The Tragedy of Hamlet: A system of genres

Resumo

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is often considered to be a “complex” or
“deep” tragedy. The arguments used to sustain this opinion usually emphasize
the psychological dispositions of Prince Hamlet, or tend to mention the supposed
philosophical tone of the play. This paper aims, as far as possible, to demystify
this conjecture, attempting to elucidate at least some of the conventions and topoi
manipulated by Shakespeare in the composition of Hamlet. For this purpose, we
will focus our attention on historical and generic issues, observing the precepts
which used to regulate the tradition prior to Romanticism.