Hamlet

Author: Shakespeare
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, highlighting the author's humanistic ideas. Hamlet is an upright, optimistic, and idealistic young man who should have become a wise king, but the realities of society force him to feign madness and seek revenge. He is a product of his specific time in England. The tragedy of Hamlet's revenge has both subjective personality reasons and objective historical inevitability. Hamlet's revenge is not merely a personal act of vengeance but an unavoidable historical mission bestowed upon humanists by the era, making his revenge more arduous and complex. As a representative of light and progress, Hamlet possesses advanced thoughts and lofty ambitions, but he lacks life experience and fighting skills, placing him in a passive position in his quest for revenge. Despite Hamlet's admirable talents and his efforts to bring about change, he remains melancholic and indecisive, which ultimately seals his tragic fate of destruction alongside evil. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's primary tragedies, narrating the story of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, who studies at the University of Wittenberg in Germany. His uncle Claudius poisons his father, takes the throne, and also takes Hamlet's mother as his own. Upon returning home, Hamlet reveals the cause of his father's death through his father's ghost. Following the ghost's instructions, he decides to avenge his father, which makes Claudius, the king and his uncle, begin to suspect Hamlet. Under the plotting of counselor Polonius, he uses Hamlet's lover, Ophelia, to test him, and also sends Hamlet's two classmates, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to spy on him, all of which Hamlet foils. Hamlet uses the opportunity of a play performed in the court to prepare to kill the king. However, he mistakenly kills Ophelia's father. Ophelia, driven mad by her father's death at Hamlet's hands, takes her own life. Taking advantage of the situation, the king manipulates Polonius's son, Laertes, to challenge Hamlet to a duel, using a poisoned sword to kill him. In the end of the play, Hamlet, the king, the queen, and Laertes all meet their demise.
In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare reduces the ideal of humanists and the contradictions between feudal and capitalist society to moral conflicts between good and evil. He opposes violence and advocates humanity, showing sympathy for the suffering of the people, but he only recognizes the role of the individual, which inevitably leads to tragic works. At the same time, it exposes his weaknesses in creation: his timidity and unresolved inner conflicts, reflecting the shortcomings and irreconcilable contradictions of humanists during the Renaissance and the bourgeoisie's advanced intellectuals. Of course, Shakespeare's tragedies possess profound criticism, genuinely exposing and condemning the evil reality, creating unforgettable artistic figures. For example, the perfection of old Hamlet's character, his many vices, debauchery, cunning, and cruelty toward Claudius, as well as the hypocritical and treacherous nature of his double-dealing in front of others, contrasted with the flattering and fawning courtiers around him, such as Polonius, Laertes, Turandot, Guildenstern, Osric, and others. Especially Polonius's character is portrayed with remarkable vividness—he is worldly, self-satisfied, and unscrupulous in his pursuit of goals. The characters Ophelia and the queen, however, become victims of evil forces due to their weak wills and poor judgment. Shakespeare's mastery of language is truly remarkable. He assigns different characters distinct personalities and corresponding speech styles that change with their personalities.
The renowned British critic Johnson said in the Preface that "Shakespeare is worthy of praise because his plays are mirrors of the dramatic world, and also mirrors of lifeless nature; he is an exact observer of the living world." We should add: "Shakespeare's plays are mirrors of the mirror of life." I do not deny the truth, beauty, and linguistic prowess in Shakespeare's plays, but some individual words or phrases in his works are overly ornate, and some sentences are excessively long, lacking a sense of naturalness at times. For example, in the play Much Ado About Nothing, Petero says: "Come, let's listen to some music," and Claudio replies: "Very well, my lord. How still the evening is, as if one were holding one's breath." Another example: Petero: "Well then, let's leave it at that. Goodbye." Claudio: "Ah, right! Come a little closer; the birds are sleeping. I can't believe any young lady would fall in love with a man." Therefore, I believe that phrases like "the birds are sleeping" appearing in such contexts, along with too many similar expressions, lead to a qualitative change in language, making one feel as though life has lost its essence, as if people live in a fairy-tale world, and that artificial language is not the essence of life. Of course, these minor flaws in language do not diminish the status of this world-renowned artistic giant.
Shakespeare was a great poet and playwright of the entire Renaissance. As the British critic Johnson evaluated him: Shakespeare surpassed writers of his time, being a unique poet who held up a mirror to customs and the realities of life. He not only depicted people and events that already existed in real life but also those that might never have existed but could. Shakespeare's genius was not crushed by poverty, nor was he limited by the narrow social circles of the poor. He shook off the burdens of fate, just as a lion shakes off the dew from its mane. The source of life nourished the depths of his soul, and his wings were thus moistened. Shakespeare and Hamlet are great and sublime—rationality resting on the chair of truth, creating a brilliant halo.