Classical and Renaissance Paradigms of Heroism in Hamlet Essay

Classical and Renaissance paradigms of hired gunism in HamletIn the early part of the 17th century, when William Shakespeare wrote Thetragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark, Europe was the center of a waning Renaissance that had,over the past three centuries, changed the intellectual bedrock of the West beyond recognition.The moral work out of conduct for the common people had been transformed into one that embodiedthe tenets of Christianity, but there was one thing left undone. The upper classes still clung to theold slipway the definitive subjects of royalty, nobility and heroism. The question of what itmeant to be a king or a prince had yet to be addressed in the context of the Renaissance. Theparadigms of heroism and rulership range forth in the great Greek epics yet held sway overmembers of royalty and the noblesse. In the play Hamlet therefore, Shakespeare attempts toprovide the prototype of a hero of the Renaissance, personified by Prince Hamlet. The qualitiesnecessary fo r such a hero are compared and contrasted with those associated with classicalheroism through the use of classical allusion and transitions between religious and secularlanguage. Further, the apposition of Hamlet with the characters Laertes and Fortinbras bothof whom are to be regarded as heroes of the old paradigm shows with enormous clarity, theconflict that prevailed between the two schools of thought.Shakespeare depicts the quintessential classical hero as having a number of greatqualities. These are not enumerated explicitly rather we are led to infer them from theplaywrights frequent allusions to the mythical champions of the Graeco-Roman tradition. Onthe urging of Hamlet, one of the players recites part of a s... ...re death. In the end, itseems that the playwright rejects (in some sense), both paradigms of heroism through the act ofkilling off their representatives. The consequences of the retard revenge of Hamlet, in theopinion of this reader, denote a warning by Shake speare that philosophy should not degenerateinto endless argument, which feeds on itself and might lead to procrastination. In addition, whilepreservation of honor should not be the raison dtre for a good ruler, neither should it becompletely abandoned. That Fortinbras (a classical hero) succeeds to the crown of Denmarkseems to indicate the necessity for the idea of the Renaissance hero to evolve further before itcan become a viable replacement for its precursor.Works CitedShakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. George LymanKittredge. Waltham, MA Xerox, 2008.