Literary Analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet

Hamlet by Shakespeare is a very wonderfully written book that contains so many literary elements and motifs throughout it that it is still one of the most debated and talked about pieces of literature ever written. It begins with a very mysterious opening that sets the pace for the rest of the book. The old king of Denmark has died and he has returned as a ghost to inform his son, who is also named Hamlet, of the terrible misfortune that has befallen him and left Denmark in a political and emotional turmoil. He has come to inform the young Hamlet that his uncle Claudius murdered the old king in order to gain access to the throne by remarrying the widowed queen a mere two months after he has passed. The timing is very important because it had to be soon enough that young Hamlet would challenge him for access to the throne but the rushed wedding has caused the citizens of Denmark to question and be very critical of their new King Claudius. Now the sudden death of his father and the hurried wedding between his uncle and his mother has left him in a state of emotional turmoil that is noticeable to all that see him. The rest of the play is a seemingly endless maze of confusion, drama, and occasionally lunacy as Hamlet sets out to discover the truth about his uncle and eventually exact revenge for his father’s murder. (Lucking 3) This maze combined with Shakespeare’s tendency to be very broad and not always give the audience the whole picture seems to be why Hamlet continues to be one of the most widely debated pieces of literature in the twenty first century. One of the not so recognized motifs throughout the book or even in general is the friendship and support that Hamlet received throughout his continued state of turmoil. This frien...

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...ke Hamlet is going crazy or that everything is not going to work out for the best. Horatio is the only person that is always there for Hamlet and always plays the part of his truest and closest friend and that is something that is not always noticed by just the average member of the audience but it actually plays a big part in the play and could not be simply left out.

Works Cited

Thatcher, David. "English Studies." English Studies. 74.3 246. Web. 3 Dec. 2012. .

Lucking, David. "Hamlet And The Narrative Construction Of Reality." English Studies 89.2 (2008): 152-165. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.

Kumamoto, Chikako. "Shakespeare's HAMLET." Explicator 64.4 (2006): 202-205. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.