Sitting in Mrs. Gibson’s class during the last 2 weeks of my senior year reading Hamlet has caused me to ponder the question: Why is literature from the late 1500’s and early 1600’s still deemed so important in 2018? More importantly, how and why is Shakespeare's Hamlet so relevant in today’s society? As a student, I ask myself this question about most topics I learn about in school because I personally believe that it’s beneficial to focus on work that could relate to and benefit me as a student. This play does prove relevant because of its repeating characteristics of the human condition within the plot between characters. Therefore, since the human condition can connect readers with it’s universal properties (birth, growth, emotionality, …show more content…
As Hamlet states, his mother was “One month a widow, married with my uncle! My father’s brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules,” (Shakespear, 7). Not only has Claudius, Hamlet’s own uncle, become married to his deceased brother’s wife and has taken his throne, but he also is the individual responsible for the death of Hamlet’s father because he murdered him. The Ghost states, “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown,” (Shakespeare, 14). This conflict between newly King Claudius and Hamlet sprouts from the act of betrayal by Claudius. Because he killed his brother and ending up marrying his wife for the crown, he betrayed not only Hamlet’s father, but I’d say their their royal family as a whole. As Claudius is one who has betrayed his family, the Queen has also betrayed her kin as well. Considering she became engaged within a month of her former husband’s death with his murderer, she turned her back on her family and betrayed them. This act of betrayal can cause conflict and emotionality because this betrayal is causing characters to become persuaded to act based on their emotions. These are situations that many humans could relate to and could use their understandings to connect with the characters in the story and how they’re feeling. Also, in certain instances, literature can give readers advice on how to cope and …show more content…
When reading about Hamlet and his father’s ghost meeting in Act I Scene V, the ghost says, “I am thy father’s spirit, Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night,” (Shakespeare, 14). This signifies death because his father was murdered, is dead, and has now returned as a ghost. Also, in Act IV Scene VII when Ophelia dies, the Queen says, “One woe doth tread upon another’s heel, So fast they follow. Your sister’s drown’d, Laertes,” (Shakespeare, 47). This event in the play entitled death, as Ophelia commits suicide. Death in literature can be very relatable. Readers don’t have to necessarily relate exactly with what happens in each plot, but one thing is for sure, we all will experience death one day. Not to sound morbid, but it is one characteristic of the human condition- morality. Not only this, but murder and suicide are both issues that our society faces today. As we all know, many of our movies and tv shows revolve around murder and suicide, such as the show “Thirteen Reasons Why” or the movie series “Saw.” This aspect of death is present frequently in today’s literature, as well as literature from many years ago, such as this play, Hamlet. As I said, morality is something that we must all face, which is why I think it still is deemed so relevant after all of this time. It creates conflicts and intense situations in which all
In William Shakespeare 's Hamlet, there are many characters that allow themselves to be manipulated and be consumed by their own emotions. The way that this type of irrational behavior occurs is when Claudius killed Hamlet Sr, this causes a chain reaction of unfortunate events. Gertrude and Claudius plan to immediately marry after the death of the king. On going with the repercussions of the event; Hamlet is later visited by the dead spirit of his father. This happening caused Hamlet to realize that he needed to avenge his dead father by killing Claudius and rightfully taking the throne back after the ghost of his father told him to do so.
"Hamlet." Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2007. 193-225. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport: Greenwood, 1998. Print. Literature in Context.
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most produced plays of all time. Written during the height of Shakespeare’s fame—1600—Hamlet has been read, produced, and researched by more individuals now than during Shakespeare’s own lifetime. It is has very few stage directions, because Shakespeare served as the director, even though no such official position existed at the time. Throughout its over 400 years of production history, Hamlet has seen several changes. Several textual cuts have been made, in addition to the liberties taken through each production. In recent years, Hamlet has seen character changes, plot changes, gender role reversals, alternate endings, time period shifts, and thematic alternations, to name only a few creative liberties modern productions of Hamlet have taken.
Destruction of a family member may be gruesome. Although betraying a family member is deceitful. When there is false affection towards others, the truth will become noticed. To many, family is a top priority, to keep safe and loved by others, with no secrets among none. This may be possible for some, but in the Shakespearean play, Hamlet, this is not so. One thing that is more common in the entire play is betrayal from different family members, especially the Uncle. But, in a way that Hamlet discovered the truth was unorthodox. With Hamlet, the King of Denmark, finding out who killed his father was like being stabbed in the back because it felt unreal to know that your own blood can kill a loved one, just to be crowned king. The process of Hamlet killing his Uncle was
In Hamlet, the incest involving his mother and uncle triggered the action which took place within Hamlet. First off, Hamlet was in deep sorrow with the death of his father, and very angered of the hasty re- marriage of his mother. On top of all of that, the fact that Hamlet’s mother wed his uncle, made matters even worse. In Act I, scene ii, line 129-159, Hamlet recites what is on his troubled mind. He closes off by saying, “With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!/ It is not, nor it cannot come to good./ But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue.” This reveals Hamlet’s true feelings regarding the marriage and how he bottles up his emotions and keeps them to himself. However, if Hamlet was a different person, he may have had the ability to speak up to his parents and tell them how he really felt, as opposed to concealing his thoughts. Unfortunately for Hamlet, he is not that type of person, so a lot of his actions occur internally rather than externally, and this was spurred by the situation with Gertrude and Claudius.
Always in Shakespeare reading we learn many different themes. The play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare is a classic published in 1603. The story goes through Hamlet’s everyday thoughts of life, love, people and other ideologies. Hamlet story teaches us throughout the story that he hates King Claudius with a ceaseless passion because he poisoned his brother in order to marry the queen and take the crown. Hamlet is the prince and his mother’s marriage to Claudius causes him to have a deep rooted hatred towards women which pushes him to hate sex. As a result, we see how deeply Hamlet values inner truth and his hatred for deceit. After learning Hamlet’s philosophy of life we see that he would not fit in modern American society. Therefore, Hamlet
In the beginning of Hamlet, the Prince behaves as any normal person would following the death of a loved one. Not only is this a loved one, but an extra special someone; it is his loving father whom he adored. Hamlet is grief stricken, depressed, and even angry that his mother remarried so soon after his father’s death. Having witnessed how his father had treated his mother with great love and respect, Hamlet cannot understand how his mother could shorten the grieving period so greatly to marry someone like Uncle Claudius. He is incapable of rationalizing her deeds and he is obsessed by her actions.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably one of the best plays known to English literature. It presents the protagonist, Hamlet, and his increasingly complex path through self discovery. His character is of an abnormally complex nature, the likes of which not often found in plays, and many different theses have been put forward about Hamlet's dynamic disposition. One such thesis is that Hamlet is a young man with an identity crisis living in a world of conflicting values.
Death threads its way through the entirety of Hamlet, from the opening scene’s confrontation with a dead man’s ghost to the blood bath of the final scene, which occurs as a result of the disruption of the natural order of Denmark. Hamlet is a man with suicidal tendencies which goes against his Christian beliefs as he is focused on the past rather than the future, which causes him to fall into the trap of inaction on his path of revenge. Hamlet’s moral dilemma stems from the ghost’s appearance as “a spirit of health or a goblin damned”, making Hamlet decide whether it brings with...
The relationship between Hamlet and Claudius is problematic, largely due to the fact that they both wish death upon the other. For instance, they view each other as a threat, which is a foreboding sign within a royal family. When Hamlet learns that his father was murdered by his own uncle - Claudius, Hamlet vows to avenge his father’s death by killing Claudius when he is told, “But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown” (1.5.38-40). In other words, the ghost of Old King Hamlet informs Hamlet that Claudius has murdered him. He compares Claudius to a serpent, a large deadly
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "Hamlet." Literature: an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 11th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 1354+. Print.
Many have wondered why Hamlet, a work from around 400 years ago is relevant in modern society. One would think a piece of work written at the time based on a true story would eventually die out as it became irrelevant. That isn't the case of Hamlet and other works by Shakespeare simply because of how Shakespeare is able to wonderfully address the human condition and the fact that the human condition simply does not change within 400 years. As said by Craven a professor at UTSA, “Humans still experience love, loss, betrayal, war, humor and tragedy, which gives Shakespeare a foothold in modern times,”Due to this, Hamlet is still relevant today because its major themes such as love, betrayal, and tragedy are major forces that we as a species still have to deal with. These themes heavily resonates with us and can be seen in popular contemporary works that exist today such as Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games and the Twilight Series which shows us how Hamlet is relevant today because of its portrayal of human traits.
Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. Print.