William Shakespeare is renowned as one
of the world’s most prolific and prominent playwrights. Hamlet is a tragedy among Shakespeare’s many works, telling the
story of a young prince of Denmark as he embarks on an emotional journey to
avenge his father and find himself. Hamlet
expresses the theme of uncertainty and challenging one of life’s heaviest
questions: “To be, or not to be?”
A theme that was greatly exercised
throughout the play is uncertainty. The play opens with Horatio and the guard
Bernardo, Francesco and Marcellus debating if the supposed ghost they saw was
truly an apparition of the supernatural. Horatio claims “ ’tis but [their]
fantasy; And will not let belief take hold of him.” In short, they are
uncertain if the ghost truly exists. Later, when the ghost does, indeed,
appear, its resemblance to the late King causes them to query if this is the
King’s own spirit. Marcellus asks Horatio to “Question it”. Later, having been
convinced of the ghost’s existence, they inform Hamlet, the prince. Hamlet is
quick to follow the ghost, but doubtful towards the veracity of its claims that
the late King was murdered by the current King and his own brother, Claudius.
It is Hamlet’s uncertainty which leads to his staging of the play - he commands
a performance about his father’s murder according to the ghost’s retelling.
Hamlet states that “If ‘a steal caught the whilst this play is playing; And ‘scape
detecting, I will pay the theft”. His uncle, Claudius, does react in a manner
of guilt, confirming his role in the late King’s murder. Hamlet vows to avenge
his father’s death. However, Claudius prays and confesses his guilt in private
as Hamlet is about the commit the deed. Claudius’s confession causes Hamlet to
stop. He believes Claudius’s confession would earn him forgiveness and would
allow his soul to enter heaven upon death: “A villain kills my father, and for that,;
I, his sole son, do this same villain send; To heaven.” Hamlet’s uncertainty in
the state of Claudius’s immortal soul renders him unwilling to kill him lest it
send Claudius to a better place.
The greatest uncertainty of the play and
of life itself is death. In Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, he ponders “To be, or
not to be’. He considers how terrible life is, how humans are commanded by “outrageous
fortune” and subjected to “a sea of troubles”. Ultimately, he comes to the
conclusion that “the dread of something after death; The undiscovered country,
from whose bourn; No traveler returns, puzzles the will,; And makes us rather
bear those ills we have; Than fly to others that we know not of?” Because of
everybody’s uncertainty towards what happens after death - a journey where “no traveler
returns” - we would prefer embracing the troubles inflicted upon us by Life,
than venture into more unknown worries that Death might foist upon us. Hamlet
states that “conscience does make cowards of us all”. I am inclined to agree
with Shakespeare’s perspective on the matter of death; we are afraid because we
are uncertain. How can we ever know what happens to us after death? In the end,
no matter how unhappy we feel whilst alive, the uncertainty concerning what
lies after death is incentive enough to stop us from “[our] quietus make; With
a bare bodkin”.
I enjoyed the play in that Shakespeare
introduces the play’s protagonist, Hamlet, not as a worldly, wise or lovable
character, but a spoiled, selfish and arrogant one. In some ways, the reader
sympathizes with Hamlet’s plight; his mother has married his uncle before his
father was cold in his grave. But Hamlet’s poor treatment of Ophelia and his
immaturity exhibited throughout the play - “Buzz Buzz” - do not give rise to
great pleasure within the reader. From beginning to end, Hamlet is truly a lost
soul. He is constantly searching for release from the closeted lifestyle he
leads.
Shakespeare has been known to create
entirely new English words through his work. The imagery and language he
employs to describe his characters and the setting is vivid and rich. For
example, the players hired by Hamlet are extraordinarily flamboyant, speaks of
a voice “like a piece of uncurrent gold”. The formal, old English can be hard
to comprehend at times, but the phrasing of sentences is elegant and pleasant
to the ear.
Hamlet is not my favourite Shakespearean
play; it is wholly too tragic. I enjoy the questions Shakespeare presents to
the reader, demonstrating his forward-thinking in a relatively conservative
society and period. Reading this play, I thought a lot more about what life
means to me. I have come to the conclusion that although it has its crests and
troughs, it is in no way as bleak and dismal as Hamlet describes. Hamlet is a
character longing for the melodramatic and hysterical if only to excite the
world around him. I have no such desire for the extreme. Still, the beautiful
prose was enjoyable and I managed to ponder more about life’s darkest question.
- Calista
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