Revenge Flashcards
(13 cards)
Elizabethan Context
Critics often point out that revenge was seen as moral or divinely justified in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Modern Criticism
Contemporary critics may explore how Hamlet’s hesitation and philosophical introspection complicate the traditional revenge narrative. Hamlet’s delay could be seen as a critique of revenge, highlighting its destructive consequences.
T.S Elliot
Critics like T.S. Eliot argue that Hamlet’s hesitations are more about existential dread than indecision about revenge.
‘Revenge is a kind of wild justice’
The essay’s:of Revenge - Francis Bacon - 1625.
William Blake painting
William Blake - 1806 - Hamlet and his father, Hamlet on his knees, father towering over him - completely dominating him.
Thomas Hanmer - 1736
‘ Hamlet conduct is cruel… so unworthy of a hero’
‘ A vulgar and barbarous drama’
Voltaire - 1748
‘ The play is built up on Hamlet’s hesitations’
Sigmund Freud - 1900
John Dover Wilson - 1935
‘Hamlet may even seem a monster of inconsistency’
Juliet Dusinberre - 1975
Ophelia has no chance to develop an independent conscience of her own, so stifle is she by the authority of the male world’
Lee Edwards - 1979
‘ We can imagine Hamlet’s story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet’
‘Male power is restored through… the vilification of women’
Valerie Traub - 1988
Terence Hawkes - 1986
‘The ghost dominates even in his absence’
