Hamlet Cultural Mentality

Throughout history, class distributions have constantly been a serious issue. Many compositions today display social disparity; however, to recognize it, one needs to look through the proper lens. Literary critical lenses help to understand a work from a different angle which leads to a further interpretation of the composition. There are many lenses and aspects in literature, and one of them is the Marxist Theory. Also known as the Conflict Theory, this idea asserts that class struggle is a powerful divider in society. Although it is a social idea, this concept also relates to literature. In his play Hamlet, William Shakespeare demonstrates class struggles. Looking at this composition through the lens of the Marxist Theory, one uncovers that the dominant ones suppress and exploits the others seeking to display their superiority.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark has been performed thousands of times since it was “written in 1599–1601 and published in a quarto edition in 1603” (Britannica.com). It’s popularity stems from its themes that translate across time. These themes, are seen to be relatable even to this day with the ever growing audience. Readers and viewers are able to find similarities between the current state and or even relate to one of the characters or events taking place over the course of Shakespeare’s five act masterpiece. Shakespeare's, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark remains a viable text for contemporary readers in that it functions as a mirror.

Custer’s Last Stand. The Battle of Stalingrad. Napoleon’s Russian Campaign. The introduction of the Pontiac Aztek. All epic failures, yes, but moreover, all epic failures caused by arrogance on behalf of the aggressor. Custer’s rampant jingoism caused him to assault those Native Americans with only a meager squad of troops. Napoleon’s Napoleon complex pushed him to drive his troops thousands of miles across Eurasia only to face the Red Army in winter. GM’s bravado at an upswing in the market cycle led it to release a hideous crossover with no true target audience. Whether it is some raging lust that blinds us to our faults or an innate flaw that leads us to secretly desire carnage and disorder, pomposity is often the cause of the pockmarks

People sympathise with characters that they can relate to. In the play Hamletwritten by William Shakespeare, the playwright masterfully positions the reader to sympathize with a manipulative flawed protagonist, who has a debilitating inability to act, with a simultaneous tendency to be impulsive. As a tragic hero, Hamlet is represented as a victim of unfortunate and uncontrollable circumstances. Shakespeare emphasizes this through the use of many different stylistic devices. Overthinking will almost always lead to an inability to act. When we overthink an action, we are almost certain to find an array of intimidating outcomes that prevent us from proceeding. Shakespeare plays on this attribute of Hamlet as a relatable trait. “Why yet I live

People are under immense societal pressures when making decisions; friends, coworkers, and family members input their opinions on what they believe is best. This external force exerts pressure on them to conform to their ideas. In addition to others imposing their opinions, people can impact others through tragic events such as a death in the family. These can test their core values and cause them to re-evaluate their ideologies. In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet’s father dies and his mother, Gertrude, remarries soon after the death. Hamlet is initially bothered not only by the death of his father, but by his mother’s quick remarriage, because he felt as though Gertrude did not fully pay her respects and honor his death. However, after meeting and speaking with the ghost of his father, he learns the terrible truth. Hamlet’s father was killed at the hands of Claudius, his uncle and now stepfather, with the intent to obtain the throne. In a plea for vengeance, Hamlet’s father tries to convince him to kill Claudius. Claudius, on the other hand, presses Hamlet from the opposite side to fulfil his own visions for him. In Hamlet, society, as exemplified by his father and Claudius, causes Hamlet much distress as he’s torn between two versions of who he could be. This leads him to explore the act of suicide as an option to escape the new realities of his problematic existence. Ultimately, Hamlet’s realization and acceptance that it is impossible to meet society’s expectations

It is often heard: Nobody is Perfect. This phrase is often used as a rationalization of foolish human mistakes that could have been prevented.  However, this statement has a much more profound significance. It contains an important lesson that guides or rather should guide people through life.  By admitting that nobody is perfect, the individual demonstrates a deeper understanding of the human nature and inner self. This knowledge is essential to the individual's creation of healthy relationships with one's surrounding.  For as Robert A. Johnson asserts in his book, He, "perfection or a good score is not required; but consciousness is"(76).  In William Shakespeare's

Shakespeare uses the focal point of acting in Hamlet as a technique to emphasise many areas that compliment not only the characters personalities (such as the argument that surrounds Hamlets madness), but also the plots (the unveiling of Hamlets plays which intends to demonstrate how the king killed the old king, Hamlet). Acting falls onto every character in the play, whether it be the constant spying going on, the deliberation of real innocence, and hiding behind the largest lie that is the reason for the entire play itself.

Derived from opinions and views of the Father of Communism and adapted to fit literature both modern and classic, the Marxist lens is a particular way to view literature in relation to a powerful bourgeoisie that abuses a less powerful or economically prevalent proletariat. Upon viewing a text through this lens, common themes such as said abusement and commonly struggles for power become commonplace. Through these lens, one can view Shakespeare’s Hamlet and find social classes set in the book and desires for power within and between them. While viewing Hamlet through the Marxist lens, one could identify the tragedy as a struggle for power and a lesson on retaliation and violence overall.

Throughout Hamlet, Shakespeare shows the inherent complications and unintended conflict between rank and social class by making the members of the lower class experience hardships and conflict at the hands of the royal family and upper class. The idea of social class distinction is very prevalent in Hamlet and how each character interacts with every other character. Despite the fact that Shakespeare wrote Hamlet centuries before the Industrial Revolution and the rise a large divide between the one percent and the bourgeoisie, it was still written during a time of class struggle. During the time of Shakespeare, the feudal system of land-ownership was in full effect, and the people struggled for freedom from their monarcho-fascist oppressors.

William Shakespeare pessimistically argues in his tragic play, Hamlet, that humans’ evil predisposition towards disingenuity leads to the degeneration of the individual due to the severance of relationships and the demise of self-respect. According to Shakespeare, human nature is such that humans misdirect, scheme against, or outright lie to others to further self-serving ends that ultimately do more harm than good. Throughout the play, Shakespeare employs contrasts and metaphors to demonstrate how dishonesty destroys trust and results in the demise of vital human connections with both family and friends. When individuals use deception to satisfy selfish desires, Shakespeare argues that this results in the death of an individual’s peace of mind. He uses personification of the soul and condemning diction to depict how duplicitous practices result in oppressive guilt.

Hamlet, a sociopathic narcissist uses vengeance, a retribution of an action done toward him. He uses the death of his father as justification for his actions. In his mind he believes he can use revenge to gain power and control. By using vengeance, he is convincing everyone in his surroundings of his power. In Shakespeare's play, “Hamlet”, a theme of power occurs often. Hamlet’s compulsion revolves around the death of his father. As a protagonist, Hamlet is also a hero. His actions toward his control, are both moral and immoral implications involved through demanding revenge.

This quotation is talking about two opposing views about tragedies. The first and the traditional one is liberal humanism, which deals with the topic of the tragic hero and his fatal flaw, as in Hamlet, for instance, in where this fatal flaw is his delay in revenge because he thinks too much. The second and the opposite view is cultural materialism, which is a combination of historical context, theoretical method, political commitment and textual analysis according to what Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield explain in their article Political Shakespeare: Essays in cultural Materialism. Although the quote refers to both perspectives, it is better to focus the essay on the most appropriate one, related to what the quote is saying, that is, the cultural materialist view.

Texts become valued over time when they explore challenging and enduring ideas relevant to humanity. Hamlet (1603), a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, examines many important themes throughout the story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, who seeks revenge for his father’s murder at the hands of his uncle, Claudius. The theme of action and inaction within the play highlights the need for balance within the human mind. The innate human pursuit of knowledge is personified by the theme of death. Finally, the use of archetypal characters causes the reader to empathise with them, allowing a greater emotional connection to the story.

William Shakespeare was born on April 23th, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon. In his plays and poems, Shakespeare invented thousands of words, combining or contorting Latin, French and native roots. He wrote more than thirty plays. There are mainly divided into four categories, comedian, tragedies, histories and romances.

The development of Polonius through his interactions with others serves as an aspect of Shakespeare’s Hamlet particularly suited for a Marxist analysis. While his pompous and long-winded ramblings have served as comic fodder for generations of readers, a Marxist reading reveals the insidious nature behind the text’s contempt for royal sycophancy. Polonius, who is of a lower-class status than the royal family, and who presumably lives during a feudal era which featured asymmetric distributions of wealth and power privileging the royalty and their allies, most probably regales figures of the royal family with circuitous servility to secure his survival as a member of a subordinate class. However, the text portrays Polonius’s incessantly pompous sycophantic tendencies as reflections of his, and in extension the noble class’s, inner character. Implicit in this portrayal is a classist ideology which ascribes inherent characteristics to lower classes, using these traits to justify the differential treatment of the classes.