Bloody, bold and resolute: Dimensions of power in Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth

This thesis argues that there is a symbiotic relationship between the actions of characters making use of different aspects of power, and the plot progression in three tragedies by William Shakespeare; Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, whose plots were built upon a problem of succession. For this purpose, the Aristotelian definition of tragedy was used in conjunction with the notion of power as defined by Steven Lukes throughout the study. To identify how this interaction helps build the dramatic structure, Thomas Pavel’s concept of move was utilised to pinpoint the plot progressionin the three plays. The first part describes the theoretical framework within which the study was conducted, with the second part providing an analysis of the plots of the three plays in relation to the actions by characters and how they act utilising various dimensions of power to serve their attempts at seizing sovereignty