How Hamlet sees the world. "Prince of Denmark": Hamlet as an eternal image. The main characters and their characteristics

Hamlet is one of the greatest Shakespearean tragedies. The eternal questions raised in the text are of concern to humanity to this day. Conflicts of love, topics related to politics, reflections on religion: all the main intentions of the human spirit are collected in this tragedy. Shakespeare's plays are both tragic and realistic, and the images have long become eternal in world literature. Perhaps this is where their greatness lies.

The famous English author was not the first to write the history of Hamlet. Before him there was "The Spanish Tragedy", written by Thomas Kid. Researchers and literary scholars suggest that Shakespeare borrowed the plot from him. However, Thomas Kid himself was probably referring to earlier sources. Most likely, these were short stories of the early Middle Ages.

Saxon Grammaticus in his book "History of the Danes" described the real story of the ruler of Jutland, who had a son named Amlet and wife Geruta. The ruler had a brother who was jealous of his wealth and decided to kill, and then married his wife. Amlet did not submit to the new ruler, and, having learned about the bloody murder of his father, decides to take revenge. The stories coincide down to the smallest details, but Shakespeare interprets the events differently and penetrates deeper into the psychology of each hero.

The essence

Hamlet returns to his native castle Elsinore for his father's funeral. From the soldiers who served at the court, he learns about the ghost that comes to them at night and resembles the deceased king in outline. Hamlet decides to go to a meeting with an unknown phenomenon, the further meeting terrifies him. The ghost reveals to him the true cause of his death and inclines his son to revenge. The Danish prince is confused and on the verge of insanity. He does not understand whether the spirit of his father really saw, or was it the devil who came to him from the depths of hell?

The hero thinks about what happened for a long time and ultimately decides to find out on his own whether Claudius is really guilty. To do this, he asks the troupe of actors to play the play "The Murder of Gonzago" in order to see the reaction of the king. During a key moment in the play, Claudius becomes ill and leaves, at which point an ominous truth is revealed. All this time, Hamlet pretends to be crazy, and even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sent to him could not find out from him the true motives of his behavior. Hamlet intends to talk to the queen in her chambers and accidentally kills Polonius, who hid behind a curtain in order to eavesdrop. He sees in this accident a manifestation of the will of heaven. Claudius understands the criticality of the situation and tries to send Hamlet to England, where he should be executed. But this does not happen, and the dangerous nephew returns to the castle, where he kills his uncle and himself dies from poison. The kingdom passes into the hands of the Norwegian ruler Fortinbras.

Genre and direction

"Hamlet" is written in the genre of tragedy, but the "theatricality" of the work should be taken into account. Indeed, in Shakespeare's understanding, the world is a stage, and life is a theater. This is a kind of specific attitude, a creative view of the phenomena surrounding a person.

Shakespeare's dramas are traditionally referred to as. She is characterized by pessimism, gloom and aestheticization of death. These features can be found in the works of the great English playwright.

Conflict

The main conflict in the play was divided into external and internal. Its external manifestation lies in Hamlet's attitude to the inhabitants of the Danish court. He considers them all to be base creatures, devoid of reason, pride and dignity.

Internal conflict is very well expressed in the emotional experiences of the hero, his struggle with himself. Hamlet chooses between two behavioral types: new (Renaissance) and old (feudal). He is formed as a fighter, not wanting to perceive reality as it is. Shocked by the evil that surrounded him from all sides, the prince is going to fight him, despite all the difficulties.

Composition

The main compositional outline of the tragedy consists of a story about the fate of Hamlet. Each separate layer of the play serves to fully reveal his personality and is accompanied by constant changes in the thoughts and behavior of the hero. Events gradually unfold in such a way that the reader begins to feel constant tension, which does not stop even after the death of Hamlet.

The action can be divided into five parts:

1. First part - tie... Here Hamlet meets the ghost of his deceased father, who bequeaths to him to avenge his death. In this part, the prince first encounters human betrayal and meanness. From this begins his mental torment, which does not let him go until his death. Life becomes meaningless for him.
2. Second part - action development... The prince decides to pretend to be crazy in order to deceive Claudius and find out the truth about his deed. He also accidentally kills the royal advisor - Polonius. At this moment, the realization comes to him that he is the executor of the highest will of heaven.
3. The third part - climax... Here Hamlet, with the help of a trick with showing the play, is finally convinced of the guilt of the reigning king. Claudius realizes how dangerous his nephew is and decides to get rid of him.
4. The fourth part - The Prince is sent to England to be executed there. At the same moment, Ophelia goes mad and tragically dies.
5. Fifth part - denouement... Hamlet escapes execution, but he has to fight Laertes. In this part, all the main participants in the action perish: Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet himself.

The main characters and their characteristics

• Hamlet- from the very beginning of the play, the reader's interest is focused on the personality of this character. This "bookish" boy, as Shakespeare himself wrote about him, suffers from a disease of the approaching century - melancholy. In essence, he is the first reflective hero of world literature. Someone might think that he is a weak, incapable person. But in reality we see that he is strong in spirit and is not going to submit to the problems that have befallen him. His perception of the world is changing, particles of former illusions turn to dust. This gives rise to the very "Hamletism" - the inner discord in the soul of the hero. By nature, he is a dreamer, a philosopher, but life forced him to become an avenger. Hamlet's character can be called "Byronic", because he is maximally focused on his inner state and is rather skeptical about the world around him. He, like all romantics, is prone to constant self-doubt and rushing between good and evil.
• Gertrude- Hamlet's mother. A woman in whom we see the inclinations of the mind, but a complete lack of will. She is not alone in her loss, but for some reason she does not try to get closer to her son at the moment when grief happened in the family. Without the slightest remorse, Gertrude betrays the memory of her late husband and agrees to marry his brother. Throughout the entire action, she constantly tries to justify herself. As she dies, the queen realizes how wrong her behavior was, and how wise and fearless her son turned out to be.
• Ophelia- the daughter of Polonius and the beloved of Hamlet. A meek girl who loved the prince until her death. She also had trials that she could not endure. Her madness is not a feigned move, invented by someone. This is the same madness that occurs in the moment of true suffering, it cannot be stopped. The work contains some hidden indications that Ophelia was pregnant with Hamlet, and this makes the realization of her fate doubly difficult.
• Claudius- a man who killed his own brother for the sake of achieving his own goals. Hypocritical and vile, he still carries a heavy burden. The pangs of conscience devour him every day and do not allow him to fully enjoy the rule to which he came in such a terrible way.
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern- the so-called "friends" of Hamlet, who betrayed him at the first opportunity to make good money. Without delay, they agree to deliver a message that tells of the death of the prince. But fate has prepared a worthy punishment for them: as a result, they die instead of Hamlet.
• Horatio- an example of a true and faithful friend. The only person the prince can confide in. They go through all the problems together, and Horatio is ready to share even death with a friend. It is to him that Hamlet trusts to tell his story and asks him to "breathe more in this world."

Themes

1. Hamlet's revenge... The prince was destined to carry the heavy burden of vengeance. He cannot coldly and prudently deal with Claudius and regain the throne. His humanistic attitudes force us to think about the common good. The hero feels responsible for those who have suffered from the widespread evil around. He sees that not only Claudius is to blame for the death of his father, but the whole of Denmark, which carelessly closed her eyes to the circumstances of the death of the old king. He knows that in order to take revenge, he needs to become the enemy of the whole environment. His ideal of reality does not coincide with the real picture of the world, the "shattered century" dislikes Hamlet. The prince realizes that he cannot restore peace alone. Such thoughts plunge him into even greater despair.
2. Hamlet's love... Before all those terrible events in the life of the hero, there was love. But, unfortunately, she is unhappy. He was madly in love with Ophelia, and there is no doubt about the sincerity of his feelings. But the young man is forced to give up happiness. After all, the proposal to share the sorrows together would be too selfish. In order to permanently break the connection, he has to hurt and be merciless. Trying to save Ophelia, he could not even imagine how great her suffering would be. The impulse with which he rushes to her coffin was deeply sincere.
3. Hamlet's friendship... The hero values ​​friendship very much and is not used to choosing friends for himself based on an assessment of their position in society. His only true friend is poor student Horatio. At the same time, the prince is contemptuous of betrayal, which is why he treats Rosencrantz and Guildenstern so cruelly.

Problems

The problematic covered in Hamlet is very broad. Here are the themes of love and hate, the meaning of life and the purpose of a person in this world, strength and weakness, the right to revenge and murder.

One of the main ones is problem of choice that the protagonist faces. There is a lot of uncertainty in his soul, he alone reflects for a long time and analyzes everything that happens in his life. There is no one next to Hamlet who could help him make a decision. Therefore, he is guided only by his own moral principles and personal experience. His consciousness is divided into two halves. In one, a philosopher and humanist lives, and in the other, a man who understood the essence of a rotten world.

His key monologue "To be or not to be" reflects all the pain in the hero's soul, the tragedy of thought. This incredible internal struggle wears out Hamlet, imposes suicidal thoughts on him, but he is stopped by his unwillingness to commit another sin. He began to worry more and more about the topic of death and its mystery. What's next? Eternal darkness or the continuation of the suffering that he endures during his lifetime?

Meaning

The main idea of ​​tragedy is to find the meaning of being. Shakespeare shows a person who is educated, eternally seeking, who has a deep sense of empathy for everything that surrounds him. But life forces him to face true evil in various forms. Hamlet realizes it, tries to figure out exactly how it arose and why. He is shocked by the fact that one place can turn into hell on Earth so quickly. And the act of his revenge is to destroy the evil that has penetrated into his world.

Fundamental to the tragedy is the idea that behind all these royal showdowns there is a great turning point in the entire European culture. And at the forefront of this turning point, Hamlet appears - a new type of hero. Together with the death of all the main characters, the established system of world outlook collapses for centuries.

Criticism

Belinsky in 1837 wrote an article dedicated to Hamlet, in which he called the tragedy "a brilliant diamond" in the "radiant crown of the king of dramatic poets", "crowned with the whole of humanity and neither before nor after himself has no rival."

The image of Hamlet contains all common human traits "<…>this is me, this is each of us, more or less ... ", writes Belinsky about him.

S. T. Coleridge in Shakespeare's Lectures (1811-1812) writes: “Hamlet fluctuates due to natural sensitivity and hesitates, held by reason, which forces him to turn active forces in search of a speculative solution.”

Psychologist L.S. Vygotsky focused on Hamlet's connection with the other world: "Hamlet is a mystic, this determines not only his state of mind on the threshold of double existence, two worlds, but also his will in all its manifestations."

And the literary critic V.K. Kantor viewed the tragedy from a different angle and in his article “Hamlet as a“ Christian Warrior ”" pointed out: “The tragedy of Hamlet is a system of temptations. He is tempted by a ghost (this is the main temptation), and the prince's task is to check if the devil is trying to lead him into sin. Hence the trap theater. But at the same time he is tempted by his love for Ophelia. Temptation is an ongoing Christian problem. "

Hello guys! Sit down. Check if everything is ready for the lesson. Writing accessories, a diary, and a literature textbook should be on the desk. Good. You can start. Open your notebooks, write down the date and topic of the lesson:

September thirtieth

W. Shakespeare "Hamlet".

"The eternal image" of Hamlet in tragedy. Suffering thoughts.

1. Teacher's introduction

Today in the lesson we begin to study one of the greatest works of foreign literature, the tragedy of William Shakespeare "Hamlet". In fact, "Hamlet" does not belong to the period of classicism. The work was written earlier (1600-1601), and is an example of the works of the Renaissance. Classicism will follow.

We slightly changed the logic, because due to certain circumstances we missed this topic by mistake, but we are forced to return to it, since "Hamlet" is one of the outstanding works of literature, and we have no right to ignore it. In the next lesson, we will return to classicism, and we will study Oda Lomonosov.

There is one thing in common between the Renaissance and Classicism. Can anyone name her?

The fact is that during the period of the development of human thought and the development of literature, they turned to the samples of Antiquity three times, tried to return them three times and presented them as ideals. For the first time in the Renaissance, then during the Enlightenment and the reign of classicism and then in the Silver Age - this is the beginning of the 20th century (Blok, Balmont, Bryusov). A common feature is an appeal to the ideals of the past. Shakespeare's Hamlet is a Renaissance work, but you can already see some of the features of classicism that we noted yesterday in this text. They are still in their infancy. The main difference between the works of the Renaissance from the classicist is the absence of the cult of reason over feelings, that is, on the contrary, feelings dominate. We can find confirmation of this fact by analyzing Shakespeare's Hamlet, since the work is full of feelings and experiences, they are in the foreground, they are the measure of everything.

1. The teacher's communicating word.

Pay attention to the topic of the lesson. Today we will analyze the image of the main character of the tragedy, but before we start this work, let's remember what lies at the heart of the play? (Conflict) In the tragedy "Hamlet" it has 2 levels:

1st level. Personal between Prince Hamlet and the King

Claudius, who became the spouse of the prince's mother after

treacherous murder of Hamlet's father. Conflict

has a moral nature: two life

position.

2nd level ... Conflict between man and era. ("Denmark is a prison."

the light is rotten. ")

From the point of view of action, the tragedy can be divided into 3 parts. Which? Where is the plot, climax, denouement?

1 part ... The opening, five scenes of the first act. Hamlet's meetingwith the Ghost, who entrusts Hamlet with the task of avenging the dastardly murder;

Part 2. The culmination, called the "mousetrap". Hamlet is finally convinced of Claudius's guilt, Claudius himself realizes that his secret has been revealed, Hamlet opens his eyes to Gertrude, etc .;

Part 3 ... Interchange. Duel of Hamleg and Laertes, death of Gertrude, Claudius

Laertes, Hamlet.

Who is Hamlet? Who is Hamlet, the hero of Shakespeare's tragedy?

A knight of honor? The ideal Renaissance man?

Passionate denouncer of untruth? Or the most unfortunate person

lost everything in this world and perished? A madman? - Each

the reader evaluates Hamlet in his own way.

The first thing that catches your eye when reading a tragedy is extraordinary

poetic language, especially in B. Pasternak's translation. Everything

characters think in poetic images and concepts. Before us

the action unfolds in a specific country (Denmark), in a specific

time (XIV century), but it seems that this can happen in any

another country and at any other time. That is why the work is very popular to this day.

"Eternal images", what does it mean? Any opinions?

Let's write it down.

"Eternal Images" is the name of literary characters, to whom the ultimate artistic generalization imparts human, timeless meaning. (Don Juan, Hamlet, Faust, etc.) Writers from different countries and generations explain the essence of their characters in their own way.

The emergence of a new concept is even connected with the image of Hamlet, it is called "Hamletism". That is, a special feature of a person. This implies such character traits as indecision, being in a state of eternal contradictions, doubts. it reflection, introspection, paralyzing the ability to act in a person.

The prototype of the hero was the semi-legendary prince Amlet, whose name is found in one of the Icelandic sagas. The very first literary monument, which tells the saga of Amlet's revenge, belonged to the pen of a medieval Danish chronicler.

Let us turn to the character of Hamlet as a hero - a microcosm of tragedy.

We can judge what is happening in Hamlet's inner world indirectly (behavior, clashes with courtiers, poisonous remarks) and directly (from conversations with friends, with his mother, from monologues).

1. Working with the text, identifying the reader's perception of the work by students.

How do we see Hamlet in Act 1? What are his first speeches about?

The hero's first words reveal the depth of his grief. Before us and a truly noble hero. This is a person who for the first time faced evil in life and felt with all his soul how terrible it is. Hamlet does not reconcile himself to evil and intends to fight it.

Analysis of the first monologue. What is the monologue about? Why does Hamlet say that he is sick of the whole world? Because of which? Was it only because of the death of his father?

The first monologue reveals to us a characteristic feature of Hamlet - the desire to generalize certain facts. It was just a private family drama. For Hamlet, however, it was enough to make a generalization: life is “a lush garden producing only one seed; the wild and evil reigns in him. "

So, 3 facts shook my soul:

Father's sudden death;

The place of the father on the throne and in the heart of the mother was taken by an unworthy person compared to the deceased;

Mother changed the memory of love. Thus, Hamlet learns that evil is not a philosophical abstraction, but a terrible reality that is next to him, in people who are closest in blood.

The problem of revenge in a tragedy is solved in different ways by different heroes. Why is the task of revenge assigned to Hamlet perceived by him as a curse?

Hamlet makes the task of personal revenge a matter of restoring the entire destroyed moral world order. The task of revenge in the mind of Hamlet grew into a matter of retribution, and these are two different things. Before starting to live truly, as befits a person, he still needs to first arrange life so that it corresponds to the principles of humanity.

Why didn't Hamlet act immediately after taking on the task of revenge?

The shock deprived him of his ability to act for a while.

He had to make sure to what extent he could trust the words of the ghost. To kill the king, you must not only convince yourself of his guilt, but also convince others.

What is the nature of Hamlet's “madness”?Is his madness only feigned or is he really going mad?

Hamlet is a man who felt what had happened with his whole being, and the shock he experienced undoubtedly threw him out of balance. He is in a state of deepest confusion.

How does the hero's inner conflict deepen with the development of the action? To answer this question, let us turn to Hamlet's famous monologue "To be or not to be ..."So what's the question?

1. Listening and analyzing the reading of Hamlet's monologue by Vysotsky.

Communicating word

Let's turn to the video material, the monologue of Hamlet is read by Vladimir Vysotsky, who managed to convey the complexity of the image of Hamlet most accurately and fully. According to most theater critics, Hamlet performed by V. Vysotsky is the best of all, created in the theater over the past four decades.

Listening (5 minutes)

1. Conversation

Vladimir Vysotsky himself already gives a partial characterization of the hero. Reveals to us the Hamlet he played.

What makes this monologue stand out from the other monologues and lines of the prince?

1. Monologue is the compositional center of the tragedy.

2. Thematically unrelated to the action of this scene and the main storyline.

3. Hamlet appears already meditating, we do not know the beginning of his monologue and its end - “But quieter!”. For a minute, the inner world of the hero is "revealed" to us.

What is Hamlet thinking about in this monologue? What caused his thoughts?

Hamlet experiences a painful condition caused by the realization of what surrounds him. Before him, in the faces of his relatives and courtiers, the abyss of evil that exists in the world opens up. The question of attitudes towards evil is a matter of life and death.

Hamlet pauses before the question of how a person should behave in the world of evil: fight him with his own weapon ("taking up arms on the sea of ​​turmoil, slay them with confrontation") or avoid the fight, die without getting dirty with it.

Hamlet's thoughts are heavy and gloomy. What is the reason for Hamlet's internal hesitations?

Before Hamlet, death appears in all its painful tangibility. The fear of death arises in him. Hamlet has reached the highest limit in his doubts. So. He decides to fight, and the threat of death becomes real for him: he realizes that Claudius will not leave a man alive who will throw a murder charge in his face.

What prevents Hamlet from simply taking revenge on Claudius and killing him, just as he killed his father? After all, such a case is presented to him (Act 3, scene 2).

1. Hamlet needs to make Claudius's guilt obvious to everyone. In addition, the hero does not want to become like his enemies and act by the same means (to kill the king now means to commit the same secret and dastardly murder). He has his own plan for this:

Stir up (the mask of madness does not lull, but awakens the vigilance of Claudius, provokes him to action)

Make Him Give Himself (Act 2, Scene 2)

Kill (Act 3, Scene 3).

2. Prayer purifies the soul of Claudius (father died without remission of sins).

3. Claudius kneels with his back to Hamlet (violation of the principles of noble honor).

How do we see Hamlet now?

Now we have before us a new Hamlet, who does not know the old discord; his inner peace is combined with a sober understanding of the discord between life and ideals.

Does the final scene resolve Hamlet's conflict?

By killing Claudius, Hamlet fulfills his personal revenge. But the big task that the hero sets himself - the transformation of reality - remains unbearable for him. Leaving this life, Hamlet leaves the world as before imperfect, but he alarmed him, focused the attention of those who remained to live on the terrible fact: “the century was shaken”. This was his mission, like that of other great humanists of the Shakespearean era.

So what is Hamlet's tragedy?

The tragedy is not only that the world is terrible, but also that it must plunge into the abyss of evil in order to fight it. He realizes that he himself is far from perfect, his behavior reveals that the evil that reigns in life, to some extent, blackens him. The tragic irony of life's circumstances leads Hamlet to the fact that he, acting as avenger for his murdered father, also kills the father of Laertes and Ophelia, and Laertes takes revenge on him.

1. Summarizing. Generalization.

Why do you think our lesson is called “The Suffering of Thought”?

Moral choice is the main problem arising from the fate of Hamlet. Everyone has a choice. What this choice is depends on the person himself. And so from generation to generation. The image of Hamlet becomes an eternal image; it has been addressed again over the centuries and will be addressed more than once in the future. Hence the concept of "Hamletism" - that is, an eternally doubting person.

1. Homework

Shakespeare is a writer who has written many wonderful works that are known throughout the world. One of such works is the play "Hamlet", where different destinies are intertwined and social and political issues of the 16-17th centuries are touched upon. Here, in the tragedy, both betrayal and the desire to restore justice are shown. Reading the work, we with the heroes experience, feel their pain, loss.

Shakespeare Hamlet the main characters of the work

In his work "Hamlet" Shakespeare created different characters, whose images are ambiguous. Each hero of the tragedy "Hamlet" by Shakespeare is a separate world, which has its own shortcomings and positive aspects. Shakespeare in the tragedy "Hamlet" created a variety of characters in the work, where there are both positive and negative images.

Images of heroes and their characteristics

So, in our work we get to know Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, who was smart but weak-willed. Immediately after the death of her husband, she marries his killer. She does not know the feeling of maternal love, so she easily agrees to become an accomplice of Claudius. And only after she drank the poison that was intended for her son, she realized her mistake, realized how wise and just her son was.

Ophelia, the girl who loved Hamlet until her last breath. She lived surrounded by lies and espionage, was a toy in the hands of her father. In the end, she goes mad, because she could not bear the trials that fell on her fate.

Claudius - goes to fratricide, just to achieve his goals. Vile, cunning, hypocrite, who was also smart. This character has a conscience and it also torments him, not allowing him to fully enjoy his dirty achievements.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a vivid example of what real friends should not be, because friends do not betray, but here, making a characterization of the heroes of Shakespeare's Hamlet, we see that these heroes easily betray the prince, becoming Claudius's spies. They easily agree to take a message about the murder of Hamlet. But in the end, fate does not play into their hands, because in the end it is not Hamlet who perishes, but they themselves.

Horatio, on the other hand, is a true friend to the last. Together with Hamlet, he experiences all his worries and doubts and asks Hamlet, after he felt the inevitable tragic end, to breathe in this world, and tell everything about him.

In general, all the characters are bright, unforgettable, unique in their own way, and among them, of course, it is impossible not to recall in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" the image of the main character, the very same Hamlet - the Danish prince. This hero is multifaceted and has an extensive image that is filled with life content. Here we see Hamlet's hatred of Claudius, while he has a wonderful attitude towards the actors. He can be rude, as is the case with Ophelia, and can be suave, as is the case with Horatio. Hamlet is witty, has a good command of the sword, he is afraid of God's punishment, but at the same time, he blasphemes. He loves his mother, despite her attitude. Hamlet is indifferent to the throne, always remembers his father with pride, thinks and reflects a lot. He is smart, not arrogant, lives by his own thoughts, is guided by his own judgment. In a word, in the image of Hamlet we see the versatility of the human personality, who thought about the meaning of the existence of people, therefore he utters the well-known monologue: "To be or not to be, that is the question."

Characteristics of heroes based on Shakespeare's "HAMLET"

Characteristics of the heroes based on Shakespeare's "King Lear" - Lear Characteristics of the heroes from the work "Song of Roland", Olivier

A plan to characterize the image of Hamlet:

1. Introduction.

2) The protagonist of the tragedy.

3) Hamlet's aspiration.

4) The attitude of Hamlet to Ophelia.

5) Hamlet's attitude to other people.

6) Hamlet's views on life.

7) Conclusions of Hamlet on the fight against evil.

The famous English poet W. Shakespeare wrote his outstanding tragedy "Hamlet" in 1601. In this poetic work, the author reworked the plot of a well-known ancient legend and combined it with the plot of a medieval play about a fictional prince named Hamlet. W. Shakespeare managed with extraordinary depth to reflect the tragedy of humanism, but rather its absence in the then society.

The Danish prince Hamlet became a bright and unsurpassed image of a humanist who found himself in the world around him, hostile to humanistic ideas. The insidious murder of the prince's father opens his eyes to the evil that has taken possession of the country. He considers his main duty, not ordinary, but blood feud, to search for those responsible for the death of his father. Over time, this desire grows into a public debt and raises him to the struggle for justice and humanism, for a just cause, which at that time was the most important historical task.

But Hamlet hesitates with this struggle and constantly reproaches himself for his inactivity. Sometimes the author expresses the opinion that Hamlet is incapable of decisive action and is only an observer and thinker, a naturally faint-hearted person. But this is not at all the case. The main character of the tragedy has a powerful force of feelings, which was inherent in the people of the Renaissance. He takes the death of his father very hard and does not accept his mother's shameful marriage.

At the same time, Hamlet loves Ophelia with all his heart, but she is unhappy with him. His cruelty to the girl and insults to her do not indicate that he is really a cruel and rude person, but only that he loved Ophelia very much and was just as much disappointed in his love.

Hamlet is distinguished by nobility and most of his actions are based on his high humanistic ideas about what a decent person should be. He is capable not only of great love, but also of great faithful friendship. He values ​​people not for their material or social status, but for their personal qualities. But his only true friend is the student Horatio. This is another proof that Hamlet is hostile to officials, and he meets people of art and science with all his love.

Hamlet is a man of a philosophical mindset. He can comprehend individual facts as an expression of important general civil phenomena. But it is not his inclination for reflection that delays him on the way to a real struggle, but the conclusions to which he eventually comes, and sad reflections about the world around him. The events that take place at the court allow the protagonist of the tragedy to come to conclusions regarding individuals and the whole world.

If the world admits the existence of such evil that occurs around Hamlet, if such eternal human values ​​as love, friendship, honesty and dignity perish in it, then it is really crazy. The world around him appears to the hero either as a city overgrown with weeds, or as a well-ordered prison with cells, casemates and dungeons, or as a lush garden, which bears only evil and a wild family.

And the familiar to all of us "To be or not to be" is nothing more than doubts about the value of human life. And listing the various misfortunes of a person, Hamlet describes the customs of the then society. For example, the hero perceives poverty as a great grief for a person, because he has to endure:

But Hamlet is struck not only by the crime of Claudius, but also by the whole system of principles of life and moral values ​​that he does not understand. He understands that by limiting himself only to revenge, he will not change anything in the world around him, because another official will come to replace the murdered Claudius, perhaps even worse. Hamlet still does not refuse revenge, but at the same time he realizes that his task is much broader and consists in counteracting common evil.

The greatness of this task and the objective unreality of fulfilling Hamlet's aspirations predetermine the extreme complexity of the inner life and actions of the main character of the tragedy. Surrounded by dishonest games, in a life that is entangled in the networks of meanness, it is extremely difficult for him to define his own society and find effective means of struggle. The scale of evil oppresses Hamlet, causes him to be disappointed in life and realizes the insignificance of his forces. The man and the world turn out to be different from what they seemed to Hamlet earlier.

Hamlet faces not a single enemy, not a random crime, but a large enemy society. He feels his powerlessness in the struggle against universal evil precisely because his far-sighted philosophical thought reveals to him the laws of this evil.

And the full text) is the most difficult to interpret due to the extreme complexity of its design. Not a single work of world literature has caused so many contradictory explanations.

Hamlet. Feature film 1964

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, learns that his father did not die of natural causes, but was treacherously poisoned by his own brother Claudius, who married the widow of the deceased and inherited his throne. Hamlet vows to give his whole life to the cause of revenge for his father - and instead for four acts he reflects, reproaches himself and others, philosophizes, without undertaking anything decisive, until, at the end of Act V, he finally kills the villain purely impulsively, when he finds out, that he poisoned him.

What is the reason for such passivity and apparent lack of will in Hamlet? Critics see it in the natural softness of Hamlet's soul, in his excessive "intellectualism", allegedly killing his ability to act, in his Christian meekness and inclination to forgiveness.

All these explanations contradict the clearest indications in the text of the tragedy. Hamlet by nature is not at all weak-willed and not passive: he boldly rushes after the spirit of his father, without hesitation, kills the traitor Polonius, hiding behind the carpet, shows extraordinary resourcefulness and courage during his voyage to England. It is not so much a matter of Hamlet's nature as of that special position in which he finds himself.

A student at the University of Wittenberg, completely lost in science and reflection, keeping himself away from court life, Hamlet suddenly reveals such aspects of life that he had never dreamed of before. A veil seems to fall from his eyes. Even before he was convinced of the villainous murder of his father, the horror of the inconstancy of his mother, who remarried, “without having time to wear out her shoes,” in which she walked behind the coffin of her first husband, the horror of the falsity and depravity of the entire Danish court (Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Osric and others). Hamlet also reveals the moral weakness of his former beloved, daughter of Polonius Ophelia, who is unable to understand him and help him, since she obeys in everything the pitiful intriguer - her father.

All this is summarized by Hamlet into a picture of the corruption of the world, which he sees as "a garden overgrown with weeds." He says: "The whole world is a prison, with many seals, dungeons and dungeons, and Denmark is one of the worst." Hamlet understands that the matter is not in the very fact of the murder of his father, but in the fact that this murder could be carried out and go unpunished only because of the indifference, connivance and servility of all those around him. The entire courtyard and all of Denmark are complicit in this murder, and Hamlet would have to take up arms against the whole world in order to take revenge.

In the monologue "To be or not to be?" he lists the scourges that torment humanity:

Scourge and mockery of the century,
The oppression of the strong, the mockery of the proud,
Pain of contemptible love, slowness judges,
The arrogance of the authorities and insults,
Commemorated by uncomplaining merit.

If Hamlet were an egoist pursuing exclusively personal goals, he would quickly deal with Claudius and regain the throne. But he is a thinker, preoccupied with the common good and feeling himself responsible for everyone. Hamlet must fight the truth of the whole world. This is the meaning of his exclamation (at the end of Act I):

The century was loose; and worst of all,
That I was born to restore it!

But such a task is beyond the strength of even a powerful person, and therefore Hamlet goes into his thoughts for a long time, plunging into the depths of his despair. This is precisely what Hamlet's spiritual tragedy lies in (what the 19th century criticism called "Hamletism").

The hero of Shakespeare's tragedy himself mourns his state of mind and reproaches himself for inaction. He sets himself up as an example of young Fortinbras, who "because of a blade of grass, when honor is hurt," leads twenty thousand people to a mortal battle, or an actor who, reading a monologue about Hecubus, was so imbued with "fictional passion" that "all became pale ", While he, Hamlet, like a coward," takes away his soul with words. " Hamlet's thought expanded to such an extent that it made direct action impossible. This is the root of Hamlet's skepticism and his external pessimism.

But at the same time, such a position of Hamlet sharpens his thought unusually, making him a vigilant and impartial judge of life. Peering into reality, into the essence of human relations, becomes, as it were, Hamlet's life work. He rips off the masks of all the liars and hypocrites he meets, exposes all the old prejudices.

Often, Hamlet's statements are full of bitter sarcasm and, as it might seem, dark misanthropy, for example, when he says to Ophelia: “If you are virtuous and beautiful, your virtue should not allow conversations with your beauty ... Go to a monastery: why do you have to procreate sinners? " Or when he declares to Polonius: "If you take everyone what they deserve, who will escape the whip?" However, the very passion of his expressions testifies to the fervor of his heart, suffering and responsive.

Hamlet, as his relationship to Horatio shows, is capable of deep and loyal friendship; he dearly loves Ophelia, and the impulse with which he rushes to her coffin is deeply sincere. He loves his mother, and in the nightly conversation, when he torments her with reproaches, he has notes of touching filial tenderness. He is genuinely delicate (before the fatal foil competition) with Laertes, from whom he bluntly apologizes for his recent harshness. His last words before his death are greetings to Fortinbras, to whom he bequeaths the throne for the good of his homeland. It is especially characteristic that, taking care of his good name, he instructs Horace to tell everyone the truth about him.

Expressing thoughts of exceptional depth, Hamlet is not a philosophical symbol, not a mouthpiece for the ideas of Shakespeare himself or his era, but a concrete person whose words, expressing his deep personal experiences, acquire special persuasiveness through this.