Hamlet

Throughout the years many books have been written, some fail to leave an impression others leave one like an imprint in the sand, only temporary and others survive the tests of time, hamlet is one of these, written over 400 years ago, many of hamlets themes and techniques are still relevant to today’s society. Shakespeare’s use of dramatic and literary techniques keeps the audience on edge throughout the whole play, Shakespeare’s ability to do this so sound is what makes it interesting to people today as well as relevant. After reading hamlet you see how Shakespeare’s use of dramatic and literary techniques shape the story, from the start we realise that hamlet is a revenge tragedy, when Claudius kills then king hamlet, like all revenge stories there is motivation behind the characters to carry out their ambitious goals. There are many themes with in hamlet which Shakespeare conveys superbly throughout hamlet, death, revenge, questioning death, Inevitability, Natural Order, appearance versus reality and hierarchy. Shakespeare’s ability to link his themes through his techniques shows how good a writer Shakespeare was, Throughout hamlet Shakespeare conveys his themes through many different techniques, Soliloquy ( to be or not to be by hamlet), Mistaken identity (hamlet kills Polonius) , Concealment, alliteration and allusions. We see right from the start Shakespeare’s writing ability, we see young hamlet questioning his father’s death as well as his own mortality, and he realizes that life won’t last forever and even considers the dreadful sin of suicide, which back then was seen as a defiant act against gods wishes, hamlet continues to question death the whole way through the play this is none more evident than in his famous to be or not to be soliloquy, also from act 1 we see the main theme of the play revenge, after young hamlet learns the truth of his father’s death he swears “swift retribution. Hamlet is still interesting and relevant today is because of Shakespeare’s ability to use universal themes and convey theme through his, themes and the way he presents them to the audience. The main theme in hamlet is death; death is evident right throughout hamlet from when Claudius kills king hamlet to the last act when hamlet himself dies. Death is the main foundation for all that unfolds in hamlet, the revenge, the betrayal and the crumbling of Denmark all start because of death. Shakespeare’s ability to so vividly convey this message to the audience is the key to its success, we as the audience often know what is going on more so then what the characters themselves do, Shakespeare’s aptitude to so effectively show the characters true feelings to the audience and hide it from the others is truly remarkable. Shakespeare’s uses of soliloquies throughout hamlet help to show these true feelings and motivation, none more so then hamlets “to be or not to be” speech (act 3 scene 1 pg 105), in this soliloquy we again see hamlet questioning death (a theme), as well as death itself (main theme), this is one example how Shakespeare has used both dramatic and literary techniques to convey hamlets universal themes. Shakespeare’s ability to still engage and interest an audience today is one reason why hamlet is still around, his ability to use both dramatic and literary techniques makes hamlet stand out, his use of universal themes also helps hamlet to stand the tests of time, revenge is another one of these universal themes, and is another main theme of hamlet. Hamlet is a revenge tragedy, the story starts out when the ghost of king hamlet commands hamlet seek revenge for his death “if thou didst ever thy dear father love” (act 1 scene 5 pg 45), another example revenge is when Laertes seeks revenge on hamlet for his fathers and Ophelia’s death (act 4 scene 7 pg 193) “to cut his throat I’th’church” Laertes seeks bloody revenge on hamlet, he conspires with Claudius to kill hamlet, which inevitably kills all three men, as we see from this death is the key to hamlet, all revenge in the play stems from some form of death, and we as an audience often see what is going to happen before it eventuates, through the soliloquies. We see throughout out hamlet that many of the characters often aren’t what they appear to be, and Shakespeare’s use of appearance versus reality is essential to how hamlet unfolds, as the play unfolds Hamlet finds out his father king hamlet was murdered by his brother and soon to be king Claudius. The theme that remains continuous throughout hamlet is appearance versus reality. Things/characters within the play often appear to be true and honest but in reality are plagued with evil; many of the main characters within hamlet often hide behind a mask of falseness. Polonius, King Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the four main characters that hide behind the “mask”, we see two sides to these characters one from behind the mask when around hamlet, and they seem to a person who is genuine and honest, but in reality we see them plagued with deceit, lies and evil. King Claudius is the main character that hides behind the “mask” he not only deceives hamlet by saying he wants to be his father, he also liars to the Gertrude and Denmark. Killing the king was seen as the ultimate sin and not only did Claudius kill the king he killed his own brother and hide it from everyone. Claudius finally reveals his guilt when he confess in church to kill the king (act 3 scene 3 pg 137) “... a brothers murder. Pray can I not...” Claudius admits to killing his brother and king, and this is the first time hamlet sees him without his “mask” on. The reason why hamlet doesn’t kill Claudius here is because he wants to kill him at sinful moment, thus not sending him to heaven, biblical references are a big part of hamlet, this is also why hamlet himself dose not commit suicide (act 1 scene 2 lines 129-132) “the everlasting... his cannon (law) ‘gainst self slaughter” God forbids it. This is why when Ophelia dies, many question whether or not it was suicide and whether or not she received special treatment because of her standing in the community. When it comes to Ophelia’s funeral the priest, himself does not believe in giving her a “Christian” burial but by orders of the king he does. (Act 5 scene 1 pg 211 lines 193-195) “Her obsequies have been as far enlarged as we have warranty....her death was doubtful....” Such was the power of the church back then everyone followed their rules and laws. Hamlet is a well written play, and is exceptional written for its era (Elizabethan), the use of themes such as death; revenge and appearance versus reality were all strong back then, also the use of God and the church. From this point of view we see that hamlet was right in not killing Claudius when in church because he would have gone to heaven and rather he waited until a time of sin so that he would suffer long after death. Also hamlet maintained the image of his family and the wishes/law of god by not committing suicide; instead he brought honour to his family by avenging his father’s death, as well as Shakespeare’s ability to use a range of dramatic and literary techniques in order to keep his play unique and his own, in order to portray a play his use of soliloquies, irony and allusions at key moments in the play make hamlet unique to Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s ability to captivate and interest audience some 400 years after hamlet was written, show how the use of the correct dramatic a literary techniques can so vividly convey a message or theme to an audience, and Shakespeare’s ability to choose universal themes is not what only makes it interesting but relevant to audiences today.