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1、【标题】哈姆雷特悲剧的根源 【作者】刘 滢 【关键词】哈姆雷特；悲剧；根源 【指导老师】白 敏 卢 静 【专业】英语 【正文】I. IntroductionA. The Introduction to Shakespeare and His Publications.William Shakespeare was baptized on 26 April, 1564. Simply counting backwards the three customary days between birth and baptism in Anglican custom, most reckon that
2、the Bard of Avon was born on 23 April, 1564. This is, indeed, Shakespeares official birthday in England, and, it is also the traditional birth date of St. George, the patron saint of England. The exact date and the precise cause of Shakespeares death are unknown: one local tradition asserts that the
3、 Bard died on 23 April, 1616.Any discussion of Shakespeares life is bound to be loaded with superlatives. In the course of a quarter century, Shakespeare wrote some thirty-eight plays. Taken individually, several of them are among the worlds finest written works, taken collectively, they establish S
4、hakespeare as the foremost literary talent of his own Elizabethan Age and, even more impressively, as a genius whose creative achievement has never been surpassed in any age.Shakespeare is the greatest playwrighter in English Renaissance, and the European Renaissance humanist literature synthesizer,
5、 there are four representative tragedies in his life: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, also four comedies Twelfth Night, Midsummer Nights Dream, The Merchant of Venice and As You Like It. The historical drama Henry IV, Henry V, Li Richard II and so on. Also he wrote 154 sonnets, three or four
6、 heads of poetry. He is“the father of the British drama”, Ben Jonson called him“the soul of the era”, Marx called him“one of humanitys greatest genius.”1 Known as the“human literature, Olympus Zeus.”2 As a world famous writer, most of his works have been translated into many languages, his plays are
7、 staged in many countries.B. The Tragic Story of Hamlet.It is a story of a princes revenge for his fathers death in Denmark. The King of Denmark died, young prince Hamlet who was making further education abroad came back to his country. Out of his imagination, his mother married his uncle Claudius j
8、ust after the old Kings death. A ghost who looked like the old King emerged one night, and told Hamlet that it was Claudius who killed him, so Hamlet vowed to revenge. He began to pretend to be mad, and left his lover Ophelia. To spy upon the reflection of Claudius, Hamlet arranged a play which was
9、drawn by him. Claudius realized it, he sent Hamlet to England, and asked the man who kept watch on Hamlet to give letter to the king of England to have Hamlet died. But Claudius failed; Hamlet came back to his country again. Meanwhile Ophelia was drawn because of her fathers death and her lover Haml
10、ets drifting apart of her. Her brother Leartes was very angry; he asked to fight with Hamlet. Then Claudius arranged a sword match for them, in which Hamlet was killed by the poison sword, Laertes was wounded to die. The Queen(Hamlets mother) died from the poison wine which was prepared for Hamlet b
11、y Claudius. Before death, Laertes told the truth. Finally Hamlet killed Claudius with the cost of his life.Hamlet is one of the most quoted works in the English language, and is often included on lists of the worlds greatest literature. As such, it reverberates through the writing of later centuries
12、. Academic Laurie Osborne3 identifies the direct influence of Hamlet in numerous modern narratives, and divides them into four main categories: fictional accounts of the plays composition, simplifications of the story for young readers, stories expanding the role of one or more characters, and narra
13、tives featuring performances of the play.Hamlet is no saint. But unlike most of the other characters(and most people today), Hamlet chooses not to compromise with evil. Dying, Hamlet reaffirms the tragic dignity of a basically decent person in a bad world.Hamlet is the first work of literature to sh
14、ow an ordinary person looking at the futility and wrongs in life, asking the toughest questions and coming up with honest semi-answers like most people do today. Unlike so much of popular culture today, Hamlet leaves us with the message that life is indeed worth living, even by imperfect people in a
15、n imperfect world. The Social Background of Hamlets TragedyA. The Contradictions between Feudalism and CapitalismShakespeare wrote Hamlet during the last phrase of king Elizabeths governing period which was the eve of United Kingdom bourgeois revolution, Social contradictions is sharp in this time.
16、Because of the development of industry and commerce, the needs of wool double in amount and its price looks to further increase, therefore, VIPs besieges rural area, the motion having taken up a field and raising a sheep, which has made United Kingdom enter a sheep-eating-people times. Lots of peasa
17、nts wander from place to place, City Street worsens increasingly, but newly bourgeoisies and new noblemen expand unlimitedly. During the social developing, people have no longer get more benefit that the empress bestows on them, a lot of important empress bar commodity monopoly of sale privilege has
18、 awarded noblemen and many trusted followers unlimitedly, which has damaged the benefit of newly developed bourgeoisies. They feel that the autocracy dynasty already becomes the obstacle of economic growth, the upper strata ruler starts restoring the social position of feudal nobles, gives church a
19、lot of privilege, uses the principle of“Divine right of kings” maintaining their governing of imperial court, striving for power and carrying off a power, which is opposed to the humanism propagating by the newly developed bourgeoisie.During the middle ages, they always try to shake off a long range
20、 of the religion concept which is confining peoples thinking over the past, they have seen the wisdom of human through the development of technology, and also have seen peoples mental strength, they therefore emphasizing that person is in a paramount place of the world and should being enslaved from
21、 religious authority.B. The Excursive Social ClimateThis period of time is coincided with dramatic changes in British society, the“Golden Age” of Elizabeth comes to its end and various of social contradictions are acute. In order to maintain the church, she carries out persecution to the puritans, w
22、hich cause the opposition between the dynasty and puritans. Meamwhile, the contradictions between the feudal forces and the King and the emerging bourgeoisie are unusual acute. In the face of such complex social conflicts, Shakespeare exposes to the harsh reality so much that his humanist ideals and
23、 the grim reality have a violent conflit, so he is full of anger, writing a series of tragedies. During this period, the themes of his tragedies often reflect the contradictions between the ideal of humansim and social reality. He reveals all the social problems through the plays of friendship,love,
24、marriageand family, in particular,he often performs a broader and deeper social content through a series of characters that expose the dark forces of evil which lead to social catastrophe. At the same time, what Shakspeare writes is the truth of that time, the tone of the society is melancholy,anger
25、y and sorrowful. The Inherent Contact between Family Relationship and Hamlets TragedyA. The Death of Hamlet s Father and The Remarry of Hamlets MotherIn the play, the death of Hamletfather is the beginning of all tragedies in the work. The moment Hamlet knows his father is killed, which dooms his de
26、termination to revenge. First his father is killed without knowing the truth; second, his mother insects immorally with his uncle Claudius.These are not acceptable in that period of time also a great strike to Hamlet.The broken family brings Hamlet deep hatred of the new king Claudius and his own mo
27、ther. As the prince of Denmark, Hamlet who is full of courage, ideas and ambition.He chooses to fight against Claudius logically.Before all those happen, In Hamlets mind, his father is on behalf of a perfect man. He also believes that the harmonious relationship between human would come true sooner
28、or later. He is so proud of his father, and dreams of being a happy prince. Undoubtfully, his fathers death is a great blow to him, whats more, out of his imagination, his mother married his uncle Claudius just after the old Kings death. All these make the character relationships and plot more compl
29、ex.B. The Sinister of ClaudiusClaudius, who is the head of the reactionary force, is also a schemer, the model character of double-dealer. He is on behalf of the feudal evil force. He kills his older brother, becomes the new King of Denmark, and marries his sister-in-law. What a dissolute gay! He in
30、dulges in creature comforts. Although he is so pleased with himself, when he meets Hamlet, who is in mourning apparel, he is frightened, even it is in his new wedding banquet, he can not conceal the fear which is from his inner heart. Claudius lies that the old King(Hamlets father) died of a poisono
31、us snake, and then he takes the place of Hamlets succeeding to the throne. While on the surface, he pretends to care Hamlet very much, treats Hamlet as his own son. He also promises Hamlet that he would let him inherit in the future. In the reply to Hamlets outburst, Claudius uses language which see
32、ms to be calculated to take into account both sides of a question. On one hand, He tells Hamlet that it is sweet and commendable of him to be so obviously affected by his fathers death. On the other hand, he continues to comfort Hamlet, saying life must go on. Thus, Claudiuss answer to Hamlet appear
33、s at first sight to be the epitome of reasonableness, a balanced combination of sensitivity and down-to-earth common sense.IV. The Complex Social Relationships Around HamletA. Love between Hamlet and OpheliaHamlet is tortured by the love and betrayal of Ophelia. He struggles to find a manner to expr
34、ess the complex feeling. Surely Hamlet cannot breathe a word of his ambition to such a fair and innocent Ophelia, whose father is a busy body. He comes to Ophelias bedroom half-dressed, wearing a torn expression. All is in silence. And in silence, Hamlet wants to tell Ophelia his dilemma and struggl
35、e, awaiting her response as the lyric of the song,“You told me everything by saying nothing.”4 However, his behavior, a warning and farewell to his young lover, is mistaken as a sign of insanity: Young and fair Ophelia fails him.Ophelias death is tragic because of her complete innocence in the situa
36、tion. Some may argue that Polonius deserves his fate because of his deceitfulness in dealing with Hamlet while he is mad, but Ophelia is entirely manipulated and used by Hamlet and the king for their own selfish reasons. An example of how Ophelia is used by Hamlet takes place in Act II, scene i5, wh
37、en Hamlet uses her to convince his family he is mad. Ophelia explains to Polonius how Hamlet has scared her, causing Polonius to draw the conclusion that Hamlet has an“antic disposition”. Although this is subject to interpretation and many believe that this is simply Hamlet taking one last look at O
38、phelia before he becomes engaged in his plan to kill Claudius, the fact that he scares her and does not try to alleviate these fears points to the conclusion that he is simply using her to help word of his madness spread throughout the kingdom via Polonius. In Act III, scene iv6, Hamlet kills Poloni
39、us while he is hiding behind the arras in the Queens room. This event causes Ophelia to become insane and leads to her eventual death in a river near the castle in Act IV, scene vii7. It can be seen how the combined scheming of Hamlet and Claudius concludes in her death. Claudius scheme brings about
40、 Hamlets scheme which brings about the death of Polonius and Ophelia. The passing of Ophelia is a tragedy because she does nothing deserving of death, she is merely used for other peoples personal gain.B. Betrayal of Hamlets FriendsPolonius is Claudius trusted chief counsellor; his son, Laertes, is
41、returning to France, and his daughter, Ophelia, is courted by Hamlet. Neither Polonius nor Laertes thinks Hamlet is serious about Ophelia, and they both warn her off. Shortly afterwards, Ophelia is alarmed by Hamlets strange behaviour and reports to her father that Hamlet rushed into her room, stare
42、d at her and said nothing. Polonius assumes that the“ecstasy of love”8 is responsible for Hamlets madness, and he informs Claudius and Gertrude.Busy with affairs of state, Claudius receives the ambassador of Norway who gives assurances of peace between Norway and Denmark. Perturbed by Hamlets contin
43、uing deep mourning for his father and his increasingly erratic behavior, Claudius sends for two of Hamlets acquaintancesRosencrantz and Guildensterto discover the cause of Hamlets changed behavior. Hamlet greets his friends warmly but quickly discerns that they have been sent to spy on him.Although
44、Hamlet find the scheme out, we still consider the friendship between Hamlet and his friends is a tragedy. Under the evil rule in that black social background,it is so hard to look for friendship or loyalty. People intrigues with each other, and every one has his own purposes,they try any possible me
45、ans to achieve their goals, even do the things against moral and conscience.In this play affection between relatives as well as friends is hypocritical, which deeply increased the tragic elements.V. The Complication of Hamlets PersonalityA. Hamlets Active Thinking and The Lack of ActionSince the gho
46、st of Hamlets father tells Hamlet the truth of his death, the task to revenge is engraved on Hamlets mind deeply, he vows to revenge. He loves his father so sincerely and deeply. In his mind, his father symbolizes the top of human virtue. What a base action to keep his father in death! Compared with
47、 Leartes and Fortinblas, his motive for revenge is stimulated by his love to his father. While it takes along time for him to complete his task, why? There are three main stages: First of all, he puts off all his action until he has positive proof of Claudiuss guilty, during his process, Hamlet arra
48、nges a play to spy upon Claudiuss response to prove the truth of the ghosts words. Secondly, he passes up the opportunity to stab Claudius in the back preferring to wait for chance to kill him in a way more fitting. Because of the religion and superstitious belief, killing the enemy who is repenting
49、 is to send the evil person to the heaven. It means that he returns good for evil. Thirdly, however, he gets side-tracked. Forced into confrontation with his mother, he kills the eavesdropping Polonius, thinking that it is Claudius he is stabbing. The fact that Hamlet misfires Polonius has two main effects: it makes Hamlets own homicidal campaign lose energy-as if some sort of blood lust had been sated. It also forces Hamlet finally out into t