What qualifies as an Elizabethan revenge play, and how does the hero and the play compare and contrast to other revenge plays of this age? An Elizabethan revenge play is a play where, for some reason, the main character devotes his entire life to exact vengeance upon another character. Hamlet is, by definition, the odd character in contrast to other revenge characters because he is not just a cold blooded killer, like "a normal revenge character who kills as quickly and gruesomely as possible" (revenge); he is intellectually superior and well mannered in comparison to the average revenge character. Hamlet must commit vengeance upon the kind, Claudius, because Hamlet has been grievously wronged by this man who killed his father, King Hamlet. Claudius is above the law which means that no one in the kingdom will speak up against the suspicious reasons for why Claudius is now the king, almost immediately after King Hamlets death. No one willing to speak against Claudius and Prince Hamlet seeing the ghost of his father will then drive Hamlet to commit revenge upon his uncle Claudius.

In all Elizabethan revenge tragedies to begin with, a crime is committed and for some various reasons the laws and justices can not and will not punish this crime, so the individual, the main character, must then go and fulfill revenge in spite of all the consequences. In the beginning of The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Hamlet is told by his dead father's spirit that the kings brother, Claudius, killed him while he was taking a peaceful nap,

" Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatched; cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, unhous'led, disappointed, unarmed, no reck'ning made, but to my account with all my imperfections on my head" (Shakespeare 81-86)

The play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark follows the first guideline of an Elizabethan revenge play very well; however, Prince Hamlet does not immediately kill Claudius in spite of all consequences, throwing Hamlet of the small circle of traditional Elizabethan revenge characters. Although Prince Hamlet does not follow the conventions of a traditional revenge character, the play does seem to be in fact a true Elizabethan Revenge play.

Just as previously stated the character Prince Hamlet is not actually a true Elizabethan revenge character because he does not turn out to be a violent blood thirsty killer. Instead of just going on a killing spree, or just form an army to kill another person, he questions himself as a murderer and the morality of killing Claudius. So, just instead of killing Claudius on the mere notion that he might have killed his father, Hamlet stages a play to find out for sure if it really was Cluadius that killed his father or if the spirit wasactually a demon who was trying to use Hamlet to do his bidding. Hamlet revealed this plan to the audience when he says this passage in the play

"I'll have these players play something like the murder of my father before mine uncle. I'll observe his looks, I'll tent him to the quick; if he but blench, I know my course." (Shakespeare 59 602-606)

This passage cited from Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark supports the facts that Hamlet is not a cruel bloodthirsty homicidal maniac, but actually an intellectually superior character who is not yet consumed with so much hatred toward the character Claudius that he feels that he must kill him due to his hatred rather than duty.

Hamlet does actually in the beginning start out as a character who is a normal person until he is met with the spirit of his deceased father. After he meets the spirit though he finds that he now has an obligation to commit revenge for his father against his Uncle Claudius. As time progresses through the play it becomes noticeable that Hamlet twists this obligation into an act of hatred which will in the end make this action lose any good moral qualities that it might have had in the beginning. Further into the play Hamlet starts to become more hateful towards other character that surrounds him, including his very own mother.

Prince Hamlet over the course of the play questions himself if he can commit the dead of killing Claudius, and whether or not this killing will be a justifiable killing or if he will be just as damned as his uncle Claudius and his father Hamlet.

"oh, what a rouge and peasant slave am I! is it not monstrous that this player here, but in fiction, in a dream of passion, could force his soul so to his own conceit that, from here working, all his visage waned tears in his eyes." (shakespear 2.2.556-61)
This passage shows a window into Hamlet's mind that he feels that he has not been able to avenge the murder of his father; and he has become so angered at himself that he begins to claim himself as the lowest forms of society and life. From what can bee seem most other revenge heroes will not begin to go this deep into thought about committing revenge, instead they have either already committed the act of revenge or they are actually at this point filling their minds with any possible ways to commit revenge on their target character.

"The events of the play are, in true classical fashion, highly condensed with one incident rapidly following upon another in a near continuous stream of action." (Dillion, G. 2) That was just a quote by George Dillion that states how a typical revenge play is suppose to accouter as it progresses through its shoreline. Hamlet does in fact progress like Dillon's analysis because in act one, Fortinbras wants to attack Denmark and Hamlet learns that he must kill his Uncle Claudius. Then in the next acts, Hamlet loses his one true love, Ophelia, and acts like he has gone mad in attempts to get closer to Claudius. Then Hamlet finds out for sure that Claudius is truly responsible for King Hamlets murder, so he plats to kill Claudius for sure. Act four is when Hamlet ironically kills Polonius, causing Leartes to become so enraged that he is willing to kill anyone responsible for his father, Polonius', death. In the same act Ophelia has gone legitimately gone insane, Lord Fortinbras returns to the play by asking Prince Hamlet for passage through Denmark to attack a small worthless piece of Polish land. In the very same act the Queen, Guertrude, begins to feel remorse for assisting in her husband's murder; in addition, Hamlet's insanity is starting to unravel as Claudius starts to realize Hamlet's intentions to murder him. In act 5 Hamlet finally begins to show when he is thinking when he is thinking it when he jumps into Ophelia's grave with Leartes and fights over who loves her more. Then Leartes challenges Hamlet to a duel that way Leartes will be able to avenge his father's death. In the very end of the last scene all the remaining main characters, with exception to Horatio, become poisoned and die, thus concluding the true cycle to an Elizabethan Revenge play.

Hamlet, the character, by most means is a typical revenge hero as he eventually goes insane and becomes a cold blooded murderer, yet he does remain outside the real of a typical revenge hero by ensuring the fact that he has just cause to kill and does seem to remain a normal character to some other characters, such as Horatio. The play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark follows the normal conventions of a typical revenge play. Hamlet does not really tend to be a typical revenge hero for he is not a gruesome cold blooded killer, and Elizabethan revenge plays are ones that are typically plays that the main character for some reason or another will devote their entire like to commit vengeance upon another character of the play.

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