Hamlet By Aristotle Analysis

“For never was a story more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo,” writes William Shakespeare (5.3.309-310). In Romeo and Juliet, an enthralling and provocative drama, legendary playwright William Shakespeare suggests that Romeo Montague is the true tragic hero of the play. Shakespeare manifests his claim by implementing Aristotle’s six elements of drama to emphasize the main character in the tragedy as dignified and heroic in stature. Shakespeare’s purpose is to effectuate a catharsis in order to cleanse the audience of unhealthy emotions and vitalize the community. Based on Aristotle 's characteristics and definitions of a tragic hero, Shakespeare is writing about themes of humanity, hoping society will relate and learn from the experience.

“A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself, and a mean man, by one lower then himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires” (Marcus Aurelius). One does not truly understand the meaning of this quote until having read Julius Caesar. The play is a tragedy that was written in 1599 by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. The Elizabethan age(1558–1603), during which many of his works came to life, was very helpful in dictating how his literature came to be.

In the play, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to indirectly characterize the main characters of the play. By doing this, Shakespeare adds depth to his characters as well as foreshadow the tragic events at the conclusion of the play. Shakespeare adds complexity to his characters when he uses juxtaposition to indirectly characterize Romeo, Juliet, and Friar Laurence. Through terms of contrast, Shakespeare adds complexity to Romeo showing how his romanticness hides his destructive actions. After Juliet was informed about the death of Tybalt, she describes Romeo as a “beautiful tyrant”( 3.2.75).

The classic hero vs. villian storylines have been used in traditional and nontraditional texts for centuries. The creators use classic character foil in order to achieve the distinguishable hero and villain. Othello by William Shakespeare uses character foil to achieve a , protagonist Othello and an ,Iago, antagonist the play and in the movie adaptation Othello by William Shakespeare, Iago/Ben Jago is a villain because of how he manipulates others in order to get ahead and they also have some differences, but in the play Iago is more of a villain than Ben Jago in the movie adaptation. Throughout the play Othello by William Shakespeare, Iago is a villain because of how manipulative he is. When it comes to Iago, he is constantly using others in the story as “pieces” in his larger game.

“A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” This quote articulated by famous Greek philosopher Aristotle provided the basis for another category of heroes: tragic heroes. Throughout literature’s history there have been various tragic heroes from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby in the novel The Great Gatsby to Oedipus Rex in Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King. William Shakespeare created tragic heroes in his plays as well, one of the most famous being Macbeth in the title play Macbeth. In another of Shakespeare’s plays, Hamlet, Prince Hamlet cries out, “To be, or not to be: that is the question:/” which appears similar to the question some readers still ask, “Is or is not Macbeth a tragic hero?” (INTEXTDOCUMENTATION).

William Shakespeare portrays convincing and memorable characters, whether taken from actual life, historical happenings, or other dramatists ' works. The tragedy plays divided to plot and sub-plot the main plot of King Lear and his three daughters is related to the sub-plot of Gloucester and his sons. In fact, only King Lear, among the great tragedies of Shakespeare has a fully developed sub-plot which is parallel to the main plot. The parallelism between the two stories is obvious; both men (King Lear and Gloucester) suffer from the catastrophic consequence of their folly judgment in depending upon their wicked children. (Wilson,1962:

Shakespeare really wrote tragedies of great heights and earned standard category. His one of the best creation Richard II is a historical play rather being a tragedy. The history play is usually distinguished especially by its political purposes from other kinds of plays. Shakespeare 's use of his sources shows that he wanted to emphasize the political issues involved in the conflict between Richard and Bolingbroke, mainly the privileges of kingship and the right of rebellion. The play is consequently written not about the down fall of its hero but around the chronological stages by which Bolingbroke threatens, captures, and retains the crown.

The whole life of an individual is nothing but the process of giving birth to himself. Indeed, they should be fully born - although it is the tragic fate of some individuals to die before they are born. The thought of embracing a tragic hero in King Lear is what creates an icing on the cake. A tragic hero in King Lear is Lear, who is not eminently good and just, and whose misfortune is brought by error in decision making. In William Shakespeare’s King Lear, the development of Lear is indicated in three stages: the entrance of uncontrolled enthusiasm into Lear’s mind as a problematic power; the storm as an image of a problematic power, which relates to the conflict within Lear; and furthermore the rebirth of Lear through self-revelation.

I am writing this essay to deal with the question how and why is Hamlet regarded as Shakespeare’s most compelling tragic hero. First of all, I am going to define a tragic hero. Afterwards, I would like to outline my opinion towards this question. According to Aristotle a hero of a tragedy must awake in the audience a feeling of pity or fear. Besides this, the hero must come from a princely family or from nobility.

He appears to be trivial, pitiful, pointles and even pathetic character. Presenting Edward II’s character, Christopher Marlowe tried a new style of character portrayal and he definetely succeeded in it. In the first part of the play Edward II is a consistent character, but in the last part his character begins to change, so ambiguity of his character is notable to the readers. King Edward II showed his assertive personality since the beggining of the play when he went against his peers and barons in order to have his minion Gaveston back at court. He made a huge mistake because he shamelessly showed favouritism and he ignored the barons.