Hamlet
From ZuluNotes - Free Leaving Cert Notes
William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a tragedy, believed written between 1599 and 1601. Set in Denmark, the play tells how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle for murdering the previous king, Hamlet's father. Hamlet's uncle has since stolen the throne and taken Hamlet's mother, the dead king's widow, as his wife. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief at bereavement to seething rage at murder and incest—and explores themes of treachery and corruption.
Hamlet is by far Shakespeare's longest play and "the greatest exhibition of his powers". During Shakespeare's lifetime Hamlet was one of his most popular plays, and it still ranks high among his most-performed, topping, for example, the Royal Shakespeare Company's list since 1879.
The play's dramatic structure and Shakespeare's depth of characterisation mean that Hamlet can be analysed and interpreted—and argued about—from many perspectives. For centuries, commentators have puzzled over Hamlet's hesitation in killing his uncle. Some see it as a plot device to prolong the action; others as the result of pressure exerted by the complex philosophical and ethical issues that surround cold-blooded murder, calculated revenge, and thwarted desire. More recently, psychoanalytic critics have examined Hamlet's unconscious desires, and feminist critics have re-evaluated and rehabilitated the often-maligned characters of Ophelia and Gertrude.
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