Introduction
The Renaissance period was one in which many creative writers, artists, and songwriters worked together to create and produce magnificent works of art. In this period, many themes influenced the writers of the period. Vengeance, free play of words, and patronage were prevalent in literary works during the Renaissance period, as seen by Hamlet and Sonnet III, respectively, which are both set in the same period. A world-renowned playwright and poet, William Shakespeare, lived during the Renaissance and benefited from its influences.
The Renaissance mainly occurred between the years 1500 and 1688. It was primarily an era of the resurgence of classical learning and wisdom following a long cultural decline and stagnation period. Even though Shakespeare lived during the height of the Renaissance, evidence suggests that his plays were a product of their time. Although many people only believe that Shakespeare’s works represent his own unique point of view on the world, there is evidence suggesting that Shakespeare’s plays were a product of their time.
Hamlet is a notable example of how the Renaissance period influenced plays created during that time. The play, by William Shakespeare, is a drama that tells the story of Prince Hamlet. It reveals his desire to wreak revenge on his uncle Claudius for the murder of the father, King Hamlet, in the play. Hamlet wishes to assassinate King Claudius in retaliation for his father’s death. There are several topics to consider in the play, none of which is more evident than how the Renaissance affected Hamlet, which was particularly popular throughout the Elizabethan age.
How Hamlet is a Renaissance Man
Hamlet, the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet. The protagonist is depressed, pessimistic, and spiteful over his uncle’s schemes and his mother’s sexuality. Hamlet is prone to being indecisive and reluctant, but he is also prone to reckless and impetuous actions at times. One of the essential characteristics of the Renaissance is the freedom of thinking (Croall 12). Hamlet is a Renaissance hero because he enjoys the opportunity to express himself creatively. He describes himself openly, and when his father is assassinated, he can express himself freely.
Being one of Shakespeare’s most well-known and well-loved characters, Hamlet is often cited as a representation of Renaissance culture and the play itself as evidence of its influence on European culture. Therefore, his complexity may be traced to the Renaissance period, and he was considered a Renaissance man. Hamlet’s startling revelation that he lives in a world whose complexities he has never previously comprehended is a central theme of the play. The drama bursts with awe-inspiring imagery of human potential, beauty, and awe. Because Hamlet had been abandoned by all he relied on, there was a sense of immense terror and despair because he must start over in every aspect of his life. As new obstacles were being removed, they would prevent Hamlet and other individuals from harming themselves while preventing them from progressing further in the inherent risk of Renaissance.
Hamlet is a Renaissance man because he is pulled between two realms that are opposed to one another. The fact that he lived in a religiously intense period in which belief in God was nearly universal on the one hand was a positive development. He is a modern Elizabethan character who inhabits a medieval setting. Being an Elizabethan character, he is associated with the Renaissance movement that focused on questions about human nature. When it comes to human values, Hamlet focuses on a broad spectrum of them and examines the battle of human beings to maintain morality in an immoral world. Hamlet’s universal appeal and ability to stand the test of time came from its exploration of humanity’s ultimate struggle (Friend 392). The choice of Being or Not to Be, to act, or instead to think and consider the consequences of our actions was highly seen in Hamlet’s actions.
Vengeance in The Renaissance Period
The theme of vengeance was a common one in theatrical productions. As James Black writes in a critical article on Hamlet, “Hamlet is the pinnacle achievement of the vengeance genre because Shakespeare rewrote history to make the issue revolve around the character of the revenger.” (Sorentino 98). Hamlet was presented with a difficult ethical decision: whether to kill King Claudius, but he chose to kill him. With the death, Hamlet hesitated and was unsure whether he could carry it out to the conclusion until the very end. Other plays created during the Renaissance period dealt extensively with the concept of vengeance. Titus Andronicus, The Spanish Tragedy, and The Tempest are examples of works that are primarily concerned with a vengeance. The theme of vengeance is a prominent one in the play. In most revenge tragedies during the Renaissance period, a crime is committed, and for some reason, the individual who perpetrated the crime is not prosecuted for their crimes.
It was not determined that Hamlet was the one who assassinated King Hamlet, as was the case in the play Hamlet. This type of occurrence occurred in the ordinary lives of the people who lived throughout the Renaissance era of history (Xiu-bo 105). Shakespeare wanted the audience to be aware that these concerns are also present in the lives of royalty, and he wanted them to understand why. Hamlet demonstrates to the audience that he was unable to act in retaliation by killing King Claudius after finding out that he was the cause of his father’s death. He believed that revenge is an action that people take when they are desperate to obtain retribution on someone or something. In the Renaissance period, people believed that people had sought vengeance throughout history and that this practice would continue for the rest of our existence.
Retribution in The Renaissance Period
Retribution is a topic that appears in many Renaissance plays and is closely related to revenge. When something terrible happens to someone, they may feel compelled to reclaim whatever has been taken away from them. As a result, people seek vengeance in order to receive some form of retribution. Retribution was quite frequent throughout the Renaissance period because the common person gained greater prominence and believed they were free to act on their instincts. As with the aspect of ‘free play of words’, revenge has been mentioned numerous times in the Elizabethan theatre. It has been employed extensively in plays throughout the Renaissance, such as Helmet.
The ‘Free play of language’ had a significant impact on Shakespeare’s writings throughout the Renaissance, a humanistic movement. This sequential play on words is one of the reasons why Shakespeare penned Hamlet. Shakespeare wanted the audience to see that he was not scared to reveal more about the play through words than through movements. At times, Language acts as a technique of sheltering one from retribution. “Then we will move our ground” is an example of Hamlet playing word games (Purcell 23). The Renaissance was when it was customary for people to make their own games, and Hamlet is no exception. People had to entertain themselves in various ways because they didn’t have access to the kinds of entertainment we enjoy now. Many of Shakespeare’s works were influenced by the ‘free play of words and Patronage, as depicted in Hamlet.
Humanist Philosophy in The Renaissance Period
The Humanist Philosophy became very popular throughout the Renaissance period. This means that people began to see each other as unique and valuable, and that human dignity was considered. “What a sham of a human being you are!” “What a noble mind, what a limitless reservoir of ability!” Lines 299-300 of the play are Hamlet’s own comments about the glory of man in Act 2, Scene 2. When it comes to conveying this renewed conviction, Shakespeare excels. All of Hamlet’s characters are unique and distinct from one another. Three-dimensional characters with various facets and complexities, and Hamlet is an excellent example of this. We are first introduced to Hamlet as a bitter and melancholy character who harbors resentment and hatred for his uncle. Despite his vows of revenge, Hamlet is unable to carry out his pledge to his father, which suggests that he has a strong sense of morality and passion. Therefore, it is possible to see a variety of Hamlet’s personality traits in the novel, with each scene showing a distinct side.
Since many rulers and social structures were uprooted during the Renaissance period, Shakespeare was able to explore and imbue human characteristics into every character in this play. Previously, monarchs were incapable of experiencing human emotions or making mistakes. Monarchs were seen as almighty, powerful, and distinct from the rest of the world’s inhabitants. The Renaissance provided Shakespeare with the opportunity to construct characters in the monarch who was flawed and fallible (Booth 42). Hamlet is a good illustration of this type of behavior. When it comes to the new King of Denmark, his most significant and most evident shortcoming or mistake is the murder of his brother Hamlet in order to gain control of the throne. Even Hamlet Sr., the venerable previous King of Denmark, was not without guilt, as his spirit explains during his time in purgatory, where he waits for his soul to be cleansed of sin so that he can be admitted to heaven. The social upheaval allowed Shakespeare to develop his characters in his plays, including Hamlet.
Hamlet’s Problem as a Renaissance Man
Shakespeare’s play was not set during the Renaissance, but he composed it within that period and adapted the attributes of a true Renaissance Man to Hamlet. His status as a Renaissance Man is mostly to fault for most of the tension in Hamlet. As Hamlet copes with his father’s death and his mother’s quick remarriage to his uncle, he is confronted with old notions and the Renaissance period.
Hamlet’s character in the play serves a significant role in regarding him as a Renaissance Man. His father’s ghost expects him to avenge his death by assassinating Claudius as soon as possible. This is only in the eyes of King Hamlet; it is the ancient method of putting right wrongs. On the other hand, Hamlet takes Christianity into mind (Lewis 137). He finds himself in a pickle between what his ghostly father wants him to do and what his Holy Ghostly Father expects of him. He is commanded by Hamlet’s ghostly father, who admits that he died before he had the opportunity to repent, to assassinate Claudius. His Holy Ghostly Father, on the other hand, orders him not to kill. These events put Hamlet in a confused and complicated situation.
Hamlet is in a dilemma on whether it is preferable to be free of conscience, as Christianity encourages, or to pursue revenge, as his father’s ghost has demanded, in accordance with an age-old tradition. Hamlet wishes to avenge his father’s death in accordance with tradition, but his Christian faith causes him to rethink this decision. In his thoughts, he considers the possibility that the ghost is the devil, who has appeared to tempt him into wrongfully committing murder and thereby damning his soul to damnation. While Hamlet is in the middle of the play, he is wearing down from the fight that has separated him between conventional superstitions, Christianity, and being a Renaissance Man. The soliloquy ‘To Be or Not to Be’ is perhaps the most eloquent expression of his perplexity.
The theological side of Hamlet’s conflict adds to his perplexity and disorientation. He muses on the dread of something happening after death. This dread would be Hell in the eyes of those who practice Protestant Christianity. However, the presence of his father’s ghost, who appears to be roaming around since he was unable to repent before death, shows that he is in purgatory according to Roman Catholic doctrine. Hamlet is torn between believing in the appearance of his father and the most current conceptions of the hereafter propagated by Protestantism, both of which are compelling. Hamlet believes that his conscience is causing him to over-think his responsibility and that this is making him a coward who is frightened to revenge his father’s murder (Oliven 83). After his father’s death, the tension that Hamlet is experiencing is ultimately resolved by Fortinbras, who declares the prince to be the most royal. Fortinbras ensures that the people of the realm respect Hamlet by arranging for him to be buried with honors due to being a brave soldier.
During Hamlet’s early soliloquies, we learn about his internal conflict, which eventually leads him to compromise his morality and become a murderer because he transitions from Renaissance man to medieval man of action. Using metaphor, Hamlet conveys his deep admiration for his father. Hamlet’s grief over the loss of his father is expressed through the contrast of his father as a Sun God and the picture of a beast representing the new ruler, Claudius (Gleckman 303). A woman named frailty is called “woman.” Anxiety at the morally questionable behaviors of others around him exacerbates Hamlet’s crisis when his intellectual standards clash with the world’s.
In his second and third soliloquies, he expresses the conflict between his natural need to contemplate and the world’s demands: “I, the son of a lovely father murdered must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words.” using simile, Hamlet likens his moral deviance to a whore’s, emphasizing that his thoughts rather than his actions are to blame. Upon concluding that, “conscience produces cowards of us all.” Hamlet’s decline is demonstrated in his third soliloquy. To convey his newfound confidence in acting, he declares, “Let my ideas be bleeding, or be nothing worth,” employing the pattern of dying and decaying imagery. For the sake of humanity, Hamlet’s soliloquies depict man’s struggle. This affirms Hamlet’s ability to stand the test of time as a work of literary merit.
As a Renaissance character, Hamlet is caught in the crossfire of medieval superstition and Renaissance rationality. However, as a Renaissance scholar, he had questions about the ghost’s appearance. One of the characteristics of Renaissance men is their ability to straddle the line between science and superstition. He believes that the devil is trying to get him to do the crime in his mind. The Renaissance character Hamlet is sensitive to others’ emotions, and he pays attention to seeing what they are thinking (Ghose 32). As a psychology student, he experiments with the crime by using a tale like the murder of his father. The moment his uncle is exposed for the brutal murder, he will seek vengeance.
Thought and ideas are at the heart of Hamlet’s battle throughout the play; the ultimate conflict in human nature is whether to think or behave per one’s moral principles or those of the world around one. As a result of its study of fundamental human concepts, Hamlet has remained an essential work of literature and theatre for many years after it was first published.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be noted that various features of the Renaissance era partially impacted William Shakespeare’s works. Shakespeare’s play Hamlet was influenced by a variety of themes prevalent throughout the Renaissance period, including retribution and the Free Play of language. The play’s core theme is Hamlet’s shocking realization that he lives in a world he has never understood. Beautiful images of human potential, beauty, and awe fill the drama. Because he had been abandoned by everyone he trusted, Hamlet felt terrified and despondent. As fresh barriers were removed, they would prevent Hamlet and others from injuring themselves and moving in the inherent risk of Renaissance. Hamlet was inspired by the idea of Patronage in the Renaissance period, and Shakespeare incorporated it into his work. The themes found in Shakespeare’s works demonstrate that the period in which he lived (the Renaissance) had an impact on his writing.
The changes influenced Shakespeare’s plays in governmental organization throughout the Renaissance period. Through his characters, Shakespeare raised questions about numerous political developments and demonstrated a character’s perspective on the political systems of the period. It was regarded as a very fresh and progressive activity to question anything that had to do with the natural hierarchy that served to sustain political power. Hamlet doubts whether Claudius was appropriate to assume the kingdom after his father’s death, showing how Hamlet got political.
Throughout the Renaissance period, the different movements significantly impacted Shakespeare’s plays, particularly Hamlet. With each of his plays, Shakespeare was able to develop every character while referencing characters and settings from Roman and Greek mythology and calling into question the political system of the time he lived in. Without the influences of the Renaissance, there is no doubt that Hamlet would not have become the well-known drama that it is today.
Works Cited
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Croall, Jonathan. Performing Hamlet: Actors in the Modern Age. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018.
Friend, Stacie. “Elucidating the Truth in Criticism.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 75.4 (2017): 387-399.
Ghose, Indira. “Hamlet and Tragic Emotion.” Hamlet and Emotions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019. 17-40.
Gleckman, Jason. “Hamlet and the Free Will in Action.” Shakespeare and Protestant Poetics. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore, 2019. 291-308.
Lewis, Rhodri. Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness. Princeton University Press, 2020.
Oliven, Rafael Campos. “The archeology of evil: a reading of three villains in Shakespeare.” (2020).
Purcell, Stephen. “Are Shakespeare’s Plays Always Metatheatrical?” Shakespeare Bulletin 36.1 (2018): 19-35.
Sorentino, Sara-Maria. “The Intrusion of Slavery into the Time of Schmitt and Shakespeare.” Telos 194 (2021): 89-109.
Xiu-bo, Yang, and Guilin City District. “Reinterpretation of Hamlet’s “Delay” from the Perspective of Energy Flow.” IETI Transactions on Social Sciences and Humanities 5 (2019): 97-111.