Hamlet Scene 1 Act 1

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How Effective Is Act I Scene I As The Opening To The Tragedy?

Thomas Kyd is the author of the 16th Century play A Spanish Tragedy which was highly influential and introduced a new variant of tragedy that includes a ghost and a mad hero. Many subsequent works followed that developed Kyd’s original idea into the sub-genre known as revenge tragedy.  A piece of literature that falls under this genre is Shakespeare’s Hamlet and in order to meet the specification to become an effective tragedy it is heavily based upon Aristotle’s criteria used to measure tragedies and Ancient works of literature such as Virgil’s Aenied.

In Hamlet dialogue accomplishes a variety of things. It develops relationships but most importantly displays the hostility of the characters towards the “strange” and “gross” ghost. Shakespeare uses dialogue to describe the setting including the “cold” weather and the time so that a contemporary audience in an Elizabethan theatre would be able to imagine the scene. The description is able to evoke a mood and create and sinister atmosphere. The language used in Hamlet is dramatically intense and unfamiliar due to the use of heavily-charged words such as “harbingers” which are uncommon in both contemporary and modern vocabularies. The diction and syntax of these words are not problematic during a performance of Hamlet but can cause difficulties when studying the written script. Therefore they are used as a reflection of the inner turmoil of the characters within the play. Dialogue also contributes to the themes of the play, especially the tragic factors. The edginess of the opening dialogue immediately alarms the audience by foreboding horror therefore establishing an effective tragedy.

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Act I scene i is set at midnight when “’tis now struck twelve”, the traditional time for sightings of the supernatural. It is perceived that midnight has associations with chaos, death, mystery and the underworld. This increases the tragic intensity of the play by foreboding the death and chaos that is to follow as well as it evokes fear both in the characters and in the audience.

The weather in act I scene i plays a major role as the “bitter cold” of winter creates an uncomfortable atmosphere and exaggerates the unnerving setting as it is both ...

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