Beauty and Horrors of Hamlet

"Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
(1599-1601)

    Hamlet considers whether fate or free choice is more important, whether it is better to act decisively or let nature take its course, and, finally, whether anything we accomplish during our time on earth matters. When Hamlet discovers that his uncle has murdered his father, he feels compelled to act, but he has so many misgivings about his circumstances and even his own sentiments that he can't determine what to do. During the whole play  Hamlet is in the middle of three crises, according to the play's exposition: his country is under siege, his family is disintegrating, and the internal struggles he has to face. Overall, I really enjoyed reading the play as it brings to attentional what real problems many young princes and even the royal families had to face during that specific era. The main themes shown in this play had to do with corruption, revenge, religion, politics, and reality. The world known play Hamlet by William Shakespeare was originally published in 1603 originally written in Early Modern English. An interesting fact about the play was that it was his longest ever and the setting was focused on the country of Denmark. One major reason why Shakespeare was inspired to write Hamlet was because of  the death of his only son who had died from an unknown illness. The very wealthy, upper middle class, and lower middle class made comprised Shakespeare's audience. All of these people would seek amusement in the same way that we do now, and they would be able to afford to go to the theater.

William Shakespeare

 One of the key themes in Hamlet, being a revenge tragedy, is retribution. The concept of honour is closely tied to the concept of vengeance. The honor of Hamlet as a 'good son' is linked to his responsibility to revenge his father. 'Speak, I am obligated to hear,' Hamlet exclaims to the Ghost, to which the Ghost answers, 'So are thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear' (Act 1, Scene 5, lines 10-11). This dialogue emphasizes the connection between vengeance and honour, as well as the acknowledged obligation of a son to exact vengeance on his father's behalf. In Hamlet, madness is another major theme. Hamlet chooses to ‘put an antic disposition on' after hearing the Ghost's account (Act 1, Scene 5, line 191). His insanity begins as a masquerade to avoid the skeptical monarch and his snooping spies, Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, so that he might explore the veracity of the Ghost's allegations. As the play progresses and Hamlet stays mired in his own bewilderment and indecision, there are instances when he appears to lapse into true lunacy, raising questions about his mental health. It would not be unusual for his circumstances to cause him to become paranoid and mentally ill. The strain of feeling obligated to murder Claudius despite his strong moral and intellectual objections, along with the knowledge that he is surrounded by people he cannot trust and who are continually scheming against him, would put any character to the test.

My overall final thoughts about the play are positive. I thought the majority of the script was well written and really carried its own weight until the very end. From my previous reading of Shakespeare I was already aware of how the play might end, but from all the others this one surprised me the most. From start to finish I was impressed and what made me really had me thinking the most had to be the main themes of the play; most of the themes I can see as real world examples that many have done or even thought about such as revenge, corruption, and mental struggle. I believe that  Shakespeare did a great relating the play to many of his audience in one way or another. Hamlet is a play everyone should really look into as it stands as one of if not thee best play of all time written play by William Shakespeare.  

"Why Should You Read Hamlet?"

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Work Cited

Mategrano, T. (2002). Cliffs Complete: Shakespeare's hamlet. John Wiley & Sons.

Why should you read "hamlet"? - Iseult Gillespie - YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTu39aMg_mU.