Hamlet Essays (1531 words) - Characters In Hamlet, Prince Hamlet

Hamlet When do you know a work of literature has stood the test of time? When William Shakespeare wrote it. But why are his works so respected and cherished? One of his most famous works, Hamlet, is still a favorite among actors and occasional readers, alike, but why? Why is Shakespeare's work still able to challenge and inspire people, four hundred years after it was written? The answer is simple. Shakespeare's work, though complicated, will never have just one meaning, it will always be up to the interpretation of the people of the time that is interpreting the drama. And with this reason, Shakespeare will always be powerful and applicable to the day. One of the first reasons why Hamlet will never lose importance is because of the incestuous relationship between Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude, and uncle, King Claudius. Even in Elizabethan times, Hamlet was disturbed by his mother's new love. In scene II of the first act, Hamlet's disgust with his mother's incestuous relationship and pain over his own father's death is no more clear then in the lines of his speech: But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two: so excellent a king; that was, to this, Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother that he might not beteem the winds of heaven visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him, as if increase of appetite had grown by what it fed on: and yet, within a month?let me not think on't?frailty, thy name is woman! ?a little month, or ere those shoes were old with which she followed my poor father's body, like Niobe, all tear:--why she, even she?o God! A beast, that wants discourse of reason, would have mourn'd longer?married with my uncle, my father's brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules: within a month: ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears had left the flushing in her galled eyes, she married. O, most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheet! It is not nor it cannot come to good: but break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue. (Act I, Scene II, line 138-158) As shown by Hamlet's words, his feelings are very clear. He is ashamed of his mother's bed hopping. However, what he's most hurt by is the fact that his mother was able to move on so quickly. To him, it appeared as if one day she was living on his father's each and every word, and then the next sleeping with his uncle. The unusual thing about this situation though, was how accepting the people of Denmark were to their new king. In today's society, there would be no difference in how the son of a mother might feel, but definitely a distinct difference in how all other people would feel. Incestuous relationships are taboo and not accepted as normal and healthy relationships. Not only the son of the Queen of Denmark but the people as well would be much less accepting of their Queen marrying her brother-in-law only two months after the death of her husband, the King. There would be endless rumors and problems arising from such a relationship, so the rest of the government would never allow Claudius to become King. But since this play is staged four hundred years ago, such modern inconveniences, like the media, and magazines, such as the Globe, would not have to be considered when love decisions were made. Lucky for us today, we do have these inconveniences, even though many people think they're useless and a waste of paper. If they existed four hundred years ago, Shakespeare would never have been able to write such a play. The fact that incest will never go away and always be an issue in whatever time Hamlet is read in, people will never grow tired of the play and always argue about the incest element to the play. Another reason why Hamlet will always be well read is the character Hamlet's indecisiveness. No matter who is reading it, the reader will always have some type of memory in which he or she was indecisive and because of his or her inability to make a decision, a whole string of events occurred that never should have. In Hamlet's case, the fact that he had a chance to murder Claudius but didn't, could be seen as a huge mistake and the climax of the play. If Hamlet had been able to