The Truth Behind William Shakespear's Hamlet

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The Truth Behind William Shakespear's Hamlet

"A Tragedy must not be the spectacle of a perfectly good man brought from prosperity to adversity. For this merely shocks us" -Aristotle-300bc (pg. 229,Shakespearean criticism, vol. 3)

William Shakespeare, one of the greatest dramatists in the world, has been famous and well known since the early 1600's. Some of his greatest works have been reproduced hundreds of times. He wrote poems, sonnets, plays, tragedies, histories, and comedies. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most famed and remembered tragedies. All of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies have tragic heroes and several dark, disturbing endings. This pattern also includes Hamlet. The play of Hamlet is completely based on deception, lies, selfishness, and fear. During this essay, I will specify key incidents throughout the play to prove that tragic heroes have tragic endings, that had the truth been told time and again than many deaths could have been prevented. Also how Shakespeare places Ophelia in the wrong era, and about miscommunications can affect peoples out look on life.

All of Shakespeare's tragic heroes also have tragic endings. Hamlet, for example, cannot let go of his father's death; therefore trapping him in a time warp or parallel universe he created himself in his own mind "He kept pretending he was insane even after he was sure that Claudius killed his father (Pg. 1, The Tragedy of Hamlet, unknown)." Had Hamlet not gone insane in the first place, maybe he would not have died or had his stepfather attempt to kill him. If only Hamlet had told others aside from Horatio the truth about him knowing of his fathers murder than perhaps Hamlet may have had some hopes of survival. Yet right off the bat the play is opened with two immediate lies: one, Hamlet's father was murdered by his brother, not of natural causes; two, Hamlet learns the truth and also tells no one of it or that he is just pretending to be crazy.

Hamlet lies, his uncle lies, Ophelia lies, Ophelia's father Polonius lies to her, Laertes, Hamlet's friend's lie to him, the priest lies at Ophelia's burial, and even his mother Gertrude lies of her love to the uncle/husband Claudius. Every one lies about something significant in the duration of the play. All of the characters lost their true love, sanity, families, and worst of all, they lost themselves.

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