Main Article Content
Abstract
Seneca had an impact on Elizabethan tragedies. He added many elements like intrigue, a lot of blood – shed and murder on the stage. After the publication of Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, revenge tragedies came into fashion on the Elizabethan stage. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is considered to be influenced by Kyd. As Hamlet is fashioned after Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, it is considered to be a revenge tragedy. In this play, the protagonist goes for revenge but he puts a question on the morality of seeking revenge. This paper tries to explore Shakespeare’s perspective on ‘revenge’ and ‘forgiveness’ through a comparative study of his two plays : Hamlet and The Tempest. The Tempest deals with the theme of forgiveness. So it would be interesting to see Shakespeare’s perspective on these two aspects. Hamlet delays the revenge despite the fact that he gets the opportunity to kill the murderer of his father. In The Tempest, Prospero, the dethroned and wronged duke, forgives his enemies who usurped his position and put his life at the risk of death.