Titus Andronicus and Hamlet Creative Writing

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Children That Pay for Family Duty in Hamlet and Titus Andronicus

External Forces Explored in Hamlet and Titus Andronicus

Children often become casualties when they find themselves pulled into two different directions when it comes to family. Often faced with the responsibility of upholding honor in the name of family, they face challenging conflicts that hurt them. Two plays demonstrating this contradiction are Hamlet and Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare. The perils associated with following one's duty to family can be deadly. Both of these plays illustrate how children "pay" for family duty.

In Hamlet, Hamlet's duty is to defend Denmark is interrupted by an incessant ghost. After grieving his father's death, the ghost tells Hamlet to seek retribution on his father's "foul and most unnatural murder" (Shakespeare Hamlet I.v.1). This conflict trumps any duty from this moment forward, becoming a proverbial albatross around Hamlet's neck. The ghost and his command are enough to push Hamlet over the edge, causing him to vacillate between responsibility and madness. His inability to kill Claudius coupled with ghostly visits only drive him deeper into madness. Resolution is achieved but any duty Hamlet may have felt at the beginning of the play is long gone.

In Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare approaches family duty from another perspective, with the children serving as human sacrifices.

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Titus, corrupted by power, sacrifices Alarbus with no regard to how Tamora's feelings. He gives his virgin daughter to Saturninus, As he hands off Lavinia, he maintains she is a "tribute" (Shakespeare Titus 1.1.251). He feels justified in his actions because of the Roman code. The other murders are equally justified. Here we see how children make an incredible sacrifice for their parents. Titus never considered his children's autonomous lives ahead of his own. They were his property to do with as he pleased.

Children easily become victims when they find themselves in circumstances beyond their control. In both of these plays, we see how duty haunts and destroys children. Hamlet's destruction is far different than that of Lavinia Chiron and Demetrius but the reasons behind it is the same. We see these children pulled into the fray of their parents' world, making sacrifices that, in their own right, would never see the light of day.

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