Allusions In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Time never stops moving forward and neither do the changes that humans make to today’s society, so why should we use Elizabethan references to make the same point that modern points could make. It would be similar to building a house but only using tools available centuries ago, it takes longer and is not as effective as using today’s tools and methods. The allusions used in Hamlet are a great example of references that would have been understood by Elizabethan teens, but if it is going to be read by modern teens the allusions should be revised so the reader understands what the writer is trying to say. That is why updating these allusions would open up Hamlet to a whole new teenage audience.

To begin, Hamlet needs to have its allusions updated in order to effectively target a teenage audience. Some of the phrases that are used in Hamlet are not recognizable to most people these days because they were not alive when Shakespeare was. In his play Shakespeare makes references to Termagant and Herod. These two names are quiet foreign to today’s youth so referring to them really blurs the meaning of the expression. Both of the allusions were used to put pressure on the actors of Hamlet’s

play and explain to them the gravity of the situation without explicitly saying it. Termagant was said to be “…a god which Christians wrongly believed Muslims worshipped, represented in the mystery plays as a violent overbearing personage.” Students would not be able to figure this out without looking it up on the internet. If this name were changed from Termagant to any overbearing leader such as Hitler, Stalin, or Kim Jong Un. These leaders are all violent, overbearing and are more recognizable to people in the twenty first century. Herod was a biblical king that had committed many atrocities. His name could have easily been replaced by Putin, allowing students to understand the allusion on a deeper level. Therefore, teens will continue to have a difficult time understand Shakespearean allusions until they are altered to target a teenage audience.
In conclusion, updating the allusions in Hamlet would open it up to a whole new teenage audience.

For as long as people today can remember there has always been Shakespeare in the classroom. Shakespeare is considered one of the greatest playwrights of all time and deserves to be presented as so, however his work is very old and as times have changed so has English. Teens don’t understand his work and struggle through these units in school. The least that should be done is changing a few allusions for an easier and deeper understanding for young minds. Teachers always talk about giving their students the tools that they need to succeed and this update is one of those necessary tools. In the words of Sir Winston Churchill, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change

often.”