Endlessly performed, reviewed, rewritten, read and written-upon, William Shakespeare's Hamlet is, by many critics and scholars as well as regular theatre-goers, thought to be the greatest play ever written. Poetic and masterful--as well as possessing a vital, much parodied plot--the tragedy of the Prince of Denmark has struck a chord ever since it was written. Thought by many to be a tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind, it is in fact much more than this reductive reading. It is a powerful portrayal of politics and a profound reflection on the nature of mortality.
The play begins on the battlements of Elsinore, the royal seat of Denmark, where a wedding celebration is taking place. The old king has recently died and his brother, Claudius, has wedded the widowed queen and taken the crown, whilst the kings son, Hamlet is in deep mourning. The night of the wedding feast, a ghost appears in the night and, when Hamlet is told, the prince confronts it.
The apparition tells him to avenge its murder. Hamlet then attempts to prove the ghost right and sets a trap for Claudius - pretending he is mad and arranging for a wandering troupe of players to act out a scene similar to the murder Claudius committed. Claudius, fearing Hamlet, sends him away to England, where he has asked his ally the king of that country, to have him killed. Hamlet escapes the plot on his life and returns to Denmark to find that the love of his life, Ophelia, has killed herself and the court of his father has grown decadent. In the final scene a fencing match is arranged and Claudius poisons the tip of the opposing sword, hoping to kill Hamlet. However, during the match, rapiers are exchanged and, realizing he is to be killed, Hamlet forces Claudius to drink his own poison. Famously, the play ends with the stage littered with corpses, including Hamlet’s own.
The apparition tells him to avenge its murder. Hamlet then attempts to prove the ghost right and sets a trap for Claudius - pretending he is mad and arranging for a wandering troupe of players to act out a scene similar to the murder Claudius committed. Claudius, fearing Hamlet, sends him away to England, where he has asked his ally the king of that country, to have him killed. Hamlet escapes the plot on his life and returns to Denmark to find that the love of his life, Ophelia, has killed herself and the court of his father has grown decadent. In the final scene a fencing match is arranged and Claudius poisons the tip of the opposing sword, hoping to kill Hamlet. However, during the match, rapiers are exchanged and, realizing he is to be killed, Hamlet forces Claudius to drink his own poison. Famously, the play ends with the stage littered with corpses, including Hamlet’s own.
Perhaps one reason why Hamlet has been so enduring is because of its language — many of the play’s lines have seeped into common usage: “neither a borrower nor a lender be”; “method to his madness”; and, of course, “to be, or not to be / That is the question”. Perhaps more than in any of his other plays, Shakespeare manages to balance perfectly the demands of his language and his moral thought with the demands of his plot. Hamlet is action packed, and yet what remains in the minds of the audience is the clear intelligence with which Hamlet approached the problems that are before him.
Ranging across various different philosophical topics, from whether suicide is a brave or a cowardly choice, through the nature of the afterlife, to the meaning of action in a world where people can be hurt and die, Hamlet seems to present Shakespeare at his most thoughtful and his most searching. It is, perhaps, no coincidence that he named the play after a son of his, Hamnet, who died soon before the play was written.
Ranging across various different philosophical topics, from whether suicide is a brave or a cowardly choice, through the nature of the afterlife, to the meaning of action in a world where people can be hurt and die, Hamlet seems to present Shakespeare at his most thoughtful and his most searching. It is, perhaps, no coincidence that he named the play after a son of his, Hamnet, who died soon before the play was written.
The popularity of the play also probably has something to do with the central character who, more than any other character in dramatic history, has captured an audiences attention and admiration. First introduced to us in the black clothes of mourning, Hamlet in many ways can be seen as the archetypal teenage rebel, an angry young man four centuries before that term became common currency. However, unlike many angry young men, we soon come to realize that Hamlet has much to be angry about and that far from being a mooning teenager, Hamlet is caught up in a palace intrigue and a political coup d’état. His story is one of how an intelligent, thoughtful man can negotiate the awful tyranny of a corrupt ruler — and whether it is ever right to act against totalitarian power.
Hamlet is, without doubt, a wonderful piece of art, and a thrilling piece of drama. As fresh today as when it was when first written (it played to rapt audiences, even then), Hamlet has shown itself endlessly open to interpretation and endlessly able to be adapted. Perhaps the ultimate compliment that can be paid to it, is that the height of any young actor’s career is to play the Shakespeare's original antihero, struggling with his own conscience, and pushed, inevitably towards action.
Hamlet is, without doubt, a wonderful piece of art, and a thrilling piece of drama. As fresh today as when it was when first written (it played to rapt audiences, even then), Hamlet has shown itself endlessly open to interpretation and endlessly able to be adapted. Perhaps the ultimate compliment that can be paid to it, is that the height of any young actor’s career is to play the Shakespeare's original antihero, struggling with his own conscience, and pushed, inevitably towards action.
