Friday, January 24, 2014

Hamlet as a tragicomedy.I just need to know the introduction, and the tragicomedy element in Hamlet.

I noticed that this question or request has gone
unaddressed for one week now, and I would suggest that the reason for that is because
Hamlet isn't a tragicomedy.  There is really nothing very funny in
this play or about what is happening to any of the major or minor characters.  A king
has been murdered and supplanted by his brother; a ghost has come to Hamlet to tell him
of the murder to to demand revenge; Hamlet spends a good portion of the story coming up
with a plan to prove that the ghost's story is true.  Hamlet feels betrayed by his
uncle.  Hamlet feels betrayed by his mother for her overly quick remarriage to Claudius
-- a marriage that would have been considered incestuous.  Hamlet's girlfriend, Ophelia,
breaks up with him because her father told her to.  Hamlet's supposed friends,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, have to come to Elisinore at the command of the King, not
to help Hamlet, but ultimately, to spy on him for the King.  Hamlet spends a good part
of the play thinking about his actions, but not doing very much to
accomplish his goals, and when he does act, he accidental kills Polonius.  This act puts
him in more immediate danger from Claudius who sends him to England in order to have him
killed.  When he arranges his return to Denmark, it is to discover that Ophelia has
committed suicide and that Laertes wants vengence for his father's death.  There is
NOTHING funny in any of this.  It isn't even a comedy of errors -- Hamlet
is the pure definition of tragedy.  The final result -- eight characters dead
by the end of the play -- is no laughing matter.  It seems wrong to even laugh at how
awful it is.  The few very slight comedic moments (Hamlet's toying with Polonius while
pretending to be mad; Hamlet's taunting the King after Polonius's death; Hamlet's bawdy
talk with Ophelia before the play) are not enough to bring this play to being an example
of tragicomedy.  Hope this helps!

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