哈姆雷特论文-An-Analysis-of-Complexity-of-Hamlet

An Analysis of Complexity of Hamlet’s PlotTheme statement:Hamlet, as a tragedy, is one of the most famous dramas in the world. Meanwhile, the complexity in its plot is also amazing, which makes this work become an eternal scripture in the circle of literature.Abstract:1.Introduction to the author and work1.1.Introduction to William Shakespeare1.2.Background of Hamlet’s writing2.Two mad characters2.1.Hamlet’s feigned madness2.2.Ophelia’s real madness3.Three revenges3.1.Hamlet’s revenge on Claudius3.2.Fortinbrus’s revenge on Denmarkertes’s revenge on Hamlet4.Three complex relationships of marriage and love4.1.Marriage between old King and Gertrude4.2.Marriage between Present King-Claudius and Gertrude4.3.Love between Ophelia and Hamletplex relationship between Hamlet and his three old friends 5.1.Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s betrayal to Hamlet5.2.Horatio’s faithfulness to Hamlet6.Four mistaken kills6.1.Polonius killed by Hamlet6.2.Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed by king of England6.3.Gertrude killed by Claudiusertes killed by Hamlet7.Six worlds in the book7.1.Outer world and inner world7.2.ghost world and human world7.3.real world and drama worldKey words: William Shakespeare、Hamlet、complexity、revenge、madness、kill、love、marriage、friendship and world.摘要：1.对作者及作品的介绍1.1.介绍威廉姆莎士比亚1.2.介绍该作品的写作背景2.两个发疯的角色2.1.哈姆雷特的假疯2.2.奥菲莉亚的真疯3.三场复仇3.1.哈姆雷特向叔父克罗迪斯复仇3.2.福丁布拉斯向丹麦复仇3.3.雷欧提斯向哈姆雷特复仇4.三段关于婚姻与恋爱的复杂关系4.1.乔特鲁德与老国王的婚姻4.2.乔特鲁德与现国王克洛迪斯的婚姻4.3.哈姆雷特与奥菲莉亚的爱情5.哈姆雷特与其三个老友间的复杂关系5.1.罗森格兰兹和吉尔登斯吞对哈姆雷特的背叛5.2.霍拉旭对哈姆雷特的忠诚6.四场误杀6.1.哈姆雷特误杀波洛涅斯6.2.英国国王误杀罗森格兰兹和吉尔登斯吞6.3.克洛迪斯误杀乔特鲁德6.4.哈姆雷特误杀雷欧提斯7.书中六个世界7.1.外在世界及内在世界7.2.鬼魂世界和人类世界7.3.现实世界及戏剧世界关键词：威廉莎士比亚，哈姆雷特，复杂性，复仇，发疯，杀害，爱情，婚姻，友谊以及世界。

Introduction：During the revenge of Hamlet on his uncle Claudius, people are faced with all kinds of choices about power, marriage, friendship, or revenge. Then how do they choose and what are thefinal results? Therefore, let’s dig into the complexity in Hamlet’s plot.Hamlet is the book I read recently-the representative work written by William Shakespeare, which serves as one of four tragedies in the world. So long as people have gotten certain of education beyond primary school, it’s impossible for him to have no knowledge about this great literature master.William Shakespeare, well known as an English playwright, born in Stratford-Upon-Avon on April 26th, 1564. More accurately to say, 26th isn’t the date of his birth but the day for his being baptized. And he died at an age of 52 on April 23rd, 1616. Although he was remembered as a famous dramatist, he also had a gift for writing poems and even being an actor in the theater. As a so successful man, he receives many praises admitted by public, such as “the greatest writer in English language”, “the world’s pre-eminent dramatist”, “the national poet of England” and “the bard of Avon”. Through his whole life, he had written 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and 38 plays, among which Hamlet is one of the most famous one.To know deeply about one work, one should have a clear knowledge of its writing background behind the work.In the early 17th century, the society in England was in a dark feudal system. People lived in the water and fire. Tragedieshappened everywhere in every place. Hamlet is just a mirror about the dark social reality in that time. The story Hamlet is originated from a Denmark fairy tale which also told a story about a Denmark prince’s revenge. Under the pen of Shakespeare, the real cases in England and other countries in Europe under the renaissance. And one of the successful points of this work is that it made many people believe that Hamlet is just the typical figure as a Denmark prince. Then let’s get to the topic – the complexity in its plot. First, it is revealed by two mad characters-Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet’s madness began from he met the ghost of his father and know the truth of his father’s death. He pretended to be mad to puzzle the enemies and plough around his main enemy-his uncle Claudius. While the madness of Hamlet is feigned, the madness of Ophelia is true after she heard that Hamlet killed her father. Finally, this poor girl chooses to suicide beside the stream, which adds to a tragical color to the work. They should be a couple of lover, but the destiny is the most difficult thing to predict.Then there are three revenges. As we know, the whole story is told by a main string- Hamlet’s revenge on Claudius and a side string-Fortinbrus’s revenge on Denmark. While Hamlet planned to revenge for his father, Fortinbrus was going to war with Poland in order to regain the land lost by his deceased father from Denmark.And Laertes wanted to revenge for his father and sister killed directly or indirectly by Hamlet. We can say that the revenge of Hamlet and the revenge of Fortinbrus show the light and shade of structure while the revenge of Hamlet and the revenge of Laertes show the cause and effect in structure. At the last of this work, all of these are ended by success. But only Fortinbrus lived through.As we know, a typical work can’t make without a beautiful love story. This drama is no exception. The only difference is that the love and marriage is a complete tragedy. There are three complex relationships of marriage and love. To start with, Queen Gertrude married the old king and gave birth to a son- Hamlet. But twenty years later, the little brother of the old King driven by the eager for power killed his brother and became the new king. Gertrude also married him before her husband’s body completely cooled down, which made Hamlet sick and disgusting. Then about love between Hamlet and Ophelia, many people think that they would have been together without the hindrance of Ophelia’s brother and father. But, as far as I’m concerned, they also wouldn’t be together without these hindrances. Why? Because the whole drama never mentions a little that Ophelia loves Hamlet. Of course, if it were the ending, this work seems to be less tragic. Claudius got Gertrude but he indirectly killed her with a poisonous wine which she drunk for herson-Hamlet. For Hamlet, he mistakenly killed the father of Ophelia, which made this girl sink into a complete madness and finally suicide by the river. So from the point of marriage and love, it’s also a whole tragedy.After mentioning the love, let’s come to friendship in this work. Hero Hamlet has three old close friends who grew up with him. But as there is an old saying goes: As distance tests a horse’s strength, so time reveals a person’s heart. Among his three friends, only one-Horatio sticks to the faithfulness to Hamlet, and the other two-Rosencrantz and Guildenstern choose to betray and sell out Hamlet for position and wealth. They weigh something material more than friendship. So the advice is that: one would rather have no friends than a bad company, and a friend in need is a friend in deed. What makes this work more dramatically is that four mistaken kills happens in this drama, which adds a color of tragedy to Hamlet. Firstly Hamlet killed the lord Polonius for that he thought the man who hides in the house is his uncle-Claudius when he talked with his mother, which later resulted in the madness of Ophelia and revenge of Laertes. The second one is that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were killed by the King of England. They went to England to send a secret message to the King in which Claudius asked the King of England to secretly killed Hamlet. But this letter was discovered byHamlet and he changed Hamlet in the letter into names of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. So the two old bad friends were mistakenly killed. The third one, as I have mentioned before, Gertrude were mistakenly killed by Claudius. Then the last one is that Laertes was mistakenly killed by Hamlet with a sword with poison which was scrabbled by Hamlet in the competition. More accurately to say Laertes was killed by himself. Maybe this is what is called in China: Good and evil will always be rewarded, it is only a question of time.If above all is so dramatic, then the following and also the last about the complexity of Hamlet’s plot is amazing. Why do I say that is because there describes six worlds in the book-outer world and inner world, ghost world and human world, real world and drama world.The outer world and inner world is for Hamlet. Hamlet behaves in mad and difficult understand way in the outer world since he knew the truth of his father’s death. But in his inner world he knew clearly what he thought, there is a famous monologue about this: To be or not to be, that’s the question. (Page59, Four Tragedies of Shakespeare, translated by 唐译，吉林音像出版社，2011年10月第一版) which expresses the puzzle, the misery in the heart of Hamlet. Then the ghost world and human world, at the beginning ofthe drama, the ghost of old King appeared in the human world at night and finally told the truth to Hamlet, which endows the work more mysterious and attractive. More importantly, it pushes the development of plot. Then last but not least, the real world and drama world. For the England at that time, the hard society is the real world, and the drama written by Shakespeare is drama world. But, from the point of the characters in the Hamlet, the players who were ordered by Hamlet to perform the drama designed by Hamlet are forming a drama world. Whether drama world is for England or for Hamlet, both of them express the author’s incisive satire to the darkness of society and the hypocrisy lords. So this part of structure I think is the most interesting and ingenious one.Conclusion: Complexity in plot is one of the reasons why Hamlet enjoys such a great popularity and praises, which makes it serve an important role in the world literature!Bibliography: Four Tragedies of Shakespeare, translated by 唐译，吉林音像出版社，2011年10月第一版。