Burke's idea on pentadic criticism builds on five main objectives in analyzing any work of literature, be it a novel, play, or poem. These elements include scene, act, agent, agency, and purpose. The scene is the place where the action occurs and consists of both physical location and the contextual location. The act is the motivated and purposeful action. An agent is the person or group of people who are performing in the act. These are the characters ( Mangham & Overington, 2005). Agency, on the other hand, is the technique or method by which the agent achieves their goals. It may be a sequence of acts encompassed by an idea or principle. The last element is the purpose which primarily is the reason that the character acts; the outcome they seek from what they do. This is mainly seen through the themes these characters' help build or develop. Dramatism in literature is a metaphor that conceptualizes life as a drama and places a critical focus on the acts performed by the various players in the piece of literature. This paper follows the same aspects of dramatism to analyze the play Hamlet by Shakespeare because like any of Shakespeare's works, Hamlet is centrally themed to discuss the issues that were affecting the society at the time, and as such uses dramatism to reflect on these ethical and moral issues humorously The analysis will follow the research question of up to what point does Shakespeare's Hamlet reflect the five elements of Burke's idea on pentadic criticism? Hamlet by Shakespeare is a play deeply embedded in the reality of the society; the injustices, the corruption, and greed for power and money which it all presents way too vividly through the dramatic turn of events following the five elements of Burke's idea on pentad criticism.
Talking of the scene element of Burke's idea on pentadic criticism, Hamlet begins on a somewhat mysterious opening which sets the pace for the rest of the play ( Shakespeare, Holderness, & Loughrey, 2014). The old king of Denmark has just died and has now returned as a ghost to inform his son, Hamlet, of the terrible misfortune that has befallen him and left Denmark in a political and emotional turmoil. The young king is naïve and oblivious of the dangers surrounding him and his reign. Seeing this, the old king takes it upon himself to war his son by revealing to him some secrets about the potential danger surrounding him. The old king informs Hamlet that his uncle Claudius murdered the former king to gain access to the leadership by remarrying the widowed queen less than two months after the king's death. This timing is critical because Hamlet is set to become king, thereby posing another threat and setback to Claudius that he may not have considered in his original scheme. As such, he is bound to develop a new plan which is to completely remove Hamlet from the picture by killing him as he did his father since he is the only threat now left. The old king realizes that the sooner he informs his son of this and prepares him to be alert and protected against the conniving uncle, the better for him. The timing is also very crucial because Hamlet is the only surviving son and heir apparent to the throne from his father's household. This means that if any harm were to happen to him his father's lineage would be completely and permanently destroyed. The throne will land in the hands of his uncle, plunging the kingdom in the worse kind of tyrannical leadership that may take them years to get rid of not only is the life of Hamlet at risk at this point, so is the future of the entire kingdom.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The second aspect according to Burke is the agent. Shakespeare builds on the friendship of Hamlet and Horatio and how this influences and protects Hamlet. Horatio offers such good companionship to Hamlet. From the beginning of the play, he is portrayed as being part of the old regime, meaning he was loyal to the former king. This means he does not work for the new king and neither does he approve of the way he acquired the throne. Hamlet and Horatio had not been close friends, but they were acquainted through their close relationship to the king. Horatio comes across as a character that would never break his loyalty no matter the situation. This is why he does not befriend Claudius no matter his appealing and luring advances but instead pledges this loyalty and support to Hamlet in getting the throne back. Here Shakespeare builds on the character Hamlet to show the value of loyalty and how it plays a significant role in influencing change in society. Hamlet is able to get back the throne in the end because mainly due to Horatio's help. Act as the third element focuses on the actions and plot of the story. The story begins when Hamlet sees a ghost of his father one night and informs him that the death of the old king was not natural but that he was killed by Claudius so that he could take over the throne. The ghost commands Hamlet to seek revenge. Later Hamlet faces a dilemma. He does not know whether to trust the ghost or not. He believes that he might need more than the mere vision of a spirit to kill his uncle. He toys with many options to escape his unhappy life, including suicide, as is evident in his numerous soliloquies. He shares his feelings, thoughts, and plans for the future ( Shakespeare, Holderness, & Loughrey, 2014). In the end, he manages to devise a plan that helps him prove that indeed it is Claudius that killed the old king for his selfish gains. From this point, Hamlet seeks to avenge his father's death.
Agency builds on the manner in which the agents achieve their desired goals. Hamlet for instance as a character is built around suspense that surrounds his state of sanity. He does not directly avenge his father's murder, but instead goes crazy. This is a complicated agency because from the onset it is not clear whether he is truly mad or he might be faking it to achieve his desired objective. However, as the story proceeds, it becomes apparent that it is one of his many ways of finding out the real intent of Claudius, and whether or not he murdered the old king. Hamlet devises a lie detecting play which serves to affirm the ghost's words that indeed Claudius killed the former king. This can be said to be the first action Hamlet takes in advancing his revenge. Purpose as an element builds on the motives of the agents, which is primarily the themes they help develop. A ghost shows up to inform Hamlet that his father's death was not an accident and that Hamlet is supposed to avenge his father. Revenge seems to be the central theme. Hamlet and Horatio are united to avenge the old king. Another motive evident is corruption ( Shakespeare, Holderness, & Loughrey, 2014). Throughout the play, agents draw explicit connections between the moral legitimacy of a ruler and the wellbeing of the nation. Denmark is made ill by the moral corruption of Claudius and Gertrude.
In conclusion, it is important to point out that Shakespeare does an excellent job of creating characters that are defined and directed by their motives. All the characters are well developed and are in total control of their situations making decisions about their actions; actions that fall perfectly into place with the scenes and purpose intended by the author. This analysis opens the doors for further research into the styles of writing and how advanced dramatism is in the play.
References
Mangham, I. L., & Overington, M. A. (2005). Dramatism and the theatrical metaphor. Life as theater (2nd ed.). A dramaturgical sourcebook , 333-346.
Shakespeare, W., Holderness, G., & Loughrey, B. (2014). Hamlet-The First Quarto (Sos) . Routledge.
