The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, is truly a triumphant of the English language. The underlying themes and messages woven into the intricate thread of the story help portray the character’s own self doubt, hopeless love, and disappointment. Central themes universal to much of humanity, including family, love, and revenge, are explored, creating an air of relatability and forward projection as the play barrels towards a tragic climax and sorrowful resolution. Due to the sheer grandeur of this epic play and the countless themes that it contains, both obvious and hidden, it is helpful to access sites such as Sparknotes in order to gain a better understanding of the complexities of this masterpiece.
Hamlet contains numerous iconic lines and thoughtful prose throughout the play, many of which still hold the same literary merit now that they did when the play was initially performed hundreds of years ago. Perhaps the most well known line from this play is the phrase “this above all: to thine own self be true”(1.3.88). Originally spoken to Laertes by Polonius as fatherly advice regarding Laertes’s upcoming travels, this quotation is a recurring theme throughout the rest of the play. It serves to further magnify Hamlet’s internal struggle regarding the series of events that the foundation of the play is built on. Throughout the play, he increasingly views his uncle turned King and father with the ultimate level of contempt. This man who stole his crown and destroyed his mother’s reputation was the personification of evil to Hamlet. This initial dislike soon morphs into hatred and rage as Hamlet is informed by presumably his father’s ghost that Hamlet’s father was murdered by the King, his brother. This knowledge, obtained at the beginning of the play, is the catalyst for Hamlet’s descent into madness; he becomes fixated on avenging his father’s death, and eventually allows for his rage to result in the unnecessary deaths of others, including Laertes and Ophelia. However, despite his intense negative opinion of the King and his increasing rage towards him as the play progresses, Hamlet goes against his instinct multiple times, resulting in an impression of Hamlet being self doubting.
According to SparkNotes, Hamlet is a play of uncertainty and indecisiveness, often exhibited by Hamlet himself. Additionally, SparkNotes goes on to further say that Hamlet “shows us how many uncertainties our lives are built upon, how many unknown quantities are taken for granted when people act or when they evaluate one another’s actions”(SparkNotes Editors). Despite Hamlet’s obvious internal strife, as made evident in the above paragraph and often made known to the audience through the numerous soliloquies in the play, he has a wavering and inconsistent resolve regarding whether to be true to himself and his plan to avenge his father’s murder based upon the knowledge that he has gathered. Throughout the play, Hamlet’s main goal is to kill his uncle, thus avenging his father’s death. freeing his mother, and allowing for himself to take his place as Denmark’s rightful king. However, multiple cases of inconsistency and self doubt ultimately contribute to Hamlet’s demise and tragic ending. Despite that fact that Hamlet convinces himself that “a villain kills my father, and for that,/I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven”(3.3.77-79), Hamlet is never able to summon enough courage to kill the King. He struggles with whether the message from the ghost is legitimate, and allows for the doubts in his head to obscure his beliefs and drive for action.
One point that SparkNotes emphasized on which I completely overlooked was the family ties that allowed for the words“this above all: to thine own self be true”(1.3.88) to even be spoken at all. Laertes, Ophelia, and Polonius have a traditional family with traditional values and an apparent love for each other. Their family juxtaposes the family of Hamlet, who has a mother that he is extremely disappointed with, a father who is dead, likely murdered, and a new stepfather who happens to be his uncle and the man the Hamlet suspects killed his father. The quote “This above all - to thine own self be true”(1.3.88) and the love and meaning behind is would have flourished in a healthy environment, such as Laertes, whereas it would have been stifled in the environment that Hamlet inhabited. This lack of love and the negative environment surrounding Hamlet could have contributed to his indecisiveness; he was never raised to be true to his own self, but rather to serve his country and his dysfunctional family.
From the very first act with the introduction of the ghost and the cold nighttime setting, Shakespeare establishes a dark and morbid tone. According to SparkNotes, the very first line of the play, which opens with “Who’s there?”(1.1.1), serves to establish a feeling of uncertainty and darkness. Hamlet is the perfect character with which to best encounter this world. He himself is a tortured soul, and eventually becomes increasingly darker himself as the play progresses. The numerous scenes containing funerals, deaths, and violence contribute to the morbid feel of the play, as well as the declining mental sanity of many characters in the play. Hamlet is on a continuous spiral into madness for most of the play. Additionally, King Claudius begins to become more deranged as he attempts to justify his murder and realizes that his soul is lost, and Ophelia begins to talk incomprehensibly after her father’s death; she beings to communicate only in sad songs and meaningless interjections.
After reading numerous Shakespeare plays and sonnets in school, I can confidently say that Hamlet was by far my favorite. Themes found in the play, including self doubt, confusion, love, and hate are all prominent in today’s culture. Despite being written over 400 years ago, this masterpiece still deserves a well respected spot on the bookshelf of every 21st century reader.
1 comment:
Your dissection of the play and specific attention to detail is especially evident in your writing style. You did well at hitting at the important parts of the play, and while you summarize enough for the reader to understand. You do a great job at propelling your writing and connecting it well.
I thought the most interesting part of your piece was when you pointed out the well-known line "This above all--- to thine own self be true." I had never considered it much except into the obvious connection of always staying true to who you are as a deeper meaning, as an author using a line to speak to the audience. I had never made the connection to Hamlet himself, as to who he was. I had never made the connection with his past and his family to that line!
I find your insight into Hamlet interesting. Personally I had always seen him as a colorful and emotional character, sometimes sad and quite morbid, but not always dark. I think I typically think of dark people as numb, and Hamlet always had emotion and feeling towards almost anything. Although, I do agree that his darkness begins to get more evident as the play continues, shown by his lack of emotion towards others and lack of fear for murder and its repercussions.
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