The Importance Of Tragedy In Hamlet

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Aristotle is the name that has survived the years, owing to the meritorious services he has rendered in the field of literature. Numerous centuries back, he wrote a book, titled the Poetics, which contains all the fundamentals and directions to write a play. In order to confirm the aptitude of a certain play, one can refer to the parameters laid down by this great teacher of Alexander the Great. The book, which has been followed by some as religiously as the Bible and rejected by others like poor Keats was, in his life, lays marked emphasis on some cardinal constituents of a play that lead to its organic unity and make it qualify for the insignia of a masterpiece. Out of them, the plot is considered to be inevitable and of paramount importance.…show more content…
He claims, “ A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a (certain) magnitude” Albeit, Shakespeare was a great benefactor of comic relief but he has not included it anywhere in this play. Some believe that the grave digging scene in Act 5 is comical but it is more of what Aristotle would have called, ‘appropriateness.’ The grave diggers are not being funny but just the people they are and how they think. The grave diggers, speculating at the nature of Ophelias death do not seem comical rather foolish. The play begins with death and a gloom hanging in the air and ends with even more deaths and melancholy, maintaining the serious tone of the play and arousing pity and fear, hence purging us of our emotions, especially the concluding…show more content…
Albeit the play is about kings and queens but Shakespeare has made it the story of a son, a mother and an uncle rather than of a king, queen and a prince and precisely that is the reason why it gets universal and very relatable. A prince is supposed to be very sure of himself, always knowing what to do when but doubt and uncertainty is Hamlets middle name. He is confused, infuriated and hurt. Similarly, Claudius does not act as audaciously as a king should. He does not kill his brother openly but assassinates him secretly. All his actions are furtive which alludes to the fact that he is a coward, which is a an attribute men of magnitude should not have..Queens in theatres are always staged as the epitomes of dignity and can go to every extent in protecting it but Gertrude by indulging in an incestuous marriage with her brother-in-law has banished that image. The play is complete and represents an organic whole in the sense that every emotion, action and character is tightly woven in the meshwork of the plot. It will be incomplete and hence lose its organic unity if any constituent is removed. For instance, without Hamlets procrastination, the play loses its meaning, without Claudius we are deprived of a villain and with the absence of the ghost, recognition cannot be achieved. It has a proper conflict (mystery of the kings death), a climax (discovery
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