Hamlet

Credited as being Shakespeare’s longest running play and inspiring numerous stage and screen adaptations including Disney’s The Lion King, Hamlet is easily one of the most beloved and hectic of Shakespearian tragedies. It covers all grounds from the supernatural to the disintegration of the human mind as well as questions of politics, succession, family, and loyalty. Although I’ve confessed to not being a fan of Shakespeare in the slightest, I do wish now to remedy this aforementioned statement as it does not entirely ring true. I never knew the man personally so I can have no cause as to hate him as I do. T’would be just wrong.  His plays and the stories he’s concocted are wondrous, there can be no doubt. When I say “I hate Shakespeare” what I really mean is that I rather forcefully detest the idea that we are force-fed his works from the ripe age of 12-13, particularly in the subject of English. Now, if it were Drama or even a Film Studies course, I could understand, but the fact that we’re required to read and glean meaning from the texts is just downright ridiculous! He wrote plays people, and plays are not meant to be read, but seen and heard! This is where my hatred stems from: I can understand that Shakespeare’s works make it into the canon and are universally celebrated and beloved, but I don’t agree that they should be a compulsory reading requirement, especially in high school when only 2 in a million are actually cultured enough to appreciate it. In high school, I did Macbeth, Othello, and The Taming of the Shrew and it’s only now, in university doing Hamlet that I’ve come to be appreciative. 

The king of Denmark is dead and his brother, Claudius, sits on the throne; married to the widowed Queen Gertrude and now father of his grieving nephew Prince Hamlet. But one night, the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears before him and reveals that it was Claudius who killed him by spilling poison in his ear. Hamlet determines to avenge his father and adopts the façade of being mad with grief so that he might reveal Claudius’ guilt and carry out his revenge. 

Iconic for Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” monologue, the play is filled with absolutely everything, making it a story that can be so easily adapted and reinterpreted time and time again in new mediums. Though this is typical of practically all Shakespeare’s plays, hence why he makes it into the canon. 

Definitely one of the more tragic of tragedies (practically no one is left standing by the end) the play is characterised by beautifully worded and lengthy monologues, recurring motifs, memorable characters, and there’s a thousand and one ways you can interpret the meanings of actions and words. I don’t know, you can’t really review Shakespeare because everyone knows it and what is there to say that hasn’t already been said? 

Filled with action, romance, betrayal, drama, comedy, and death, there is little question as to why Hamlet is the most beloved of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Let’s just leave it at that shall we?