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摘 要

《哈姆雷特》是英国文艺复兴时期最杰出的剧作家和诗人威廉·莎士比亚创作于1599年至1602年间的一部伟大的悲剧。该悲剧讲述了哈姆雷特的叔叔克劳狄斯谋害其父亲，篡取王位，并匆忙娶了国王的遗孀--哈姆雷特的母亲乔特鲁德的故事。这一恶劣的举止使深受人文主义思想深深影响的哈姆雷特王子不惜以牺牲自己的生命为代价复仇,以达到重建王国的目的。本文分析了悲剧《哈姆雷特》的时代背景，阐述了人文主义的核心内容，包括作者莎士比亚以及主人公哈姆雷特的人文主义思想，从人文主义视角分析了哈姆雷特的性格特征，探讨了人文主义对社会和人的影响。

关键词： 哈姆雷特 人文主义 性格特征 莎士比亚

Introduction

William Shakespeare is the most famous playwright and poet in British renaissance period from 1599 to 1602. Hamlet is the highest point of his works, which is created in the third period. The third period represents the summit of his tragedy creation. Hamlet is the most influential tragedies in English even in the world literature. It was a tragedy of ‘thunder and blood’.

1.1 Shakespeare and Hamlet

William Shakespeare was widely regarded as the greatest writer and poet in the English language and the world’s per-eminent dramatist. Almost every scholar has heard the name of his mane and his works. He is called the “Bard of Avon” and England’s national poet. His works which we can find and read now, including some fragmentary ones, consist of 154 sonnets, 38 plays, two long narrative poems, and a fraction of other poems. His works especially some famous plays have been translated into every major living language and some of his plays, which are widely circulated are performed more often than those of any other playwright in the literary world.

Shakespeare wrote most of his famous works between 1589 and 1613. His plays were mainly histories and comedies genres in the early ages, By the end of the 16th century, he raised to the peak of artistry and sophistication. Then he wrote many works and most of them are tragedies until 1608, including the most famous four tragedies: Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth, which were considered the finest works in the English literature world. In last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.

Shakespeare finally finished the great tragedy Hamlet in 1601. It has highly reputation in the world of literature and it was one of the representative works of Shakespeare. Hamlet was a Denmark prince, which Shakespeare created to reflect the reality in the later years of Queen Elizabeth. At that time social contradictions are sharpened and the lives of court was luxurious. The royalty had conflicts with capitalism.

Shakespeare created Hamlet who is a man with wisdom and courage, in order to revenge on his uncle who killed his father and remarried his mother, he pretended to be mad and suffered a series of misery. During this period, he had many chances to kill his uncle. But due to the flaw of his personality, he failed at last. He lost his close friend, beloved girl, his mother even the life of himself because of his hesitation and melancholy.

1.2 Need for the study

Many experts have done a lot of researches on the personality of Hamlet. It is quite necessary for us to do further study to understand the inner heart of Hamlet. In the beginning, I will search the electronic library to find the literature which I need. Then I will read these documents and elect the useful part. In the next parts, the thesis can be divided into four parts. The first part is the introduction. The second is literature review. The third is the central part-personality of Hamlet from the perspective of humanism and the last part is the conclusion.

2. Literature Review

As one of the four tragedies, many writers have studied the personality of Hamlet. It can be divided into many categories. The literature, which I elected, one is from the perspective of humanism, the other is from the analysis of Hamlet’s personality.

2.1 Interpretation of humanism

2.1.1 Definition of humanism

Due to the Merriam Webster dictionary that the definition of humanism is that the revival of classical letters, individualistic and critical spirit, and emphasis on secular concerns characteristic of the Renaissance. While Shakespeare’s humanism refers to the centrality of human nature in mental universe of Shakespeare.

Humanism idea is a ideological system that the emerging bourgeoisie is against the feudal class and religious theology in the Renaissance time, and also is the powerful arms that the emerging bourgeoisie uses to against the feudal society. It gradually occupies the dominant position in the social and cultural ideological trend, which has made great progress during the Renaissance. Humanism thought certainly confirms the lofty status of human beings. It is people-oriented completely, shows respect and care for people, and emphasizes that people can create everything. Simultaneously it eulogizes human dignity, value and power as it holds the opposite and the suppression of folly; it advocates rationalism and scientific knowledge; it is opposed to asceticism, pursues real enjoyment, praises love, requires for real life, and imitates nature. All of this features embody the vigorous, optimistic and enterprising spirits, and reflect the new spirit of the times showing great creativity.

The renaissance of art and literature of is complementary to each other. Humanism gradually influences the field of literature, which produces the pioneer and representative of the Italian humanist, Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. The French Cervantes and the Spanish Rabelais are also the famous masters in literature during this period. Shakespeare is living in the feudal system that is in its way to decline, when the emerging bourgeoisie starts to rise during the Renaissance time in Britain. He becomes the UK and Europe’s greatest humanist dramatist with his play. In his plays, he uses humanists as his thought weapon boldly to criticize the cruelty and darkness of feudal system which suppresses the human nature. It strongly reflects that the emerging bourgeoisie hopes to establish a new type of social relations and requires for new ethical. His drama creation represents the highest achievement of humanism literature, and is also one of peak of the literature of Europe and even the world.

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2.1.2 Shakespeare’s humanist ideas

Shakespeare’s humanism refers to the centrality of human nature in mental universe of Shakespeare. Shakespeare's historical drama shows his political thought on the aspect of humanism: reform, suppression of nobility and the church forces, opposing the feudal social unrest and civil war, advocating the reuse of talented upstarts, and opposing the bourgeoisie, personal ambition and lust for power. He thought that on one hand, the enlightened monarchy can make the country prosperous, therefore, people can live a peace life. On the other hand, it can beat the foreign enemy and safeguard the nation and national independence. The series of Shakespeare's historical drama are rare in the world of historical drama.

Humanism is a highly self-conscious intellectual movement devoting many thoughts to promotion of its own ideals and methods. Renaissance humanism is a literary culture concerning itself with the question of how to promote civilized values. Humanists such as Shakespeare, see that human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development in the direction of perfection and that the world they inhabited was theirs not to despise but to explore, question and enjoy. They also believe that man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of this lies, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.

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2.2 Previous study of Hamlet

Hamlet is the most influential tragedies in English even in the world literature. Many people analyze this drama from different perspective. Geng Meiying and Cen Li analyze this work from the perspective of humanism. Geng Meiying (2008) was stated Hamlet, as one of the four great tragedies, reflected the author’s humanism which is individualistic and critical spirit. In the novel, the disillusion of Hamlet’s humanism was of great social significance. Some people has realized the rights of humans and tried to grasp these rights. He said that the complex character of Hamlet was caused by the conflicts confronted by him. He was not only weak but also very strong. The tragedy of Hamlet represented the tragedy that one people has no competence to defeat against the federalist power of European humanists during Renaissance. Hamlet was faced with two kinds of contradictions. The outside one was the conflict between Hamlet and cruelty and dirty leaded by Claudis while the inside one was originated from Hamlet himself. This kind of strong and weak character was integrated into Hamlet, laying a foundation of his inner conflicts. His inner world changed as the plots developed.

Ceng Li (2010) was considered that Hamlet was a tragic hero who failed to realize his ambition. In her eyes, Hamlet dared to stand up for the truth and fight for the justice. We feel sorry, sad and pained for his death but we also take pride in his greatness that he died for justice. Hamlet was characterized by its colorful, fresh, and philosophical language, vivid and tortuous plots and rich, distinct and complicated character. Monologue was applied into this novel many times when describing Hamlet. The image of Hamlet caused mixed feelings and made people have a deeper understanding of human.

Song Hua, Wang Jian and Yang Yongjian analyze this work from the perspective of humanism. Song Hua (2006) in her article mentioned that Hamlet was a typical character of bourgeois humanists, reflecting the merits and demerits of humanism and expressing author’s pursuit and hesitation for humanists. From the perspective of rationalism, humanists stand for adventure and take an active part in conquering nature, so as to arouse knowledge and reason and promote the development of science. When talking about the nature of Shakespeare’s arts, Pushkin pointed out that what has Shakespeare showed in tragedies and what is the aim of tragedies. It is human and citizens. It is the fate of human and citizens. And this is the greatness of Shakespeare. Humanism in the aspect of Hamlet’s thoughts, kindness in the aspect of his ethics, and melancholy, pessimism, hesitation, persistence, resolution and firm in his characteristics endowed Hamlet with a fresh and live soul, making him a distinct and progressive character during Renaissance.

Wang Jian and Yang Yongjian (2001) were considered that Shakespeare revealed problems occurring during the development of human beings but failed to find a solution to social revolution. In the novel, although Hamlet killed his enemy, the whole success of humanists’ dreams and career were not realized. Hamlet himself realized this so he asked his friend to help spread his story so as to make people have an idea of the social reality and thus face it more directly and revise it. Feudal influence in that age was decayed but still in dominant position. What’s more, new evil things kept occurring, greatly surpassing the new-rising power represented by Hamlet and other humanists, let alone that such new-rising power had great limitations. In Wang and Yang’s opinion, those humanists reviewed social struggles as a battle between goodness and badness, taking enlightened rulers as the hope to revolute the society.

3. Personality of Hamlet from the Perspective of Humansim

“To be or not to be, that is a question”. The world-famous soliloquy can describe hamlet’s personality accurately. Hamlet is a humanist and he has strong humanistic ideas, so we can see many merits in his personality. However, he was negative and delayed. But this is what makes the image of the character has a monumental artistic glamour.

3.1 Profound love for man

Hamlet is a revenge story during the revenge. Hamlet, son of the former king, comes back home from Wittenberg University. He found that his farther was murdered by his uncle, Claudius and his mother was remarried with his uncle, so he undertakes to revenge for his father. During the revenge, he delayed time again and again. When Claudius prayed in a small house, Hamlet had a good chance to kill him, but due to his hesitation, he lost this chance. At last, he killed his uncle, but he lost his love, his mother, his father, his best friend and even the life of himself. Why does Hamlet hesitate to revenge? The most controversial topics there ever were, and there ever will be. There are many interpretations about his delay, and all of them focused on the dark side in the prince’s heart, or we can also say, his hatred. However, all of his hatred is originated from “love” and love is the main characteristic of Hamlet.

Hamlet is indecisive, depressed and always thinks too much. His father’s death his mother’s remarriage and his friends’ betray all hurt his heart. But that doesn’t mean that there is no love and hope in his heart. What he hears are tender voices, and what he sees are smiling people. Before his father's death, he lives a peaceful and happy life. During this time, he could only see some good side of the contemporary world. Life is always good and colorful to him. He believes that this world is always a paradise. So his humanist love for man causes his delay. The spirit of humanists affects him a lot.

It is the pursuit of love that makes his hesitation for revenge, he thought love must be the main character of that society, of that country and of that world. His pursuit of love molds the complex character of Hamlet. Love for man is the key to all of the problems.

3.2 Melancholy and hesitation

Hamlet is a character who has melancholy and hesitation in his personality.His melancholy is under the special period of history. He should have had a good chance to kill his uncle, but due to his hesitation, he lost the chance at last. Due to his melancholy, the girl he loved was mad and his best friend was died at last. There are two main reasons for his melancholy. First, after he came back to Denmark, his ideals have been shattered. He became very depressed. He is a humanist, a man who is free from medieval superstitions and prejudices. He has profound love for man and the world. Just like other humanists, he treasures profound reverence for man, and strong belief in man’s destiny and power. Second, the next reason for his melancholy character is deserted. He loved well and hated evilly. He worshiped his father and loved Ophelia. As a son, his father was murdered by his uncle and his mother remarried with his uncle hastily, since then he lost the happy family. As a prince, he lost the kingdom. The girl he loved was duped while at the same time, his best friend betrayed him. All of these made him suspicious in domestic relation, friendship and love. He became so depressed, but he was nobody to tell about. Finally the happy prince had turned into a dye-in-the-wood melancholy man. Hamlet was written in Shakespeare’s third period of his writing career. The tragic note is aggravated in the plays of this period. The reason for such a change should be found from Shakespeare’s change of moods as affected by social upheavals at the turn of this century. There are scenes of treachery, lust, murder and ingratitude. But Shakespeare exposed the social contradictions mercilessly.

In Hamlet, we can see the happy and bright life of Hamlet darkened by the revelation of his uncle’s murder of his father and by the ingratitude and lust of his mother. He hated his uncle’s drunkenness and his mother’s remarriage. In the contact with the people around him, he paid attention to nothing but human value and looked down upon wealth and rank. Through the unchastity of his mother, the slavishness of the courtiers, the falsehood of his friends and the crime of his uncle, he found how unjust the world is. From that we can know the reason for Hamlet’s melancholy and hesitation. The fate he experienced is also which we have to deal with in a certain stage during our life. Sometimes we have to face the melancholy, such as exploring the truth in contradiction, taking action in a dilemma situation and rebuilding the build of spirit because the system of value in the world has lost the standards. We can also see that when Hamlet faced personal mess-age and misfortune, he always thinks with melancholy and tries to find a perfect way to solve these problems without thinking the reality. Maybe this is the generality of human who tries to calm down and thinks calmly when the trouble comes to us.

3.3 Humanism in Hamlet

Hamlet is an ancient Prince of Denmark, meanwhile he is also a humanist, which has a great relation with his education in Wittenberg University. Hamlet is a contradictory image. On one hand, he is influenced by humanism, filled with beautiful dreams, hoping everything in his life is as wonderful as idea. However, in reality, the real life breaks his ideal thought. He is like a thinker as thinking many philosophical problems, but to find no answer. He wants to revenge for his father, but his heart is contradictory, because he wants not only to revenge for his father, but also change the world. In front of such a difficult task, he is getting more and more incapable of action.

His character is too introverted, prudent and the single-handed situation, which makes his melancholy and hesitation in the actions. Therefore, his ending was perished together with the enemy.

His tragedy has both the objective cause that the evil force was too strong and the subjective reason that the weakness of his personality. Therefore, Hamlet’s tragedy is the tragedy of the times and the tragedy of the Humanists.

Hamlet is a tragedy of humanist in which Shakespeare’s humanism has been embodied fully. Hamlet is the representative of ideal humanist. In the drama the conflicts between him and Claudius really reflects the contradiction of real society in Britain and the social reality in the later years of Queen Elizabeth’s rule.

In the beginning of the drama, Shakespeare shows an ugly social picture: the court of Denmark has been collapsed while the former king has been murdered and the throne has been captured by careerist and conspirator. Under the rule of the new king, the society seems to be collapse immediately because of the dark society, the corrupt politics, the coming enemy and the boiling resentment. Like many advanced people in Renaissance Hamlet advocates science, emphasizes rational sense and does not trust and obey easily. After the appearance of the ghost of his father, he could still observe and think about it calmly and remind himself that he should find some more tangible proofs. In other people’s eyes, Hamlet is a model of humanist with versatility. Nonetheless, his ideal of humanism is contrast to the ugly society. After returning from Wittenberg, he finds all disappointing. To him, life has become a heavy burden. As he realizes the chaos of the society, his happy family breaks down.

Hamlet is trapped in the dilemma between the noble humanism idea and the harsh reality that his uncle kills his father and marries to his mother. He suffers from the confusion and the clashes deeply. Hamlet is much more affected by humanism than common people. When his father is alive, he lives a happy and graceful life because of his status, a prince. In addition, he receives good education in Wittenberg University. When Hamlet studies in Wittenberg University, he accepts many new ideas and conceptions of humanism different from traditional religion. He shows the character of democratic consciousness and shining humanity.

Generally, his experience and education make him believe that the world is a heaven filled with good things and people are born with virtues. It is proved that his humanism outlook is nothing but an idle dream. So he is in a deep grief that weakens his will and lets him lose action ability. The conflicts between his humanism idea and dirty reality make him fall into a deep grief that cripples his heart and leads him to hesitate rather than revenge. As a pure humanist, it is inevitable that he hesitates to take revenge.

He shows the character of democratic consciousness and shining humanity. Hamlet is a typical academic prince with polite letters and martial arts. As an art typical, advantages and limits have been expressed vividly. On the one hand, Hamlet has all the qualities of thinkers with keen observation and the ability of analysis. He thinks of universal suffering from his own misfortune, and is aware of social unrest of this period from his own revenge and improves his revenge to reform the whole society. On the other hand, as a humanist he trusts himself too much and pays too much attention to his ideal. Some sentences of Hamlet symbolically tell us that god falls out but these demons are still alive and the world has been changed to a cool and reverse one. Hamlet of that time is a contradictory character between ideal and reality. He doesn’t have enough foresight and courage as a prince and future king, who delays to revenge again and again and loses many chances, for example when Claudius is confessing, he thinks that Claudius is repenting to god so he doesn’t kill Claudius. From one side, it reflects the humanism of Hamlet but it shows more about his hesitation and lack of courage. A king seldom cares about rules and Hamlet is encumbered by his humanism temperament, which leads to a tragedy.

Hamlet is a tragedy of humanists. In Hamlet, Shakespeare’s humanism thoughts are shown fully. Hamlet is the representative of humanists.

4. Conclusion

The artistic image of Hamlet is controversial but well-known in the literature world. Hamlet is a successful character which Shakespeare tries his best to mould. This drama is centered on revenge that is the theme of the play.

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