The content of Hamlet and the ideological and psychological problems arising from it have always occupied criticism so much that the artistic side of the tragedy received much less coverage. Many readers even now take for granted everything that happens in the tragedy. This is due to the deeply ingrained idea of ​​Shakespeare's work as a "document" reflecting an actual incident. And it is often forgotten that the content of Hamlet was constructed by the author according to certain laws and techniques of dramaturgy. If the dramatic merits of Hamlet were insignificant, the tragedy would not have taken the place it belongs to in world culture and in the history of ideas. The ideological problems of tragedy excite with such force because Shakespeare affects primarily aesthetically. Regardless of how much the reader and viewer realizes it, the secret of the impact of Hamlet lies precisely in Shakespeare's artistic mastery. The impression made by this tragedy is determined by the masterful use of the entire arsenal of dramatic art and the art of poetry. How did the artist use the effective dramatic techniques that made the tragedy “Hamlet” so interesting and attractive to viewers and readers?

“Hamlet” is a work with exciting dramatic action. This is in in the best sense entertaining play. Those who, knowing the plot, immediately look for a solution to its problems in the tragedy, forget that when creating the work, Shakespeare considered his first task to be to create an entertaining action. The spectators of his theater did not at all have the reverence for Shakespeare that is characteristic of us. They weren't even interested in who wrote the play. True, before Shakespeare, “Hamlet” by another author had already been performed on stage. But the public's attention had to be won over again. Over the years of work in the theater, the playwright learned this art. It was necessary to structure the play in such a way that in the very first minutes of the performance the audience would be seized with a desire to find out what would happen, and so that their attention would not weaken until the end of the performance. Even if one could imagine a viewer not interested in the ideological content of the tragedy, he would still be captivated by the very course of events.

Every new stage The action is accompanied by a change in Hamlet's position and state of mind, and the tension increases all the time - right up to the final episode of the duel, ending with the death of the hero. The viewer is constantly waiting to see what the hero's next step will be and how the enemy will react to him. Difficulties and obstacles arise on the character’s path, sometimes he himself complicates his situation, as when, for example, he kills Polonius, thinking that he is killing the king, and he guesses who Hamlet was aiming at. As the action develops, the dramatic knot tightens more and more until the moment when direct confrontation between Hamlet and his opponents arises.

Although Hamlet occupies our main attention, the tragedy depicts not only him, but also the fate of a large group of people around him. If Hamlet is in the center of the action and his figure is highlighted, then in the second are King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, Ophelia, Polonius, Laertes. They are directly related to Hamlet, and his fate is intertwined with theirs. The relationship between Hamlet and Claudius is antagonistic from beginning to end; there is first a hidden and then an open struggle between them.

The relationship between Hamlet and his mother is also dramatic. Hamlet cannot forgive her for such a quick betrayal of the memory of her late husband. Having established Claudius's guilt, he decides to open her eyes to the true state of affairs. Without suggesting her complicity in Claudius's crime, Hamlet reveals to her the full horror of her situation: she became the wife of the one who killed her first husband!

Hamlet loved Ophelia, and she reciprocated his feelings, but his brother and father opposed their rapprochement, based on the fact that inequality social status made marriage between them impossible, and an extramarital affair between the prince and a court lady, such as Ophelia, would have become dishonor and disgrace for her.

Polonius is Claudius' outspoken henchman. In an effort to help the king and find out the secret of Hamlet's madness, he repeatedly talks with the prince. The constant desire to serve the reigning persons puts him at risk in the struggle taking place between Hamlet and the king, and he dies at the hands of the prince. The death of Polonius is the cause of Ophelia's madness and arouses Laertes' thirst for revenge on Hamlet, whom he, in collusion with Claudius, mortally wounds.

This group also includes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whose helpfulness the king uses in the fight against Hamlet. First they are assigned the role of spies, then they arrest Hamlet, and finally they are assigned to take Hamlet to England. They are not aware of the true state of affairs and, like Polonius, perish because of their zeal.

The third plan is formed by persons who are not directly involved in the struggle between Hamlet and Claudius. This is, first of all, the prince's friend - Horatio. In the tragedy he is assigned the role of confidante, confidant of the hero. Besides the king and Hamlet, he is the only one who knows what the essence of the ongoing struggle is. Hamlet bequeaths to him to tell everyone the truth about what happened.

The second important person of the third plan is the Norwegian prince Fortinbras. He appears on stage only twice, and then only briefly, but this is not what determines his significance in the tragedy. The world of Fortinbras is located outside of Denmark. But the Danes also have to reckon with its existence. He is initially expected to invade to take back the lands his father lost. Then he abandons his claims to them and instead marches on Poland; returning from there through Denmark, he learns the tragic outcome of Claudius’s struggle against Hamlet and receives the dying man’s vote for the upcoming election of a new Danish king.

The fourth group of characters are those who are involved in the tragedy only as accidental witnesses and messengers. Such are the night guards Bernardo, Marcellus and Francisco, who were the first to see the Phantom; courtiers Cornelius and Voltimand, envoys to Norway; Polonius' confidant Reynaldo, whom he sends to Paris to spy on Laertes; a captain from Fortinbras's army talking with Hamlet before his departure for England; gravediggers digging a hole for Ophelia's coffin; the priest performing the funeral rites for her; sailors bringing news of Hamlet's return to Denmark; Osric and a second nobleman inviting Hamlet to a supposedly friendly duel with Laertes.

For one character the author could not determine his place among the characters. He is not an earthly creature, but a native of the other world. Formally, he should probably be classified in the same group as his brother and wife. The ghost, on the one hand, is outside the action, and on the other, it begins with him and is accomplished in his name - how else can you say about the task he entrusted to the hero? Let's leave him outside the ranks and categories, remembering that without his death and emergence from the other world, the whole tragedy would not have happened...

Hamlet's central place in the tragedy is determined by the fact that the main thing in the plot is revenge for the murdered king, and this task lies with Hamlet. This is confirmed in a purely external way. Of the twenty scenes of the tragedy (according to the traditional division), Hamlet participates in twelve, and in the remaining eight scenes he is constantly mentioned. So, directly or indirectly, he is always on stage.

This circumstance also deserves attention. The king communicates with a relatively small number of people close to and subordinate to him: with the queen, prince, minister Polonius, his son Laertes, Ophelia, envoys to Norway Cornelius and Voltimand, with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Here are the names of who he is talking to directly. He, as befits him, does not deign to pay attention to the rest.

Hamlet, of course, also communicates with the court circle, with the exception of Cornelius and Voltimand, with whom he does not say a word. But instead of them, he talks with Osric and another nobleman, who invite him to a duel with Laertes. In addition to them, Hamlet's interlocutors are the warriors Marcellus and Bernardo, sailors, people of ordinary rank who occupy a low position in society - actors and a gravedigger. The breadth of Hamlet's communication is striking when comparing him with other characters. All characters revolve in their own circle, except for Hamlet, who goes beyond these limits. The exception is Laertes, who raises the people to revolt (there will be a special discussion about this later). One way or another, there is no doubt that Hamlet, in his own way, is more democratic than the reigning and courtiers.

Tragedy "Hamlet". The tragedy "Hamlet", written in 1601, is one of Shakespeare's most brilliant creations. In it, the allegorical image of “rotten” medieval Denmark meant England in the 16th century, when bourgeois relations, replacing feudal ones, destroyed the old concepts of honor, justice, and duty. Humanists who opposed feudal oppression of the individual and believed in the possibility of liberation from any oppression were now convinced that the bourgeois way of life does not bring the desired liberation, infects people with new vices, gives rise to self-interest, hypocrisy, and lies. With amazing depth, the playwright reveals the state of people experiencing the breakdown of old and the formation of new, but far from ideal forms of life, showing how they perceive the collapse of hopes.

The plot of Hamlet recorded at the end of the 12th century. by Saxop Grammar in his History of Denmark. This ancient Jutlandic legend has been repeatedly subjected to literary treatment by authors different countries. A decade and a half before Shakespeare, his talented contemporary Thomas Kpd turned to it, but his tragedy was not preserved. Shakespeare filled the plot familiar to the audience with a sharp, topical meaning, and the “tragedy of revenge” acquired a sharp social resonance under his pen.

In Shakespeare's tragedy we're talking about about power and tyranny, the greatness and baseness of man, about duty and honor, about loyalty and revenge, issues of morality and art are touched upon. Prince Hamlet is noble, smart, honest, truthful. He devoted himself to science, appreciated art, loved theater, and was fond of fencing. A conversation with the actors testifies to his good taste and poetic gift. A special property of Hamlet’s mind was the ability to analyze life phenomena and make philosophical generalizations and conclusions. All these qualities, according to the prince, were possessed by his father, who “was a man in the full sense of the word.” And he saw that perfect harmony of spirit, “where each god pressed his seal to give the universe the image of man.” Justice, reason, loyalty to duty, concern for his subjects - these are the traits of the one who “was a true king.” Hamlet was preparing to become this way.

But events occur in Hamlet’s life that open his eyes to how far from perfect the world around him is. There is so much apparent, rather than true, well-being in it. This is the content of the tragedy.

Suddenly his father died in the prime of his life. Hamlet hurries to Elsinore to console the Queen Mother in her grief. However, less than two months have passed, and his mother, in whom he saw an example of female purity, love, marital fidelity, “without wearing out the shoes in which she followed the coffin,” becomes the wife of the new monarch - Claudius, the brother of the deceased king. Mourning is forgotten. The new king feasts, and volleys announce that he has drained another cup. All this haunts Hamlet. He grieves for his father. He is ashamed of his uncle and mother: “The stupid revelry in the west and east disgraces us among other peoples.” Anxiety and anxiety are felt already in the first scenes of the tragedy. “Something is rotten in the Danish state.”

Appearing Ghost his father confides to Hamlet a secret, which he vaguely guessed: his father was killed by the envious and insidious Claudius, pouring a deadly poison into the ear of his sleeping brother. He took both the throne and the queen from him. The ghost calls for revenge. Envy, meanness, lies and dirt in the people close to him shocked Hamlet and plunged him into severe spiritual despondency, which those around him perceive as madness. When the prince realized this, he used his supposed madness as a means to lull Claudius's suspicions and understand what was happening. Under the circumstances, the prince is very lonely. Guildenstern and Rosencrantz turned out to be spies assigned by the king, and the astute young man figured this out very soon.

Having comprehended the true state of affairs, Hamlet comes to the conclusion: in order to correct the vicious age, it is not enough to fight one villain, Claudius. Ok now perceives the words of the ghost, who called for revenge, as a call to punish evil in general. “The world has been shaken, and the worst thing is that I was born to restore it,” he concludes. But how to fulfill this most difficult destiny? And will he be able to cope with the task? In the struggle, he even faces the question of “to be or not to be,” that is, is it worth living if it is impossible to overcome the dark forces of the century, but it is also impossible to put up with them. Investigating the psychological state of the hero, V.G. Belinsky notes two conflicts experienced by the prince: external and internal.

The first is the clash of his nobility with the meanness of Claudius and the Danish court, the second is a spiritual struggle with himself. “The terrible discovery of the secret of his father’s death, instead of filling Hamlet with one feeling, one thought - the feeling and thought of vengeance, ready for a minute to be realized in action - this discovery forced him not to lose his temper, but to withdraw into himself and concentrate in the inside of his spirit, aroused in him questions about life and death, time and eternity, duty and weakness of will, drew his attention to his own personality, its insignificance and shameful impotence, gave birth to hatred and contempt for himself.”

Other On the contrary, they consider the prince to be a strong-willed, persistent, decisive, and focused person. “The reasons for such a sharp disagreement in determining the dominant traits of that hero,” writes Ukrainian researcher A. Z. Kotopko, “in our opinion, lie primarily in the fact that Shakespeare’s heroes, in particular Hamlet, are characterized by multifaceted character. As a realist artist, Shakespeare had an amazing ability to connect together the opposite sides of human character - its general and individual, socio-historical and moral-psychological characteristics, reflecting in this the contradictions of social life." And further: “Hamlet’s doubts, hesitations, hesitations, and slowness are the doubts, hesitations, and thoughts of a decisive, brave man. When
href="http://www.school-essays.info/">Hamlet
became convinced of Claudius’s guilt, this determination is already manifested in his actions.

The basis dramatic composition"Hamlet" by W. Shakespeare is the fate of the Danish prince. Its disclosure is structured in such a way that each new stage of the action is accompanied by some change in Hamlet’s position, his conclusions, and the tension increases all the time, right up to the final episode of the duel, ending with the death of the hero.

From the point of view of action, the tragedy can be divided into 5 parts.

Part 1 - the beginning, five scenes of the first act. Hamlet's meeting with the Ghost, who entrusts Hamlet with the task of avenging the vile murder.

The tragedy is based on two motives: the physical and moral death of a person. The first is embodied in the death of his father, the second in the moral fall of Hamlet's mother. Since they were the closest and dearest people to Hamlet, with their death that spiritual breakdown occurred when for Hamlet his whole life lost its meaning and value.

The second moment of the plot is Hamlet's meeting with the ghost. From him the prince learns that the death of his father was the work of Claudius, as the ghost says: “Murder is vile in itself; but this is the most disgusting and most inhuman of all.”

Part 2 - the development of action arising from the plot. Hamlet needs to lull the king's vigilance; he pretends to be crazy. Claudius takes steps to find out the reasons for this behavior. The result is the death of Polonius, the father of Ophelia, the prince's beloved.

Part 3 - the climax, called the “mousetrap”: a) Hamlet is finally convinced of Claudius’s guilt; b) Claudius himself realizes that his secret has been revealed; c) Hamlet opens Gertrude's eyes.

The culmination of this part of the tragedy and, perhaps, of the entire drama as a whole is the episode of the “scene on the stage.” The random appearance of the actors is used by Hamlet to stage a play depicting a murder similar to the one committed by Claudius. Circumstances favor Hamlet. He gets the opportunity to bring the king to such a state where he will be forced to give himself away by word or behavior, and this will happen in the presence of the entire court. It is here that Hamlet reveals his plan in the monologue that concludes Act II, at the same time explaining why he has still hesitated:

Part 4: a) sending Hamlet to England; b) the arrival of Fortinbras in Poland; c) Ophelia's madness; d) death of Ophelia; d) the king’s agreement with Laertes.

Part 5 - denouement. Duel of Hamlet and Laertes, Death of Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, Hamlet.

MONOLOGUE
Hamlet's behavior, actions, his thoughts are a search for answers to these questions. His thoughts about the meaning of life and doubts about the correctness of his chosen actions were reflected primarily in his monologues, especially in the monologue of the third act “To be or not to be?” The answer to this question revealed the essence of Hamlet's tragedy - the tragedy of a person who came into this world too early and saw all its imperfections. This is a tragedy of the mind. A mind that decides for itself main problem: Should we fight the sea of ​​evil or avoid the fight? Rise “on a sea of ​​turmoil” and defeat them or submit to “the slings and arrows of furious fate”? Hamlet must choose one of two possibilities. And at this moment the hero, as before, doubts: is it worth fighting for a life that “breeds only evil”? Or give up the fight?

Hamlet is worried about “the unknown after death, the fear of a country from which no one has returned.” And therefore, he probably cannot “give himself a settlement with a simple dagger,” that is, commit suicide. Hamlet realizes his powerlessness, but cannot give up his life, because he has the task of avenging his father, restoring the truth, punishing evil. The decision has almost been made: he must make a “reckoning with a dagger,” but not on himself. However, such a decision requires action from Hamlet. But thought and doubt paralyze his will.

And yet Hamlet decides to go to the end. The choice is made - “to be!” To fight against evil, against hypocrisy, against deception, against betrayal. Hamlet dies, but before his death he thinks about life, about the future of his kingdom.

Monologue “To be or not to be?” reveals to us the soul of a hero who finds it extremely difficult in the world of lies, evil, deceit, and villainy, but who, nevertheless, has not lost the ability to act. Therefore, this monologue really exists highest point Hamlet's thoughts and doubts.

Shakespeare's tragedies. Features of conflict in Shakespeare's tragedies (King Lear, Macbeth). Shakespeare wrote tragedies from the beginning literary activity. One of his first plays was the Roman tragedy Titus Andronicus, and a few years later the play Romeo and Juliet appeared. However, Shakespeare's most famous tragedies were written during the seven years of 1601-1608. During this period, four great tragedies were created - Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, as well as Antony and Cleopatra and less. famous plays- “Timon of Athens” and “Troilus and Cressida”. Many researchers have associated these plays with the Aristotelian principles of the genre: main character must be an outstanding, but not devoid of vices, person, and the audience must have a certain sympathy for him. All of Shakespeare's tragic protagonists have the capacity for both good and evil. The playwright follows the doctrine of free will: the (anti) hero is always given the opportunity to extricate himself from the situation and atone for his sins. However, he does not notice this opportunity and goes towards fate.

The tragedy "King Lear" is one of the most profound socio-psychological works of world drama. It uses several sources: the legend about the fate of the British king Lear, told by Holinshed in the Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland based on earlier sources, the story of old Gloucester and his two sons in Philip Sidney's pastoral novel Arcadia, some moments in Edmund's poem Spencer's "The Faerie Queene". The plot was known to the English audience because there was a pre-Shakespearean play, “The True Chronicle of King Leir and His Three Daughters,” where everything ended happily. In Shakespeare's tragedy, the story of ungrateful and cruel children served as the basis for a psychological, social and philosophical tragedy that paints a picture of injustice, cruelty, and greed prevailing in society. The theme of the antihero (Lear) and conflict are closely intertwined in this tragedy. Artistic text without conflict is boring and uninteresting to the reader, respectively, without an anti-hero and a hero is not a hero. Any piece of art contains a conflict between “good” and “evil”, where “good” is true. The same should be said about the importance of the antihero in the work. The peculiarity of the conflict in this play is its scale. K. grows from a family into a state and already covers two kingdoms.

William Shakespeare creates the tragedy “Macbeth”, the main character of which is a similar person. The tragedy was written in 1606. "Macbeth" is the shortest of William Shakespeare's tragedies - it has only 1993 lines. Its plot is borrowed from the History of Britain. But its brevity did not in any way affect the artistic and compositional merits of the tragedy. In this work, the author raises the question of the destructive influence of individual power and, in particular, the struggle for power, which turns the brave Macbeth, a valiant and renowned hero, into a villain hated by everyone. In this tragedy of William Shakespeare his constant theme sounds even stronger - the theme of fair retribution. Just retribution falls on criminals and villains, - mandatory law Shakespearean drama, a peculiar manifestation of his optimism. His best heroes They die often, but villains and criminals always die. In Macbeth this law is especially evident. In all his works, William Shakespeare pays special attention to the analysis of both man and society - separately, and in their direct interaction. “He analyzes the sensual and spiritual nature of man, the interaction and struggle of feelings, the diverse states of mind humans in their movements and transitions, the emergence and development of affects and their destructive power. W. Shakespeare focuses on turning points and crisis states of consciousness, on the causes of the spiritual crisis, external and internal causes, subjective and objective. And just like that internal conflict man and constitutes the main theme of the tragedy "Macbeth".

The tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" (1595). The plot of this tragedy was widespread in Italian short stories of the Renaissance. Particularly famous was Bandello’s short story (“Romeo and Juliet. All sorts of misadventures and the sad death of two lovers”) and its adaptation by Arthur Brooke in the poem “ Tragic story Romeus and Juliet", which served as a source for Shakespeare.

The events of the play take place in the city of Verona, which is overshadowed by the long-standing enmity of two influential families: the Montagues and the Capulets. At the ball, Romeo Montague first saw young Juliet Capulet and fell in love with her dearly. Friar Lorenzo secretly marries them, hoping that this marriage will end the protracted feud between the two families. Meanwhile, avenging the death of his closest friend, the cheerful Mercutio, Romeo kills the frantic Tybalt. He is sentenced to exile, and Juliet's parents decide to marry her to Count Paris. Lorenzo persuades Juliet to drink a sleeping pill, which will temporarily create the appearance of her death. Mistaking the sleeping Juliet for a dead woman, Romeo drinks poison and dies. Juliet, awakened from sleep, finding her beloved husband dead, stabs herself to death with his dagger.

The leading theme of Romeo and Juliet is the love of young people. One of the conquests European culture The Renaissance was precisely a very high idea of ​​human love.

Romeo and Juliet, under the pen of Shakespeare, turn into genuine heroes. Romeo is ardent, brave, smart, kind, ready to forget about the old enmity, but for the sake of a friend he enters into a duel. Juliet's character is more complex. The death of Tybalt, and then the matchmaking of Paris, puts her in a difficult position. She has to dissemble and pretend to be a submissive daughter. Lorenzo's bold plan frightens her, but love eliminates all doubts.

A number of colorful figures appear near Romeo and Juliet in the tragedy: the lively nurse, the learned monk Lorenzo, the witty Mercutio, Tybalt, personifying the protracted turmoil, etc. And the story of Romeo and Juliet is sad, but this sadness is light. After all, the death of young people is a triumph of their love, ending the bloody feud that has disfigured the life of Verona for many decades.

"Othello" (1604). The love of the Venetian Moor Othello and the daughter of the Venetian senator Desdemona forms the plot basis of the play. Othello, believing Iago’s slander, raises his hand against an innocent woman. Knowing well that the Moor is by nature a free man and open soul, Iago builds his low and vile plan on this. The world of Othello and Desdemona is a world of sincere human feelings, Iago’s world is a world of Venetian egoism, hypocrisy, and cold prudence. For Othello, losing faith in Desdemona meant losing faith in man. But the murder of Desdemona is not so much an explosion of dark passions as an act of justice. Othello takes revenge both for desecrated love and for a world that has lost harmony.

In this regard, it is interesting to compare Shakespeare's tragedy with Geraldi Cintio's novella The Moor of Venice. This is an ordinary bloody story about an unbridled Moor who, due to bestial jealousy, with the help of a lieutenant, kills Disdemona and even under torture does not confess to the crime he has committed. Shakespeare's tragedy is written in a completely different vein. In her, Othello was able to arouse the love of the educated and intelligent Desdemona.

The tragedy "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" is one of greatest works. It is based on the ancient legend of the Jutlandic prince Amleth, told in the history of Denmark and, possibly, used in some of the plays that preceded this work of Shakespeare. The tragedy was created at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, that is, its appearance symbolically marks the boundary of two eras: the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the New Age, the birth of the modern man. The tragedy was written hardly later than 1601: it was played on various stages for several years, and then was published in 1603. Since that time, Shakespeare's Hamlet has become part of the world literature and theater history.

Every artist dreams of playing the role of Hamlet on stage. The reason for this desire, not least of all, is that Hamlet is an eternal hero, because the situation of a fundamental choice, on which future life depends, faces every person.

The plot of Shakespeare's tragedy is based on a hopeless situation in which Prince Hamlet finds himself. He returns home to the Danish court and finds a terrible situation: his father, King Hamlet, is treacherously killed by his brother, the prince’s uncle; Hamlet's mother is married to a murderer; the hero finds himself in a circle of cowardly and deceitful courtiers. Hamlet suffers, struggles, trying to reveal lies and awaken people's conscience.

In order to expose the murderer of his father, King Claudius, Hamlet puts on the court stage the play he wrote, “The Mousetrap,” which depicts a villainous murder. The very word “mousetrap” is repeated several times in the tragedy; by this Shakespeare wants to say that a person often finds himself captive of life’s circumstances and his choice determines both him as a person and the possibility of the existence of truth in the world. Hamlet pretends to be crazy, loses his beloved Ophelia, but remains undefeated, no one understands him, and he finds himself almost completely alone. The tragedy ends with general death: Hamlet’s father’s unfaithful wife, Gertrude, dies, the villain King Claudius is stabbed to death by the prince, other characters die, and Prince Hamlet himself dies from a poisoned wound.

On the Russian stage, the tragedy “Hamlet” has become popular since the end of the 18th century. In the 19th century, the role of Hamlet was played with great skill by the famous tragedian P.S. Mochalov, in the 20th century the most successful performance of this role is considered to be the play of the outstanding artist I.M. Smoktunovsky in a two-part film directed by G.M. Kozintseva.

Thousands of studies have been written about the tragedy “Hamlet”; many writers and poets have turned to the image of the hero. The tragedy had a great influence on Russian literature, including the work of A.S. Pushkina, M.Yu. Lermontov and others. For example, I.S. Turgenev wrote an article “Hamlet and Don Quixote” and a story in which he calls the hero by this name - “Hamlet of the Shchigrovsky District”, and the poet Boris Pasternak, the best translator of the tragedy into Russian, wrote a poem called “Hamlet” in the 20th century.

Composition

In the first scene, Hamlet meets the ghost of his father and learns from him the secret of the king's death. This scene is the beginning of the plot, in which the prince is given a choice: to accept the Phantom as an obsession or to avenge his father. The words of the Ghost: “Farewell, farewell! And remember me” become for Hamlet the order of the deceased king. Hamlet must take an oath to avenge his father. The appearance of the Ghost means a call to restore the honor and power of the clan, to stop the crime, washing it away with the blood of the enemy.

In the second scene, which represents the most famous monologue in the history of the theater “To be or not to be...”, Hamlet’s choice becomes more complicated and reaches a new level. Now it does not consist in the usual revenge on the villain and the punishment of apostates: Hamlet must make a choice between a miserable existence, which means non-existence, if he humbles himself and is obediently inactive, and true life - existence, which is achieved only in an honest and fearless struggle. Hamlet makes a choice in favor of being; this is the hero’s choice, which determines the essence of man in the New Age, in our era.

Third scene in the same Act III means a transition from choice and determination to action. Hamlet challenges King Claudius and reproaches his mother for betraying his father's memory by performing in front of them the play "The Mousetrap", which includes a murder scene and false assurances from the queen. This play is scary for the king and queen because it shows the truth. Hamlet does not choose revenge and murder, but punishment with truth, blinding like a bright light.

The denouement of the tragedy occurs in the fourth scene. Hamlet's play did not awaken conscience in King Claudius, but aroused fear and the intention to get rid of Hamlet, to kill him. He prepares a cup of poisoned wine for his nephew and orders the rapier blade of Hamlet’s rival, Laertes, to be poisoned. This insidious plan turns out to be disastrous for all participants in the scene. It should be noted that Hamlet does not take revenge by killing the king, he repays him for his criminal intention. Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude, seems to be punishing herself by drinking from a poisoned cup, Laertes dies in repentance, Hamlet leaves, bequeathing to tell his descendants his story in order to warn people against greed and crime.

In the second period of creativity (1601-1608), Shakespeare, whose consciousness was shocked by the collapse of humanistic dreams, creates the most profound works that reveal the contradictions of the era. Shakespeare's faith in life is seriously tested, and his pessimistic moods grow. Shakespeare's most famous tragedies belong to this period: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth.

His tragedies address such significant problems of the Renaissance as personal freedom and freedom of feelings, the right to choose, which has to be won in the fight against the views of feudal society. The essence of tragedy in Shakespeare always lies in the collision of two principles - humanistic feelings, that is, pure and noble humanity, and vulgarity or meanness, based on self-interest and selfishness. “Like his hero, a sharply defined personality with his own special, personal character of the whole, not easily formed by an “internal form”, poetically appropriate only to the subject (theme, plot) of a given play, its spirit. Therefore, Shakespeare’s tragedies are alien to a predetermined external structure.” Pinsky L.E. Shakespeare. Basic principles of dramaturgy. (from 99)

џ Shakespeare's tragedies are social tragedies. Unlike his comedies (where the hero is guided by his feelings), the hero here acts according to the code of honor, according to human dignity.

џ In Shakespearean tragedies, the hero’s past is completely unknown or known only in general outline, it is not a determining factor in the fate of the hero (for example, Hamlet, Othello).

џ The basis of the concept of Shakespearean tragedies is the understanding of man as a creator, creator of his own destiny. This concept was characteristic of the literature and art of the Renaissance.

"Hamlet"

The tragedy “Hamlet” was created by Shakespeare in 1601, at the beginning of the second period of his work and during the crisis of the Renaissance - when Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake, the great scientist Galileo Galilei was hidden in prison, the humanist and scientist who discovered the pulmonary circulation was burned by John Calvin Mikhail Servet, the witch hunt has begun. Shakespeare captured people's tragic disappointment in the power and goodness of reason. He glorified this reason in the person of his hero, Hamlet.

The plot of the tragedy is borrowed from ancient legend, recorded in the 13th century by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus. It is believed that Shakespeare also used the now lost play Hamlet by Thomas Kyd, which was performed in London in the 80s of the 16th century and dedicated to the topic filial revenge for the murder of his father. However, all this does not detract from the originality of Shakespeare’s work and the characters he created. The playwright's ancient plot is filled with social and philosophical content.

“The basis of the dramatic composition is the fate of the Danish prince. Its disclosure is structured in such a way that each new stage of the action is accompanied by some change in Hamlet’s position or state of mind, and the tension increases all the time until the final episode of the duel, ending with the death of the hero. The tension of the action is created, on the one hand, by the anticipation of what the hero’s next step will be, and on the other, by the complications that arise in his fate and relationships with other characters. As the action progresses, the dramatic knot becomes more and more aggravated all the time.” Anikst A.A. Shakespeare's works. (p120)

Hamlet is a man of remarkable abilities, brave, erudite, capable of philosophical analysis reality. He lived the way all the young people in his circle lived. He had a father whom he respected and a mother whom he loved. He is characterized by a sublime idea of ​​the purpose of man, his soul is filled with a thirst for purity and nobility in human relations.

The death of his father serves as a turning point in the hero’s consciousness - the world with all its tragedy and evil opens to his gaze. Hamlet treats the murder of his father not only as a personal loss, he understands that the source of this crime is in the criminal nature of society. The royal court with its depravity embodies for him the entire system of world evil. In this tragedy, Shakespeare is concerned with the problem of the clash between the humane individual and the community and the fate of humanism itself in an inhumane world. Hamlet's question is famous: “To be or not to be - that is the question?” He is concerned about the question of how to behave in relation to universal evil. In his monologue he speaks to all humanity. There are two ways - to come to terms with evil as an inevitable element of existence, to give in to it, or, despising all dangers, to go out in the fight against evil. Hamlet chose the second path. But he constantly postpones the execution of revenge, since it cannot contribute in any way to remaking the world and all of humanity. This circumstance leads the hero to deep melancholy.

“Hamlet” reveals the moral torment of a person called to action, thirsting for action, but acting impulsively, only under the pressure of circumstances; experiencing a discord between thought and will

Shakespeare's play is an encyclopedia of wisdom. Each line reveals intelligence and knowledge of life. Polonius's instructions to Laertes, who is leaving for France, are instructions for all people and all times; they should be followed not only by an aristocrat by birth, but also by an aristocrat by spirit.

Despite the gloomy ending, there is no hopeless pessimism in Shakespeare's tragedy. By creating various aspects of reality, Shakespeare does not lose faith in the triumph of goodness and justice. That is why Hamlet turns to his friend Horatio with a request to tell people his story, so that subsequent generations can understand the reasons for his weakness and his tragedy. This gives Shakespeare's tragedy the meaning of a work that is relevant at all times.