Hamlet: The Epitome of Timeless Literature

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Hamlet: The Epitome of Timeless Literature

“If all the plays ever suddenly disappeared and only Hamlet miraculously survived, all the theaters in the world would be saved. They could all put on Hamlet and be successful”- Vsevolod Meyerhold (a Russian director). Why is it that Hamlet alone could save the theaters? It could be the basic, underlying story: that the King kills his brother in order to obtain the throne forcing his son to seek revenge. This key factor can be interpreted differently depending on who is reading the play which leads to its timelessness and universality.

Based off of an old Norse play by Kyd, Shakespeare took the “revenge play” and made it modern for it’s time. Although it followed the same pattern; a king is killed by his brother who then marries his wife, in the meanwhile the prince has to avenge his father while avoiding being killed by the new king. Shakespeare’s innovation of adding in the aspect of politics drives the play to be a successful hit in every decade. People can always relate to deception, and Shakespeare has done it both politically and personally. It starts off with political deception by finding out that the king is dead and Claudius has taken the throne. In the times of monocracy this was always a concern because one always had to wonder if the new leader would be a tyrant and repressive. In terms of modern application this could be equivalent to corruption in our government. When running for office if one has unfairly and dissolutely (for example with bribes) taken control of a position over an opponent it can be like “murdering” them politically.

There is also a lot of personal deception throughout Hamlet. This is mostly done through spying and secrecy. In the beginning Claudi...

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... to make choices as to how they wanted to act out those scenes. Nevertheless, the ghost is an important part of the play that will always lead to questions in the readers mind. Does the ghost cause Hamlet to go mad or is that madness within that causes the ghost to be revealed? Is it the ghost who causes Hamlet to seek revenge or the unraveling truth of Claudius’s murder? These questions may change with every generation but as some questions get answered others come forth which leads audiences to always be captivated by Hamlet.

Today we can see remnants of Hamlet throughout modern literature and TV. Before kids even know who Shakespeare is they are learning the underlying theme of Hamlet while watching “The Lion King.” When sitting down for the Monday night drama Heroes, millions throughout the world are watching revenge stories based off of Hamlet, come to life.

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