senna
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response 14 of 14:
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Apr 10 18:25 UTC 2002 |
William Shakespeare's Hamlet is widely regarded as one of the
great works of Western literature, a timeless play that still invites
controversy, commentary, and division 500 years after it was written.
The play is a mainstay of classrooms across the country, drawing
students into its compelling drama year after year. The reason it has
endured so well as a critical element of Western lexicon is its mystery;
nobody can identify with any certainty the motives of either the
protagonist or the author, and libraries worth of books have been
written on the subject. The fact that is so often lost, however, is
that it is surprisingly clear what Shakespeare intends with this play:
with his own twist on the great morality plays of Sophocles, Shakespeare
has created a play that speaks out against hubris and Godly
role-assumption. Hamlet is essentially a three-act play that is
extended to five much bloodier acts by Hamlet's decision to play deity
in his choice to delay killing Claudius when presented with a perfect
opportunity.
The reader understands from early in the play that Hamlet's
father has been murdered, and it does not take long to see that Claudius
is the culprit. Even if one mistrusts the Ghost, the guilt of Claudius
is plain and there is no attempt to conceal it. Hamlet's role quickly
reveals itself, through the Ghost, to be the avenger of his father's
death. "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder," (1.5: 31) says the
Ghost, and the path is clear. There are no qualifications and no
secondary objectives. Hamlet is not charged to return justice to the
land, or to feed the poor, or to remove all evil from Denmark, or to
make his revenge especially gruesome and dramatic, but to avenge his
father.
Hamlet spends time struggling with the situation he has been
cast into in the earlier parts of the play, but by Act 3 his plan
coalesces and moves toward fruition. Hamlet's feelings of conscience
force him to determine Claudius' guilt beyond doubt, and he decides to
do this using the arts. A play is organized that, through scenes that
mimic the murder of Hamlet's father, will have such a clear effect on
Claudius that his guilt will be obvious.
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