Analysis of Timeless Themes in Hamlet

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For most people, when they sit down to begin reading William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, they expect a vivid tale of humor, love, and even a bit of death. However, this gruesome play contains only the latter. The story begins at night in a watchtower where two guards are patrolling. Suddenly, the ghost of the late King Hamlet appears out of thin air. Feeling very shaken and concerned the guards bring Prince Hamlet to the spot of his father’s appearance. Like before, the ex-king appears. He has surprising and startling news for his son. He reveals that he was brutally murdered by his own brother, Claudius, who is now married to Hamlet’s mother. So, Hamlet becomes infuriated and determined to kill Claudius. Unfortunately, in all of Hamlet’s pity attempts, eight people are killed either directly or indirectly. In the end, even young Hamlet is impaled by a poisonous sword and, after witnessing the death of his own mother and killing Claudius, dies. For those who would have been expecting a story of death and love, like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, they would have been greatly displeased due to the amount of revengeful intentions, madness, and moral corruption. On the contrary, these three themes have managed to ensure the success of Hamlet for hundreds of years.
The primary and most resonating theme in Hamlet is revenge. Human beings contain a natural tendency towards revenge; therefore, we thrive off of its appearance in literature. Psychological Science.com states that, “a thirst for vengeance is nothing if not timeless. It is as classic as Homer and Hamlet, and as contemporary as Don Corleone and Quentin Tarantino; as old as the eyes and teeth traded in the Bible, and as fresh as the raid that took the life o...

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...ich provides a base for other malevolent themes. These themes have continually attracted readers.
Hamlet is a timeless classic that will continue to entrance Shakespearean literature lovers for decades to come due to its themes of revenge, madness, and moral corruption. Revenge is surplus within Hamlet. Without it, this play may not have been such a success. Also, readers enjoy Hamlet because of the amount of insanity locked within each character. For some disturbing reason, human beings are naturally curious about the insane. Lastly, moral corruption is attractive towards people, because it allows readers to escape into a dark, twisted world to do dark, twisted things that are not possible to do in the real world. Hamlet has been a classic Shakespeare play for over half a millennium, and its success will continue on for many more years to follow.

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