The play Hamlet follows the Aristotlenian concept of tragedy. Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher. His writings cover many subjects which consists of physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic , ethics, poetry, linguistics and others. Poetics seeks to address the different structures of poetry and discourses about the idea of tragedy, comedy and epic. It became an influential literary texts during the Renaissance Period as many poets and dramatists relied upon.
According to Aristotle , “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is admirable , complete and possesses magnitude; in language made pleasurable, each of its species separated in different parts; performed by actors, not through narration ; effecting through pity and fear the purification of such emotions”. The definition of the tragedy imbue the characteristics in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. In the play, the action is “admirable” as Hamlet is of a noble rank and the seven soliloquy of Hamlet is able to bring the effect of “pity and fear” which is merely done with a dialogues and speeches and the whole story itself holds the “complete and possesses magnitude “ throughout the play.
In addition to this, Aristotle regards plot as the “soul of the tragedy” where the actions and incidents took place and there should be “whole” in the plot. He means to suggests that a “whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end” and the “beginning” should be self explanatory and is not a consequence of an antecedent events. In Hamlet, the play opens with the exchange of sentinel duties which is self explanatory and enables the plot to process the “middle and an end” of the tragedy.
However, he refers to the “law of the probability and necessity” which is the selection of an action but not in an account of what has happened but the possibility of what can happen. Shakespeare’s play Hamlet uses a supernatural apparition as a way of showcasing the treacherous murder of his father by Claudius to be the possibility and its effect of mental hesitation and conflict of moral dilemma necessitates the action in the play which appears as a natural causation as its an Elizabethan piety belief structures that the soul lingers in darkness unless and until the wishes of the dead soul is fulfilled.
Aristotle also give different formative elements of plot where he propounds the idea of “peripeteia” and “anagnorisis” and “suffering”. The “peripeteia” is the reversal in the play whereas “anagnorisis” is the recognition or the discovery in the play. He employs the idea that when the peripeteia occurs in account of anagnorisis, it is considered to be an effective plot. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the discovery is given by the ghosts to Hamlet of his murder by Claudius which in turn reverses the play and hence the plot of Hamlet is very effective in its structure.” “Suffering” is brought about to depict the loss and pain arousing pity and fear through reversal. The knowledge or anagnorisis in the play brings about suffering and due to its negative potential , Hamlet was in a mental conflict of moral dilemma and becomes unaware of his own “hammartia” i.e; lack of resolution as he was trying to reason and locate the guilt in the character of Claudius and hence resulted in “tragic deed”.
Aristotle employs the idea of plot in comparison to spectacle. He means to suggest that the plot should be able to evoke the emotions of pity and fear without the requirement of the spectacle. He further highlights that the capability of evoking such emotions should arise “when the tragic incident occurs between those who are near or dear to one another”. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is able to evoke such emotions as the position of Hamlet brings forth the empathetic emotions within the plot without the addition of spectacle and secondly the play centered around Hamlet’s family which enabled the plot to effectively exhibit the emotions of pity and fear.
In addition to this , Aristotle gives important characteristics towards “characters”. He employs that the characters should be “appropriate” and “aim at propriety” which will act accordingly to his type and nature so that the actions will appear more probable and necessary. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet , inability to avenge the murder of his father appears probable and necessary as it is outcome of his own nature and type to be rational and philosophical which enable the emotions of pity and fear.
He also gives the idea of different kinds of recognition. In Hamlet, as propounded by Aristotle is “arises from the incidents themselves where the startling discovery is made by natural scenes”. Hamlet’s discovery or recognition appears probable and necessary as it evokes the social belief structures and made the action as a natural causation.
Moreover, the idea of “thought” according to Aristotle is “included every effect which has to be produced by speech”. The element of diction serves as the medium and hence in the play of Hamlet, Hamlet’s speech or soliloquy are enough to produce the effect of pity and fear and establishes their own point of view as well as the effect of the plot to move.
Furthermore, Aristotle implies on “diction” is that the characters should speak and act according to “appropriate”. The “diction” should also appear natural and the characters to be more “true to life” is brought forth by the “diction”. In Hamlet, in the grave-digger’s scene , the common man speak in the diction of a common language and the noble man speak of a noble language which appears more natural and relate the characters to appear more “true to life”.
Therefore, in conclusion we can say that Shakespeare’s Hamlet follows the Aristotlelian style of tragedy. The play manages to follow certain rules on plots and characters as well as different formative elements of plot. Shakespeare however did not follow the unity of time, action and place as Aristotle had suggested but the play has followed certain instructions and aspects of tragedy delivered by Aristotle. Hence, Poetics becomes a major influential literary texts during the Renaissance Period and continues to be the influential texts in the present scenario.
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