Tanmayee Yenumula: Class Notes (11.22-11.23)

Origins for the story of Hamlet
- Hamlet is based on a Norse legend composed by Saxo Grammaticus in Latin around 1200 AD
- The character of Hamlet was originally named Amleth
- Basically, the brother kills the other brother to marry the beautiful queen and is murdered by Amleth (Hamlet), who becomes the new and rightful king
- First printed in 1514 and translated into French in 1570
- Shakespeare was probably fluent in French or he used another English source based on the French translation
- It is also possible that Shakespeare's Hamlet was based on the Ur-Hamlet by Thomas Kyd
- Shakespeare's Hamlet has a similar storyline to the story it is said to have been based on. However, in the Hamlet we are all familiar with, Hamlet doesn't become the "new and rightful king". This story is much more dark and ominous with the appearance of the ghost and the story is filled with much bloodshed. 


Revenge Tragedy (Senecan)
- Aristotle defines tragedy as an imitation of a single, unified action that is serious, complete, and has a certain magnitude
- Tragedy deals with the fall of someone whose character is good, believable, and consolent; importantly, the fall is caused by an error of frality (hamartia     tragic flaw) rather than a vice or depravity
- Revenge tragedy depicts a son's revenge for a father's murder where the murder is revealed and directed to the protagonist by the murdered man's ghost


Plot may include:

• hero's hesitation
• hero's insanity
• hero's contemplation of suicide
• multiple levels of intrigue
• able, scheming villain
• abundance of philosophical soliloquies
• sensationalized murder on stage or the exhibition of dead bodies

To manage dynamics of revenge, audiences encounter...

• the offense, which can be maximized by the multiplication of injuries
• the antagonist, most effectively some really formidable person or force
• clarification of strategy and marshaling of resources
• a series of delays     anything to retard the momentum
• some unforeseen development almost thwarting the scene
• the showdown, with revenge carried out in some answerable style
• revenge tragedy also existed in an intensified form known as the tragedy of blood

An idea to keep in mind:
Incest- marriage makes two one