Hamlet

Hamlet

Shakespeare wrote one of his most famous plays, Hamlet, in 1602. For four hundred years, this play has been the ultimate acting challenge. Many actors from Jonathan Pryce to Mel Gibson have acted out Hamlet in many different ways, but the plot remains the same and the story is always fascinating. The reason for the play living on for centuries is not only how rich and complex the plot is, but also because people living in any time period can relate to what Hamlet is going through, which makes the story even more intriguing. Every person has been depressed at one point in his or her life, although maybe not to Hamlet’s extent, and in the play, Hamlet carries out actions that ordinary people would think of doing but never actually perform them. The first set of quotes come right after Hamlet’s soliloquy. With only four words, “I loved you not” (3.1.119) Hamlet changes the entire mood of the play, and it keeps changing until the end of the story, when Hamlet says, “I loved Ophelia” (5.1.282), realizing what he has lost only after she dies.

Hamlet’s feelings towards Ophelia are one of the main themes of the play. The first time that Ophelia is introduced to the readers is when she talks to Laertes and Polonius about Hamlet, saying, “He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders/ Of his affection to me” (1.3.99-100). At this time the audience assumes that Hamlet loves her, and this belief is confirmed in other parts of the play. In the letter that Hamlet writes to Ophelia, which probably was not meant for anyone else’s eyes to see, he says, “Doubt truth to be a liar; / But never doubt I love” (2.2117-118). Thus, perhaps Polonius is right that some of Hamlet’s madness came from his love for Ophelia, which he could not un...

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... how Hamlet matures, in both his feelings and his mind. He is willing to, “Be buried quick with her” (5.1.292) because he realizes that he loves her so much.

Shakespeare’s play Hamlet has been read and studied for several centuries. The psychologist Freud based his theory of psychoanalysis and the unconscious on the play. This proves how complex the plot is, that it can be studied not only as a literary work but also as much more. In it, the main character Hamlet undergoes many changes from the beginning to the end of the book, as he matures. One of the most important changes Hamlet goes through is his love for Ophelia, as he goes from pretending to love her to appear crazy, to truly loving her more than life itself.

Works Cited

Parada, Carlos. Nymphs. 18 Sep. 1997. Greek Mythology Link. 19 Nov. 2000 *http://has.brown.edu/maicar/NYMPHS.html*.