AC Bradley, in his lecture on The Substance of Tragedy in Shakespearean Tragedy, defines Shakespearean tragedy as a story of exceptional calamity leading

to the death of a man in high estate and that this death is produced by human actions. Shakespeares Hamlet fulfills the above characteristics of a Shakespearean tragedy to a large extent. I shall begin by discussing the first observation. The play is filled with the death of many in the court of Denmark, including courtiers, the Lord Chamberlain and his family, the Queen and King of Denmark, and the main character, Hamlet. A man of high estate refers to a respected man of a high social status, and all who died met that criterion. Shakespeare probably wrote the play in this way, as people of high estate hold greater bearing, and their death would be more impactful to the rest of the characters as well as the audience. The World Book dictionary defines a calamity as an event that brings terrible loss, lasting distress, or severe affliction. Hamlets father had just died, which is already a misfortune in itself, what makes it worse is that Hamlet finds out that his father was murdered by his uncle who then goes on to woo and marry his mother. To Hamlet, this must have been very distressing. Another calamity that occurred was the death of Polonius, causing Ophelia to become insane, which drove her to commit suicide; this series of events angered her brother Laertes and turned him against Hamlet. Shakespeare may have been trying to bring out the motif of vengeance; both Hamlet and Laertes fight for the sake of their deceased father without truly understanding each others backgrounds, eventually killing each other. This in itself is another calamity, the fact that they are so alike making it all the more tragic. The next observation, that deaths are produced by human action, is also apparent. The first murder committed, the murder which sparked off all the chain of events, was Claudius poisoning Hamlets father. This is undoubtedly a human action. While it can be argued that the ghost which revealed the true nature of Hamlets fathers death is definitely a supernatural force, it did not directly cause the death of anyone, but kindled in Hamlet anger and thirst for revenge. Hamlets choice to avenge his father and the killings he committed were in fact human actions. Thus, it shows that the supernatural element in the play took no part in causing deaths. Rather, it is the characters themselves that decide their own fate. In conclusion, both observations, that a Shakespearean tragedy is a story of exceptional calamity leading to the death of a man in high estate and that this death is produced by human actions apply to Hamlet.