Hamlet Blog Post

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William Shakespeare’s renowned play Hamlet explores the internal struggle of the main character, Hamlet, as he attempts to avenge his father’s death and the control of his kingdom. Hamlet’s character acts increasingly distressed throughout the play, which portrays the fine line between sanity and madness. Hamlet is invigorated by his need for revenge, but continues to put off acting against Claudius, the murderer, with the excuse of trying to gather more concrete evidence.  Hamlet’s character is uncertain and hesitant, despite the clear evidence that Claudius is the guilty party. This is what sets Hamlet apart from other plays that also contain themes of revenge. 
The play builds a sense of uncertainty, which establishes Hamlet as an unreliable narrator who is either pretending to be mad or is actually clinically insane. This creates distrust between the audience and the storytellers, as the dialogue is not a reliable way to obtain information. Shakespeare creates a unique relationship between the audience and the characters, because his use of unreliable characters places a barrier between the acting and reality. People have to analyze the play as a separate entity from themselves, instead of trying to relate to a clear, specific situation. This lens is different from the normal perspectives writing by an author, who would usually try to connect with the audience, and establish a story anyone could be immersed in. 
While the actions of Hamlet are based on a rational, real quagmire, his reaction to this is uncontrolled. There is no distinction between Hamlet when he is acting as if he is crazy, or when he is truly insane. At the beginning, this idea of Hamlet’s dual identities is established but not challenged—however, through the rising action there is a consistent spiral into irrational madness. This continues to the point where even Hamlet questions his mental state. Hamlet was an extremely interesting play that discussed the unknowns of the mind. It is especially impressive that Shakespeare could provide such insightful questions on the subconscious and the construct of sanity in the early 1600s, when this topic was not as studied or understood.  

Comments

  1. Mellin AP LitOctober 20, 2019 at 6:43 AM

    Great blog post Bailey! I really appreciate your consideration of the relationship between the audience and the characters and how it is full of uncertainty and distrust in Hamlet. I also like how you touched on revenge and duality, two common motifs across most of Shakespeare's plays. The only part of this post that I disagree with is that you think that the audience is unable to relate to Hamlet. While this may be true relating to his possible insanity, I believe that there are many aspects of Hamlet that are relatable and perhaps even evoke sympathy from the audience. For example, Hamlet's father was murdered by his Uncle Claudius. This is a bit of an extreme, but I am sure many of us have lost loved ones and are able to understand his feelings despite the barrier of distrust you mentioned.

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