Explore Shakespeare’s presentation of crime and punishment in ‘Hamlet,’ with comparison to ‘The Revenger’s Tragedy’ by Thomas Middleton.
Explore Shakespeare’s presentation of crime and punishment in ‘Hamlet,’ with comparison to ‘The Revenger’s Tragedy’ by Thomas Middleton.
The discovery of Claudius’ crime, the murder of the Old King Hamlet, by Hamlet places him in the role of judge and executioner, as Shakespeare, and similarly Middleton, place their characters in a situation where they can not obtain justice for the crimes made against their loved ones, the killing of Hamlet’s father and Vindice’s girlfriend Gloriana, legally as the governments they live under are shown to be corrupt. This allows both Shakespeare and Middleton, to explore the issue of dealing with crime and question to what extent can revenge bring justice and at what price.
Hamlet reflects on the corruption of the court in his first soliloquy, as he describes the court as ‘an unweeded garden.’ This image communicates across a sense of Hamlet’s disgust and despair, as the garden imagery suggests the Garden of Eden after Man’s fall, corrupted by man’s sin and disobedience to God, which is enforced through Hamlet’s images of decay (‘rank and ‘gross). This biblical undertone is emphasised by the Ghost’s description of Claudius as a ‘serpent,’ and Claudius’ ironic reference to the ‘first corpse,’ as according to the story of Genesis the first murder in the history of mankind was the slaying of Abel by his brother Cain. To a Shakespearean audience watching the play this overwhelming biblical backdrop to the play would arguably have built up the expectation that justice would be delivered, against Claudius, in the form of divine intervention. However, it is not God who takes on the role of punishing Claudius in the play, but Hamlet. This has led critics to question to what extent the figure of the Ghost can be seen as a divine messenger of justice advocating revenge, and question whether Hamlet’s mission was doomed from the start. This conflict of the moral issue in taking revenge and risking damnation is exemplified in Hamlet’s
The discovery of Claudius’ crime, the murder of the Old King Hamlet, by Hamlet places him in the role of judge and executioner, as Shakespeare, and similarly Middleton, place their characters in a situation where they can not obtain justice for the crimes made against their loved ones, the killing of Hamlet’s father and Vindice’s girlfriend Gloriana, legally as the governments they live under are shown to be corrupt. This allows both Shakespeare and Middleton, to explore the issue of dealing with crime and question to what extent can revenge bring justice and at what price.
Hamlet reflects on the corruption of the court in his first soliloquy, as he describes the court as ‘an unweeded garden.’ This image communicates across a sense of Hamlet’s disgust and despair, as the garden imagery suggests the Garden of Eden after Man’s fall, corrupted by man’s sin and disobedience to God, which is enforced through Hamlet’s images of decay (‘rank and ‘gross). This biblical undertone is emphasised by the Ghost’s description of Claudius as a ‘serpent,’ and Claudius’ ironic reference to the ‘first corpse,’ as according to the story of Genesis the first murder in the history of mankind was the slaying of Abel by his brother Cain. To a Shakespearean audience watching the play this overwhelming biblical backdrop to the play would arguably have built up the expectation that justice would be delivered, against Claudius, in the form of divine intervention. However, it is not God who takes on the role of punishing Claudius in the play, but Hamlet. This has led critics to question to what extent the figure of the Ghost can be seen as a divine messenger of justice advocating revenge, and question whether Hamlet’s mission was doomed from the start. This conflict of the moral issue in taking revenge and risking damnation is exemplified in Hamlet’s