Hamlet is possibly Shakespeare's best tragedy, it is certainly his most famous work. Everybody can quote "To be, or not to be?" To this day Hamlet is performed all over the world.
The play was written sometime between 1599 and 1601; it was a huge hit and has remained so ever since.
The Ongoing Fascination With Hamlet
However, over f400 years on, the play is still laregly a mystery. Scholars and critics have attempted to interpret Hamlet for centuries. Underneath the visual spectacle of epic sword fights, ghosts and skull-holding monologues, lies one of the most complex plays ever written. Perhaps this in part explains the never-waning fascination with Hamlet.
Many people have tried to untangle the complexities of the piece. Famously, Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, wrote about Hamlet, and claimed that he was suffering from the Oedipus complex.
Synopsis of The Play
The play is set in Elsinore, Denmark. The action takes place shortly after the ;f the King, who is also Hamlet's father. King Hamlet died in mysterious circumstances and in the first scene we learn that his ghost is stalking the castle. The ghost presents himself to the distraught Hamlet and explains that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius. To make matters worse Claudius has married Hamlet's mother, Gertrude.
The ghost of Hamlet's father persuades his son that revenge should be sought and the grieving young man vows to avenge his father's death.
Hamlet feels that he can no longer trust anybody. He is furius with his mother for her hasty re-marriage, and therefore, believes her to be part of the murder plot. Hamlet seems to be of a sensitive nature and the shock of losing his father, and the subsequent revelations about his murder, slowly cause his sanity to unravel.
This is a particular point of interest and a subject that has been hotly debated. It is not clear whether Hamlet is merely feigning madness to entrap his uncle, or if he is genuinely slipping into insanity. The famous "To be, or not to be?" soliloquy, in which Hamlet contemplates suicide, would appear to indicate that he is, at least in part, no longer of sound mind.
When a group of players arrives in Elsinore Hamlet hatches a plot to reveal his uncle's fratricide. Hamlet writes a play about his father's murder and requests that the actors perform it. The plan works and Claudius' reaction to the play convinces Hamlet of his guilt.
As Hamlet becomes more unhinged he begins to shun the ones who were once closest to him. Ophelia, whom he professed to love, becomes the victim of his rage-filled paranoia, and subsequently she commits suicide. Hamlet's ever increasingly erratic behaviour concerns Claudius, so he arranges for Hamlet to be shipped to England. But Hamlet has no intention of going anywhere and as he makes his final bid for revenge chaos ensues.
Modern Adaptations
As mentioned above, the play is still regularly performed on stage. It has also been adapted for television and film, most notably by Laurence Olivier, and later Kenneth Brannagh. Hamlet was also the inspiration for Tom Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which is based on two minor characters within the play.
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