Authors Create Conflict following Same Formula as Shakespeare – By

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Authors Create Conflict following Same Formula as Shakespeare - By Micheal Davis In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare uses then theme of revenge to intertwine the plot and develop some conflict between characters of this play. Of all these character that are involved in these revenge conflicts 8 are dead by the end of the play. This type of writing is a style that a lot of authors are still using today, much later then Shakespeare=s time, and involve all types of genres.

Shakespeare uses the revenge plot to create conflict between two of the main characters Hamlet and Claudius. In Act 1, Scene 5, the ghost of his father visits Hamlet. This ghost talks to Hamlet and reveals that Claudius was the One who murdered him. The ghost replies to Hamlet and states ARevenge his foul and unnatural murder.@ This is where Shakespeare first introduces the revenge plot in Hamlet because it is Hamlet who is living now to avenge his father=s cruel death.

Other stories have this same style of plot, old and new. Batman a famous comic book hero was created when Bruce Wayne watched his father get murdered at a young age, swearing to never let that happen to anyone else and to avenge his father=s untimely death he becomes the cape crusader himself Batman. This has been used for the plot of many super heroes as well as other stories that do not deal with the supernatural at all.

Shakespeare uses the revenge plot to develop a conflict between enemies like Hamlet and Laertes. He does this by making the death of Laertes= father and sister be caused by Hamlet in advertently. During the play Hamlet lost all trust for everyone around him except for Horatio. Because of this lost of trust he decides to cut off all ties with the one he loves Ophelia (Laertes' sister). Because of his rude departure from her she goes mad and it drives her enough to have her walk into the river and drown herself. While Hamlet talks to his mother he realizes that someone is spying upon them and accidentally stabs Polonius (Laertes' Father) who was hiding behind a rug hung from the wall. Laertes now sets out to get revenge for his family's cruel death. "And so have I a noble father lost; A sister drivin' into desperate terms, Whose worth, if praises may go back again, Stood challenger on a mount of all the age. For her perfections: but my revenge will come."(4.7 25-29). This style of writing is very effective for Shakespeare it develops more plot against Hamlet and creates some more conflict between characters of the story. Writers now a days base a lot of stories upon this style of writing. It happens in screenplays as well, as you see in Hollywood hits like "American Outlaws" a classic tale of Jessie James and the outlaws in the west where the railroad kills relatives and friends of farmers to scare them off their land. After the brutal murder of Jessie James' mother by arson, Jessie James gets a group of friends and war buddies (from the US Civil War) to join his band of outlaws and strike back against the railway and steal all their money so they cannot do business anymore.

Partnerships through out the play happen because of two people and their interest in the same thing to kill Hamlet. This partnership takes place with Laertes and Claudius. Claudius asks of Laertes "What would you undertake, to show yourself in deed your father's son, more than in words?" Claudius plays this smart he provokes Laertes to have a sword fight with Hamlet but will poison the sword he is to use. Claudius' part comes in when he carries a class of poison to quench Hamlet's dieing thirst after the long battle. During the battle Laertes does seek revenge because the tip of his sword does in fact come into contact with Hamlet and therefore it is inevitable that Hamlet will die. The partnerships due to the same hatred for one person have been in the minds of authors and play writes alike. Through out the history of super hero comic books, to novels, from cartoons on Saturdays to the classic evening at the cinema partnerships to fight for a common good or bad have been developed. In movies like Lethal Weapon starring Danny Glover and Mel Gibson the two play a pair of cops forced to work together on a special homicide case pushing away their differences the two wok together for the similarities that they have to help fight crime for LAPD. This is not the only time it happens in every "Batman" movie after the first one they have arch nemeses of batman join forces starting with Cat Woman (Michelle Phifer) and The Penguin (Danny DeVito), then they have The Riddler (Jim Carrey) and Two Face (Tommy Lee Jones). This was clever in Shakespearian times as well as the modern life in the show biz.

The last bit of revenge theme in Hamlet, Shakespeare lays out a plot in which Hamlet creates an interior conflict between him and his self. Hamlet displays a melancholy state of being and his unwillingness to live during his first soliloquy. "Or that everlasting had not fix'd his cannon 'gainst self-slaughter!" Hamlet states that if God was not against suicide he would take his own life. In Hamlets second soliloquy, after meeting his father's ghost, he beats himself up by saying, "Am I a coward…?", and, "Am I pigeon-liver'd and lack gall". At this point Hamlet wants revenge but he is questioning his willingness to kill Claudius, so he is calling himself a coward to provoke the murder. "Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, that I, the son of dear father murder'd , Promted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must like a whore unpack my heart with words",(2.2 584-588) The greatest interior conflict between Hamlet and himself is when Hamlet delays the killing of Claudius. Hamlet carefully examines the need to avenge his father's death: "A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do the same villain send to heaven. O, this is hire and salary, not revenge."(3.4 76-79) Delaying the murder at this point was Hamlet's tragic flaw. This conflict like other "character vs. themselves" conflicts is resolved when Hamlet for fills the vengeance of his father's murder and kills Claudius himself. The filmmakers of Hollywood also use this style of creating a plot centuries after Hamlet was produced. Re-interring once again that most comic book characters get their story lines from the same formula that was used to write Hamlet Spider-man could have been one of the most common. After receiving his powers Peter Parker A.K.A. Spider-man's uncle said with great power comes great responsibility. Using his powers to benefit himself he decides not to help the police and does not stop a criminal running away. That criminal later on breaks into the Parker residence and kills (with out knowing) Spider-man's uncle. This creates the interior conflict between Peter Parker and Spider-man because he realizes that if he helped catch the criminal earlier than nothing would have happened to his uncle. The conflict is resolved just like in Hamlet where Spider-man catches the criminal and sends him into jail at a later date.

Throughout modern writing and historical writing dating back to beyond Shakespearian times many authors and play writes have used revenge to create conflict between characters and interior conflict within a character to help enhance the plot of many well known stories. These have been used in classing plays like Hamlet or modern day comics and movies like Batman or The Amazing Spider-Man.