Dramatic Epic of Hamlet; Epic or Tragedy or None

This paper tries to investigate Shakespeare’s possible intention of pioneering a new genre, dramatic epic, how much of an epic Hamlet can be seen and the implementation of epic features in Hamlet. The simultaneous composition of Troilus and Cressida, which is an adaptation from Homer’s Iliad, andHamlet, the longest work of Shakespeare, might have made Shakespeare ambitious of trying his hand in a different genre which could have approximated the measures of epic. It seems that one experimental spirit in the Sixteenth Century could be deduced in prose, poetry and theater. Sidney was fond of incorporating genres in poetry and prose but he was against intertwining genres in theater but later on some writers, especially Shakespeare, undertook the task of pioneering andexperimenting in theater. Sidney disapproved of the violations of time and space regarding Aristotelian unities. But Shakespeare’s plays broke these rules.

Keywords:

Hamlet , tragedy , epic