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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page research paper/essay that discusses the numerous comic elements in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The writer argues that this feature serves to not only to alleviate the tension inherent in the play in a few key scenes but also provides an underlying feature of the work that makes the play itself and specifically Hamlet's characterization more enjoyable to the audience. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khhamcom.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
that characterize Hamlets speech with both Polonius and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern immediately come to mind. However, there have been productions of Hamlet in which comic elements are emphasized repeatedly. This
feature serves to not only to alleviate the tension inherent in the play in a few key scenes but also provides an underlying feature of the work that makes
it more enjoyable to the audience. In the production reviewed by the Shakespeare Oxford Newsletters (Fall, 2000), an editorial records that even the encounter with the ghost drew laughs
from the audience (Hamlet, the comedy, 2000). Likewise, in the famous bedroom scene between Gertrude and Hamlet in Act III, the extreme tension of this dramatic encounter is broken by
Hamlet cheerily calling out "Good night, mother" (III.4.217) as he drags off the body of Polonius (Hamlet, the comedy, 2000). The comic effect results from the juxtaposition of this farewell
sounding commonplace and cheerful after Hamlet having accused his mother of incest (by marrying her brother-in-law) and Mamlets stabbing of Polonius. Throughout the play, Shakespeare builds the drama to a
crescendo of emotion and then punctures the subsequent tension through comic effect. The scene that best illustrates this point begins Act V, as Hamlet returns to Denmark. Not knowing of
Ophelias death, he talks with the men who are digging her grave. The comic intent of the scene is evident from the onset by the fact that Shakespeare refers
to the grave-diggers as "two clowns." The dialogue between the two grave-diggers immediately introduces an element of dark humor, as they discuss how Ophelia can receive a Christian burial as
she committed suicide. The First Clown questions how this could be possible unless "she drowned herself in her own defense" (V.1.6-7). This sort of banter includes various jokes, which firmly
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