart from the Ghost’s shocking revelation, what distresses Hamlet is what he believes to be Ophelia’s betrayal of his love for her and of his trust in her.

15. The Element of Melodrama • There is always in Shakespeare’s tragedies an element of melodrama which contributes to the feeling of terror. In Hamlet, we have several melodramatic elements: • First of all, the appearance of the Ghost. Indeed, the appearance of the Ghost is a blood –curdling sight. • The murder of Polonius:The Queen is stricken by awe and grief and says to Hamlet:”Oh me, what hast thou done? Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this?” This is a murder committed on the stage before the very eyes of the audience. • The scene of Laertes’s revolt against the King has a melodramatic element • Laertes’s Leaping into the grave that has been newly dug for the burial of Ophelia, followed by Hamlet’s leaping into it. • Finally, of course, there are the various murders which bring the play to a close .These several deaths on the stage have obviously a melodramatic character • A Defect in the Hero’s Character • The tragedy of Hamlet is due mainly to defect in his own character. This defect is his incapacity for quick decisions. Hamlet is certainly capable of impulsive action, but he is not capable of planned or premeditated action. The result is that he goes on delaying his revenge till ultimately the initiative is taken by his enemy against him. Hamlet is by nature given to reflection and meditation. This delay of his revenge, this irresolution, this shrinking from what he has already called his duty, constitutes a serious flaw in his character and chiefly responsible for his tragedy

16. Element of Fate • Fate or destiny also plays a part in the tragic dramas of Shakespeare. The appearance of the Ghost, therefore, arouses a sense of mystery and creates a feeling that fate is playing a deliberate part in human affairs. Hamlet again sees the Ghost, this time in his mother’s closet, and is told by it that it has come to “whet thy almost blunted purpose.” The sense of fate is further deepened in us by the incident of a pirate vessel attacking the ship by which Hamlet is proceeding to England under the command of the King. The sense of fate in this play receives further emphasis by the words of Hamlet in Act V, when he says that there is divinity which shapes human ends, and that there is a providence even in the fall of a sparrow.

17. The Element of Conflict • Conflict is the essence of a Shakespearean tragedy. This conflict is of two types: (a)outward conflict among the various characters, and (b) inner conflict, in the mind of the hero. Both these types of conflict exist side by side in a Shakespearean tragedy. In Hamlet, the outward conflict takes place between Hamlet and Claudius. Towards the end of the play an outward conflict also takes place between Hamlet and Laertes. • The inner conflict takes place in the mind of Hamlet, and is revealed to us in Hamlet’s successive soliloquies. Almost every soliloquy of Hamlet contains a mental debate. The most celebrated of these soliloquy is the one that begins:” To be or not to be-that is the question” which contains perhaps the most agonizing debate in Hamlet’s mind.

18. Development in the Hero’s Character • In a tragedy the hero normally comes to the realization of a truth of which he had been unaware. There is , a Aristotle says, “a change from ignorance to knowledge”. There is a transformation in the character of the hero. When we first meet Hamlet, he is in a state of depression. The world to him is “an unweeded garden” from which he would willingly depart. He has found corruption not only in the state but in existence itself. We soon learn that he had not always been so. Ophelia tells us that he had been the ideal Renaissance prince-soldier, scholar, courtier. And though we catch glimpses of his former self in his conversations with Horatio, his state of depression continues. By the final scene, however, his composure has returned. In the course of the action he has grown in stature and wisdom. He is no longer troubled by reasoning doubts. Earlier in scene (Act V, Scene ii, Lines 8-11) he had said: • Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well • When our deep plots do pall, and that should learn us • There’s divinity that shapes our ends, • Rough-hew them how we will • It is the realization that man is not totally free agent. With this realization Hamlet can face the fencing-match and the King’s intrigues without concern for self. What matters at the end of an important tragedy is not success or failure, but what a man is.

19. Comic Elements in a Tragedy • In Shakespeare the comic and the serious are not dissociated. • A hall-mark of Shakespeare’s mature work is the presentation of things and their opposites at the same time. In Hamlet, we laugh at the affected and superficial Osric and we are amused by Polonius , whose inadequate worldly wisdom stands in contrast to the deeper truths the play reveals. But the most central use of comedy is Hamlet’s cynical wit.

20. Hamlet: An Introduction First major tragedy (1600or 1601)/36 years old

21. Hamlet : An introduction • Hamlet belongs to a genre of plays often called “revenge tragedies”. These were popular in Elizabethan England and in them a hero was called upon to punish an evildoer for a crime he had committed. Often in such plays therewas a ghost who could not rest until the person who had caused his death was killed. The ghost in Hamlet is thus a traditional figure whose role was to urge the hero to avenge an evil deed.

22. - Revenge play and the influence of Seneca • Seneca, a Roman playwright and a philosopher • Took incidents from Greek mythology for his tragedies • Included horror, bloody action and ranting and high-flown speeches to produce tragic effects • Introduced a ghost: a restless spirit urging the avenger to take action and achieve vengeance • Shakespeare in Hamlet adopted the dramatic tradition of the revenge tragedy • Revenge theme needs exiting, fast-moving plots. • A stock element of the revenge is the ghost, appearance of a spirit feeling restless because of a desire for vengeance against the person who had caused suffering

23. Conventions of revenge tragedy as seen in Hamlet • The central theme is revenge • The appearance of a ghost • Melodramatic action: violent, bloody, terrifying scenes • Several deaths on the stage • Feigned madness • A play within a play

24. Hamlet: An Introduction The Source • Shakespeare didn’t invent the plot of his play’s he borrowed them and made them his own, he didn’t hesitate to use whatever source he had. • The first literary treatment of Hamlet is that of a Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus who wrote in the 12th century HistoriaeDanicae, an account of his country’s past in Latin, printed in 1514, included the story of Amleth. The story, may be based on historical legend probably taken place in the 10th century • It is unknown whether Shakespeare knew Hamlet story from reading Saxo or not. His main source was probably a lost Elizabethan play called the Ur-hamlet which may have been written by Thomas Kyd (1558-94) the author of the successful revenge play The Spanish Tragedy (1589)

25. Hamlet: An Introduction Language • abroad range of linguistic forms: from complex and beautiful poetry, • to prose filled with puns and other comic words. • Hamlet uses different forms: verse in his great soliloquies, with Horatio in contrast he uses prose when he talks with Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, and in his sarcastic conversations with Polonius. • The play employs many similes, metaphors and puns which were very popular in Shakespeare’s day. For example • Hamlet :(Aside) a little more than kin, and less than kind

26. Hamlet: An Introduction Characterization • Much of the play’s greatness is attributed to the presentation of the characters in the play, especially the central character of Hamlet a number of questions about the nature of characters are left unanswered, and continue to fascinate new generations of readers of the play and audiences in the theatre • None of the characters is entirely straightforward they all react in different ways to different situations • The range of reactions shown by the characters is realistic of human nature • Ex: Hamlet, within the play’s fast moving action, seems at times to rush into unpremeditated action in a highly emotional way, whereas at other times he restrains himself when he might have acted. • This variation of Hamlet’s tempo is a mark of his intellectual and complex nature

27. Setting • The story takes place in the country of Denmark in the late medieval period.

28. The Story • The raw material that Shakespeare appropriated in writing Hamlet is the story of a Danish prince whose uncle murders the prince's father, marries his mother, and claims the throne. The prince pretends to be feeble-minded to throw his uncle off guard, then manages to kill his uncle in revenge.

29. 5 Acts • 1. Beginning: Ghost orders revenge • 2. Rising action: Hamlet acts mad • 3. Climax: Hamlet does things (puts on a play, berates his mother, kills Polonius) • 4. Counterstroke: Events conspire against Hamlet while he sails to England (Fortinbras, Ophelia, Laertes) • 5. Catastrophe: Hamlet apologizes, kills king, dies.

30. THE STORY HAMLET, the prince of Denmark, returns home from college for the funeral of his father, KING HAMLET. He finds that his mother, QUEEN GERTRUDE, is now married to the new king, CLAUDIUS, brother of the old king, and Hamlet’s uncle. The ghost of Hamlet’s father visits Hamlet, claims he was murdered by Claudius, and commands Hamlet to avenge him. Hamlet is uncertain of the right course of action, and so feigns madness as he ponders the deed. His unusual behavior alarms those around him, including his girlfriend OPHELIA. To test Claudius’s guilt, Hamlet stages a play that includes the exact details of the murder. When Claudius storms out of the audience, Hamlet is convinced of his guilt and plans to kill him. He later discovers Claudius praying but decides not to kill him. Then, while Hamlet is talking with his mother, the queen, he discovers that someone is hiding behind the curtains. Thinking it’s Claudius, Hamlet stabs him — only to discover that he has killed Claudius’s advisor, POLONIUS, father of Ophelia and Laertes .

31. Cont. Claudius banishes Hamlet to England, with a secret plan to have him executed on arrival. Hamlet learns of the plot and escapes. Upon returning home, he finds that OPHELIA has drowned herself. LAERTES, Ophelia’s brother and Polonius’ son, teams up with Claudius to devise a plan to kill Hamlet during a duel with a poison tipped sword. The plan backfires: Queen Gertrude dies, Laertes dies, and Hamlet is fatally stabbed. Before succumbing to his wounds, Hamlet slays Claudius. FORTINBRAS, the Prince of Norway, takes over as the new king.

32. Acts and Scenes - ACT 1 Scene 1: The ghost appears outside the castle. Scene 2: Hamlet grieves for his dead father. Scene 3: Polonius and Laertes warn Ophelia about Hamlet. Scene 4: Hamlet meets the ghost. Scene 5: The ghost commands Hamlet to avenge him. - ACT 2 Scene 1: Hamlet’s behavior frightens Ophelia. Scene 2: Plans are made to watch Hamlet. - ACT 3 Scene 1: The “To be or not to be” scene. Scene 2: The “play within a play” scene. Scene 3: Hamlet doesn’t kill Claudius as he prays. Scene 4: Hamlet kills Polonius thinking that he is Claudius.

33. Cont. - ACT 4 Scene 1: Claudius decides to banish Hamlet to England. Scene 2: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern retrieve Hamlet. Scene 3: Claudius announces Hamlet’s banishment. Scene 4: While on the way to England, Hamlet encounters Fortinbras. Scene 5: Ophelia goes mad. Scene 6: Horatio finds out that Hamlet has escaped. Scene 7: Claudius and Laertes plot to kill Hamlet. Ophelia dies. - ACT 5 Scene 1: Gravedigger’s scene and Ophelia’s funeral. Scene 2: The duel: all but Horatio die. Fortinbras becomes the new king.

34. Hamlet, Act I • Scene 1: The Ghost, the setting & context • Scene 2: Claudius, Gertrude, & Hamlet • Scene 3: Laertes, Ophelia, & Polonius • Scenes 4 & 5: Hamlet and the Ghost

35. Act1, SCI: The appearance of the ghost of the late king of Denmark • The play opens at castle of Elsinore • The ghost , an important supernatural element in the play, appears and seen by the officers of the guard and by Horatio • The appearance of the ghost regarded as a kind of evil-omen for the state of Denmark [Denmark is threatened by young Fortinbras, the son of the dead king of Norway , who had been defeated and killed by old Hamlet] • The ghost as foreshadowing a coming event • the belief that disturbances in nature foretell and accompany disturbances in human affairs has its sources in Astrology and religion and this belief was current in Shakespeare’s time: Something is Rotten in the State of Denmark • In line(170 / p.17) the hero’s name is introduced to us :”Let us impart what we have seen to-night/unto young Hamlet” • The scene leaves us with a haunting sense of unexplained evil troubling both the dead and the living

36. Hamlet’s first soliloquy (lines 129-59 PP.25 -27) • It shows his melancholic state of mind before his interview with the ghost • It shows the meditative nature of Hamlet and prepares the audience for the prolonged delay in taking action for revenge • It throws light on Hamlet’s dead father, an excellent King and a loving husband, showing Hamlet’s a attachment to his dead father • Hamlet’s references to Hyperion, Niobe, and Hercules show him to be well versed in classical literature • It shows Hamlet’s tendency to generalize,” Frailty, theyname is woman”, a tendency which appears frequently in his soliloquies • Unfavorable impression of both the King and the Queen

37. Hamlet’s first soliloquy(Cont.) • In presenting Hamlet first to audience Shakespeare uses an interwoven series of references to the world, the state, and the individual in Hamlet’s first soliloquy • The hasty remarriage of his mother , and the fact that the kingdom is in the hands of an unworthy man shatter his picture of the world , the state, and the individual. His sense of evil in all three spheres is closely interwoven: • The general uselessness of the world : How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world ……….’Ti an unweeded garden (Lines 33-5) • The excellence of his father as a King compared to his ‘stayr-like uncle’ • The lustfulness of his mother who has violated the natural law by the brevity of her grief and the hastiness of her marriage : • O God ! a beast , that wants discourse of reason • Would have mourned longer (Line 150-51)

38. Act 1, SC2 : A room of state in the castle • Characters: King, Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes • Messengers sent to the king of Norway • Hamlet , questioned by the King and Quean • Hamlet’s grief at his mother’s hasty remarriage – Hamlet’s first soliloquy • Hamlet informed about the appearance of the ghost • Critical comments: • Hamlet’s Character Revealed • Hamlet’s two most striking qualities:- • His melancholic state of mind • His reflective nature • Hamlet uses bitter irony and sarcasm in his conversation with the present King • He uses a pun: “I am Too much in the sun” (Line 67,p.21)has a double meaning • Hamlet’s soliloquies reveal his reflective and poetic nature

39. Act 1 , SC3: • A room in polonius’s, house • Polonius ,Laertes, Ophelia • Laertes is ready to depart to France • Both, Polonius and Laertes advise Ophelia not to encourage Hamlet’s advances to her expressing distrust of Hamlet’s love for her - Critical comments • Laertes as an affectionate loving brother • Ophelia as a simple –minded girl with a submissive and obedient nature • Polonius’s love of words produces comic effect

40. Act 1, SC4 • The platform in front of the castle at Elsinore • Hamlet , Horatio, Marcellus • The ghost seen by Hamlet • Hamlet follows the ghost who wants to speak to him privately - Critical comments: Character Revelation; Atmosphere of Horror • The King, described by Hamlet, is a drunkard • The ghost appears, the atmosphere of horror is created: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”, is a significant comment by Marcellus

41. Act1, SC5: • The Ghost Disclosure to Hamlet • Another part of the Platform • Hamlet , the Ghost ,Horatio, Marcellus • The ghost revelation forms the basis for the action of the rest of the play • The ghost, the dead King’s spirit, tells Hamlet about his murderer who poisoned him, took his crown and his wife • The ghost asks Hamlet to take revenge • Hamlet swears Horatio and his companions to secrecy • Hamlet decides to put on an “antic-disposition

42. Critical comments: The most important scene in Act1 • Hamlet ,shocked and stunned by the ghost’s disclosure ,had never suspected his uncle of having murdered his father and his mother of infidelity • In his 2nd soliloquy, Hamlet decides to wipe out everything from his memory and only to preserve in it the ghost’s words (P.57 Lines 92-112) • The way Hamlet speaks of never forgetting the ghost’s words makes us think that he will soon take an action against the murderer • Hamlet seems aware of his inability for the grave responsibility imposed upon him. In the closing speech of the SC., he feels sorry that : • “The time is out of joint. • O cursed spite • That ever I was born to set it right!” • The SC., throws light on the character of the present King who is a perfect villain. We begin to hate him as much as Hamlet does • Another important point is Hamlet’s decision to pretend madness and put on an “antic-disposition” • Hamlet’s tendency for generalization: • “That one may smile , and smile, and be a villain”

43. Hamlet, Act II • Scene 1: Polonius and Reynaldo • Scene 2: • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern • Polonius, Gertrude, and Claudius • Polonius and Hamlet • Hamlet and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern • Hamlet and the Players

44. Hamlet, Act II (cont.) • Ophelia’s account of Hamlet’s Strange Behaviour -Sc1 • Polonius’s Character Further Revealed- Sc1 • Two Courtiers, Deputed to Probe Hamlet’s Mind –Sc2 • Polonius’s Interpretation of Hamlet’s Madness-Sc2 • Method in Hamlet’s Madness, According to Polonius-Sc2 • Hamlet’s correct Guess About the Two Courtiers-Sc2 • The News About the Arrival of a Company of Actors-Sc2 • The Actors Engaged by Hamlet to Stage a play- Sc2 • Hamlet’s Decision to Catch the Conscience of the king –Sc2 • Hamlet’s 3rd soliloquy :(Act2- Sc2 Lines 528-588 /pp 113-15) • The Character of Hamlet Further Revealed –Sc2

45. Hamlet, Act III • Scene 1: The plot thickens; Hamlet and Ophelia • Scene 2: • Hamlet and the Players • Hamlet and Horatio • Hamlet and Ophelia • The Play within a Play • Scene 3: Claudius’s Prayer • Scene 4: Hamlet & Gertrude; Polonius slain

46. Act III, Sc.1+2+3+4 (Cont.) • Two important soliloquies in Sc1:The King&Hamlet • Hamlet &Ophelia Relationship • Analysis of Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy: To Be Or Not To Be • The king, Upset by The Mousetrap • Hamlet, Convinced of the king’s Guilt- Sc2 • The King Troubled by his conscience • An opportunity for Revenge, Missed, Sc.3 • Hamlet’s Lack of Will and Determination • Hamlet’s Stinging Words to His Mother • Hamlet,Capable of Impulsive Action, The Murder of Polonius-Sc4:TheTurning Point • 11-The Second Appearance of the Ghost :The Queen’s Closet • 12-Reading aloud a brief part of Hamlet’s Soliloquy: To Be Or Not To Be

47. Hamlet, Act IV • Scene 1: Disposing of the corpse • Scene 2: Hamlet and Rosencrantz & Guildlenstern • Scene 3: • In search of the corpse • Hamlet and Cladius • Hamlet departs for England

48. Hamlet, Act IV • Scene 4: Fortinbras marches; Hamlet reflects • Scene 5: • Ophelia’s “madness” • Laertes “storms” the castle • Laertes and Ophelia • Scene 6: Letter from Hamlet re: pirate ship • Scene 7: • Cladius and Laertes conspire • Ophelia dies

49. Act IV SC.1+2+3+4+5+6+7 (Cont.) • The King shocked by Polonius’s Murder – Sc1 • The king secret plan to have Hamlet killed- Sc3 • Hamlet’s soliloquy in Sc4, a critical comment • An encounter between Laertes and the king- Sc5 • Reasons of Ophelia’s Madness, A heart-Rending Scene -Sc5 • The king’s Intrigue against Hamlet is a failure -Sc5 • Another scheme, devised by the king for the Murder of Hamlet-Sc7

50. Hamlet, Act V • Scene 1: • Clown and gravedigger • Hamlet and Yorick • Ophelia’s burial • Scene 2: • Hamlet explains his trick • Osric invites Hamlet to fencing match • Madness and mayhem ensue • Fortinbras claims Denmark