Literary Criticisms of Shakespeare’s Hamlet Essay

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is a timeless play which continues to remain relevant across all generations due to its presentation of ideas that are fundamental to humanity. The play highlights aspects that relate to the society of not only Elizabethan England but also that of our modern society. Hamlet, as a character, considers ideas from outside his time and is somewhat relatable to modern day man. By drawing from ideas of archetypes and the human psyche, it reveals that Hamlet relates deeply to the elements of humanity.

murder in a rash mood. It is not seen by Gertrude. It tries to urge

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a work of immense depth in character development, most notably the personal, moral and psychological battles

Many people, while reading and studying Hamlet, often question the sanity of various characters throughout the play. There are many signs throughout Shakespeare’s writing that indicate a lost sense of sanity in the main characters Hamlet, his uncle/father Claudius, his mother/aunt Gertrude, and Ophelia. Each of these character’s sanity plays a large role in the plot of the play.

Hamlet has thrust upon him the dual responsibility of avenging his father and becoming a man. These new responsibilities push Hamlet’s already fragile sanity over the edge into madness. “Hamlet experiences anxiety both because of the dysfunction of previous masculine roles and because of his shames at their loss, a loss he holds himself accountable for” (Rosen, 63). Hamlet is instantly roused from a bout of depression at Horatio’s news of the ghost. Hamlet undoubtedly feels that this ghost might be able to put his mind at rest.

In the light of your critical study, does this statement resonate with your own interpretation of Hamlet?

With Hamlet being generally labeled as the best tragic hero ever created, it is ironic that his tragic flaw has never been as solidly confirmed as those of most of his fellow protagonists. There is Macbeth with his ambition, Oedipus with his pride, Othello with his jealousy, and all the others with their particular odd spots. Then there is Hamlet. He has been accused of everything and of nothing, and neither seems to stick. Flaws are carved out of obscure conversations when he may or may not be speaking truthfully and alleged from instances of his own self-discipline. They are bored into him with the bits of psychological drills invented long after Shakespeare's hand crafted

While most criticisms focus on individual characters, a more insightful criticism of the true nature of Hamlet can be drawn simply by analyzing the key relationships in play. These relationships - especially those dealing with women or issues of femininity - allow a level of interpretation that examines not merely the events of the play, but the true underlying significance of gender both to

Hamlet by Shakespeare is a very wonderfully written book that contains so many literary elements and motifs throughout it that it is still one of the most debated and talked about pieces of literature ever written. It begins with a very mysterious opening that sets the pace for the rest of the book. The old king of Denmark has died and he has returned as a ghost to inform his son, who is also named Hamlet, of the terrible misfortune that has befallen him and left Denmark in a political and emotional turmoil. He has come to inform the young Hamlet that his uncle Claudius murdered the old king in order to gain access to the throne by remarrying the widowed queen a mere two months after he has passed. The timing is very important because it

Hamlet has been praised and revered for centuries as one of William Shakespeare's best known and most popular tragedies. Based on its popularity, critics alike have taken various viewpoints and theories in order to explain Hamlet's actions throughout the play. The psychoanalytic point of view is one of the most famous positions taken on Hamlet.

In the tragedy, Hamlet, Gertrude is seen as the innocent bystander of the entire tragedy, making her less noticeable while reading or watching the play. However, going into an in-depth analysis causes multiple hints to arise that encourage a secret withheld within the story. From the eyes of Gertrude, the tragedy becomes a cover-up for the actual plot behind the previously stated murder. As the play progresses, the horrors that she has put her son through and the guilt surrounding her causes her to have a change of heart in the end, where she sacrifices herself as to ease her own conscience. The idea that Gertrude helped Claudius conspire to kill her husband, King Hamlet, becomes a very supportive theory when the story is rewritten in her point of view with a greater emphasis on her actions. In this essay, I will use parts of the story that seem otherwise unimportant through Hamlet’s eyes to highlight just one of the many underlying stories that take place within this Hamlet.

W.H. Clemen in “Imagery in Hamlet Reveals Character and Theme” describes the pervasive influence which the Ghost’s words have on the entire play:

The character of Hamlet changes and develops throughout the play. For the most part, like many of us, he is known to be a good person. From the beginning, he has been sad and mourning the loss of his father. King Hamlet’s ghost later arrives and finds Hamlet to talk to him. He begins to explain how he died and reveals that it was murder. His brother, Claudius, poisoned him in the middle of the night. “So, while sleeping, I was deprived by a brother’s hand all at once of my life, my crown, and my queen, and cut off when I was full of sin, without the sacrament of communion, not prepared by confession, not anointed with the last rites” (Act I, Scene v). The ghost also encourages Hamlet to “Revenge his revolting and most unnatural murder” (Act I, Scene v). Although he is uncertain and reluctant about killing Claudius, he swears to get revenge to show him love and obey what he commanded.

Shakespeare is most commonly known for his poetry and playwrights. He is globally regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. Plays such as Macbeth, Romero and Juliet, and King Lear were some of his most successful tragedies. What made them so famous was the use of creating the main character to be tragic heroes. They were characters who were destined for suffering and defeat. The reason for their down falls was their defects that lead them to their downfall. He reveals his characters to be ultimimatly human and reveals a sense of potential heroism in everyone. By addressing his message that no one is perfect, he creates a connection with his audience. This creates a plot twist to society’s definition of a happy ending therefore making Shakespeare such a unique writer.

With the appearance of the ghost the reader is, whether they realize it or not, being challenged to take a position on Hamlet's state of mind. At first the reader may take it at face value assuming that a ghost is a ghost and should be accepted as such. But after a deeper look using the psychoanalytic perspective of critical evaluation, it becomes believable that the ghost is just a trick of Hamlet's mind used to justify his urges to avenge his father's death, a sort of madness. It is hard to decide what to think about Shakespeare's introduction of the ghost because of the two different ways he portrays it.