Hamlet

Hamlet

"To be or not to be, -- that is the question." This famous verse from William Shakespeare's tragic drama, "Hamlet," resounds in many of our minds when imagining actors in the Elizabethan Theater. Written in the late 1500's into the early 1600's, Shakespeare's "Hamlet is a work of literature that shows an ordinary person looking at the futility and wrongs in life, asking the toughest questions, and coming up with honest semi-answers like most people do today (Friedlander MD 2). After reading this classic piece of dramatic literature, many are compelled to analyze and compare the thoughts feelings, and actions of this Shakespearean hero to those of our own. Through this analysis, character development, dramatic structure, presentation, and cultural significance will be examined.

Similar to those living in today's world, the thoughts feelings and actions of Hamlet are quite changeable. In Act I, Scene two, William Shakespeare ensures that the reader learns about the current situation faced by the main character, Hamlet. Only two months prior, Hamlet's father, who was the king of Denmark, passed away. We are introduced to the new king of Denmark, Claudius, who was the former king's brother, and Hamlet's uncle. Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, married the new king, her brother-in-law, shortly after the death of her husband. A child of any age, living in any time period would be distraught over this type of situation.

Hamlet attends the first public