Beloved and the Tragedy of Hamlet

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Beloved and The Tragedy of Hamlet In the novel Beloved and The Tragedy of Hamlet, written by Toni Morrison and William Shakespeare respectively, characters are subject to the presence of an apparition whose appearance proves pivotal to the progression of the story’s plot, and key character development. Stark similarities and adversities in the ways the ghosts present themselves and the motives behind their haunting can be explained through the means of the inciting incidents, characterization, and through their forms of manifestation. Both stories are incited through very gruesome murders, specters and apparitions usually come about when a creature is abruptly or violently taken from the living, leaving behind spirits or turbulent emotions. Both King Hamlet and Beloved were murdered by family, the reasoning and methods however are different. King Hamlet was murdered to satisfy his brother’s lust for power, status, and Queen Gertrude. King Hamlet’s brother Claudius held no particular feelings of malice or abhorrence towards his brother; he just wanted his position as king. The fact that his own brother would kill him just for the sake of title, likely left the king’s spirit and emotions tumultuous and restless, resulting in his eventual haunting of prince Hamlet for the purpose of vengeance through Claudius’ murder. Beloved’s circumstances are not unlike the king’s in that she too was killed by a family member, her mother Sethe. The purpose of said circumstance is where they differ; Sethe loved so dearly her “crawling-already?” daughter, she was willing to commit a mercy-killing to ensure her safety. This abrupt and horrific murder occurred at a point in Beloved’s infancy, where a child is always with her mother, forming a bond. So when Beloved was severed from this maternal bond in that fashion it left yearning, longing, and probably confusion and confliction

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