‘The Play Within A Play’ and Its Importance In Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Lucian Blaga’s Master Manole
'The Play Within A Play' and Its Importance In Shakespeare's Hamlet and Lucian Blaga's Master Manole
I do not intend to write a comparative literature essay, but I will take advantage of some of the methods that an essay of that kind makes use, in order to illustrate the importance of the 'play within a play' motive in Shakespeare's Hamlet. I will try to do that by referring to a Romanian play and that is Lucian Blaga's Master Manole.
Many literary critics said that by using the 'play within the play' motive, an author reveals certain theoretical approaches towards the world and the human and historical evolution. It is the case for Dan C. Mih`ilescu, one of the most important critics that wrote about Blaga. What he said is also true for William Shakespeare's Hamlet, as the writer himself suggested.
In Shakespeare's case, the moment of maximum tension in Hamlet is the moment of this literary gadget - 'the play within a play' - and that because for the prince of Denmark, it is the moment for observing some reactions. It is quite surprising that Shakespeare chose this moment for formulating an ars poetica that appears indirectly in the text, not being his main goal.
For Master Manole, the moment of the 'play within the play' is that when Manole and his apprentices begin to build a wall surrounding Mira. They propose her to play a game. But this game is in fact, nothing else but a play within a play, a strategy that makes some of the participants free of inner tension - it is the case only for the apprentices. Manole, The Priest and Mira will evolve and will be even more aware of the dramatic tension and of the importance of the situation. The apprentices are quite free of this tension, as well as Hamlet's actors, because they are nothing else than tools that the main characters use in order to resolve certain situations.
I do not intend to write a comparative literature essay, but I will take advantage of some of the methods that an essay of that kind makes use, in order to illustrate the importance of the 'play within a play' motive in Shakespeare's Hamlet. I will try to do that by referring to a Romanian play and that is Lucian Blaga's Master Manole.
Many literary critics said that by using the 'play within the play' motive, an author reveals certain theoretical approaches towards the world and the human and historical evolution. It is the case for Dan C. Mih`ilescu, one of the most important critics that wrote about Blaga. What he said is also true for William Shakespeare's Hamlet, as the writer himself suggested.
In Shakespeare's case, the moment of maximum tension in Hamlet is the moment of this literary gadget - 'the play within a play' - and that because for the prince of Denmark, it is the moment for observing some reactions. It is quite surprising that Shakespeare chose this moment for formulating an ars poetica that appears indirectly in the text, not being his main goal.
For Master Manole, the moment of the 'play within the play' is that when Manole and his apprentices begin to build a wall surrounding Mira. They propose her to play a game. But this game is in fact, nothing else but a play within a play, a strategy that makes some of the participants free of inner tension - it is the case only for the apprentices. Manole, The Priest and Mira will evolve and will be even more aware of the dramatic tension and of the importance of the situation. The apprentices are quite free of this tension, as well as Hamlet's actors, because they are nothing else than tools that the main characters use in order to resolve certain situations.
