What Hamlet Told
After finishing the famous Hamlet by Shakespeare, I can say that I have generated many fresh thoughts about the western culture. I believe many have already known the story about Hamlet, so here are some of my explanations. The story of Hamlet focuses around the conflict within the royal palace in the Kindom of Denmark, characters include of course, Prince Hamlet himself, and his royal family members along with some of the faithful servants like Horatio and Polonius.
It is in this royal conflict, we can see that one of the most famous line expressed by Prince Hamlet, "To be, or not to be: that is the question."(Act III, Scene 1, Line 56) This line, is very important as how much it connects to the play, as well as it represents a struggle in real life for many people. As we go deeper into the play, we clearly see that the Prince Hamlet, is not the typical hero of justice, but a questionable figure driven by the desire of vengeance, the emotion of struggled can be seen from him through the entire play. What's more interesting is that not only Hamlet, but we can also see that almost all the other characters are experiencing their kind of struggles as well, and thus from all the elements gathered together, we may somewhat understand why the ending is so bloody and chaotic.
Hamlet 5.2 The end - Youtube - By 泓睿黃
What I Think About Hamlet
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| Horatio, Hamlet, and the ghost By Henry Fuseli, 1789 |
I think that Hamlet is mainly chaotic, as the way it is presented to us. I can see the sense of chaos from many clashing between elements, deception and truth, order and disorder, all of these are active throughout the play, it all started from Hamlet was told the murder of his father by the ghost. From there, we understand that the authority is out of order, the throne and queen has been taken by someone else, and Hamlet driven by hatred, is going to undo the disorder, "My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!"(Act IV, Scene 4, Line 66) Also from various other details, such as Laertes furious arriving to the palace to seek answers from his father's death, which can also be seen as a foil to Hamlet because their ways of seeking revenge are the exact opposite.
In these events, we can also feel the deception runs deep, as many characters, mainly Hamlet and Claudius, have kept their seeds in their minds. If we have been feeling all of these elements through the events from the play, then we would get a sense that the elements are connected to each other, whether it's foil, deception, or disorder, it's exactly these elements that ultimately forged Hamlet into anti-hero, one that has blood on hands because of his decisions.
Why Hamlet Is Relatable
The reason that why Hamlet is relatable shouldn't need much explanation, it stands as one of the giants in the world of literature. Themes in this play is classic yet for many times it still generate fresh ideas. I guess the main point that it is relatable is because how big of a tragedy it presented, especially the ending, when the order of authority is reformed but still many things stayed lost. "And let me speak to the yet unknowing world / How these things came about: so shal you hear / Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, / Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters."(Act V, Scene 2, Lines 383-386) In fact, many people today could have similar situations like Hamlet, as authority is out of order, elements like honesty and purtiy become challenged. After all, the story of Hamlet can be seen by many perspectives, but definitely not in the perspective of an odyssey, because Hamlet is just a limited mortal prince, like many of us.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William, et al. Cliffscomplete Shakespeare’s Hamlet : Complete Text, Commentary, Glossary. Foster City, Calif., Idg Books, 2000.
Wikipedia Contributors. “Hamlet.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Nov. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet. Accessed 4 Apr. 2021.
泓睿黃. “Hamlet 5.2 the End.” YouTube, 25 July 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdiDy8v2G50. Accessed 4 Apr. 2021.
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