Revised Essay

Anthony Scalia

            In literature, it is common that characters’ responsibilities are often shadowed by their passions and interests. One such case is the novel, “Wuthering Heights,” in which the main character, Heathcliff, searches for his true love while understanding his life. The character revisits his past for almost half the novel and reflects on his childhood love, Catherine. However, after her death the character has a hard time understanding what his responsibilities are because his passions blind him.

Similarly, Shakespeare’s main character in the play “Hamlet,” demonstrates his passions overstepping his responsibilities by making it his goal to seek revenge against his uncle, who killed Hamlet’s father. However, while Heathcliff is subdued by his love interest, Catherine, Hamlet’s girlfriend, Ophelia, has no say in any of Hamlet’s emotions. Heathcliff tries to identify his past and discover who he really is since he was orphaned, but he cannot control his emotions for the woman he loves.

The responsibility he holds understands his self-fulfillment, but is seems that he is soon overcome by other things in his life. When people uphold such responsibilities, it is bound that they will seek some form of outside entertainment in order to get their mind away from bigger problems. Heathcliff does this, but in a torturous way to Isabella. He watches her suffer and abuses her for no other purpose than to be provided with entertainment. For some reason, many literary characters, as well as those from real life hide their mistakes and responsibilities with pleasures. It is also seen in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” when the main character Victor decides to marry his fiancé instead of being concerned about the monster. However the monster kills the bride in the end, and Victor is left a widower.

Therefore, what does this say about the responsibility/passion conflict? Do these examples insinuate that by pushing priorities aside, one cannot accomplish what is most important? Along with these ideas, I believe that these authors are trying to prove that whether or not literary characters put aside priorities, consequences will always catch up with them, as proved in the endings of all of the previous works mentioned.

           

Hamlet Essay

            Throughout history, it seems that noble beings are placed on a higher pedestal, and whatever they wonder about cannot parallel thoughts of a common man, adapting an existential view of how people view themselves in the world. If there is any play that best describes this, it would be William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” The character, Hamlet, is constantly in denial of life and after his father was killed by his uncle, the prince cannot decide whether to suffer in life or end life on a sinful note, suicide. The common people of the village have great love for the prince, and while he is philosophizing about life, it is interesting to see that common people are familiar with many answers that the noble man has. 

            During Act 1, Scene 5 of the play, two gravediggers begin to bury Hamlet’s love interest, Ophelia, who has recently committed suicide. They discuss how common people who commit suicide would never be able to receive a proper Christian burial because of the suicidal sin. In defense, one of the gravediggers says, “Will you ha' the truth on't? If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o' Christian burial.” As this conversation progresses, readers can see that the gravediggers are not of low-intelligence, as they discuss and joke about the situation. However, they are seen as a lower class by the rich, and are even called “clowns” in the play, which in modern meaning is a jester -like fool. Shakespeare’s purpose of this scene is to show that the common man is aware of philosophies subconsciously, and they are just as intelligent as those who bear crowns and jewels. Both men exhibit the existential idea of how people view themselves in the world. They know that higher officials see them as fools, and are aware that their place in the world is that of a peasant. It is ironic however, that without these peasants, many acts such as burials would have to be accomplished by nobles, who look down at those occupations.

            Hamlet provides existential behavior, but it is presented in a distorted way. Most readers can agree that the character is not sure of what he wants from life, but in a way, he understand how he is viewed in the world. To the common people, he is of noble stature, so he will always be looked up to. However, his purpose and meaning of life is much distorted. Will he one day become a great king, or is his purpose merely to seek revenge on his uncle? As the character sits in the cemetery, he begins to look through skulls, and imagine who they belong to. He says. “Or of a courtier, which could say 'Good morrow, sweet lord!” as he imagines who it can be. This clearly shows that Hamlet is not similar to wealthy nobles during this time, and in this scene he understands that in the end, everyone is the same. He cannot tell the difference between the skull of a peasant and a king. I believe this further justifies the reason to kill his uncle, because he can now see that there may no heaven or hell, and death always ends in the same way. Many questions he asks about life could probably have been answered by the gravediggers, who are fully aware of their existence in the world.

            Larger than madness and revenge, this scene demonstrates the miscommunication between people for no reason. It is easy for one person to talk to another, but because of their society, and how others would view the situation, they do not. Perhaps if Hamlet would tell the gravediggers all of his worries and plans, they could provide him with advice. But instead, they all watch what they say and nothing is accomplished. It irks me that Hamlet has the answers right in front of his face, but nobody makes the move to obtain them. Existentialism is seen as a common element of the scene, but not in a productive way. It is because of people’s awareness of their place in the world that they are afraid to step out of the boundaries of it. Commoners and nobles have little differences, but because of these beliefs, they will never realize that.