Why Should Hamlet Not Be Taught

Hamlet and the other Shakespeare plays are the best of the best for plays. But people have been wondering to themselves,”Why is Hamlet such a big deal and why is it being taught?” Hamlet should still be taught to kids today because it teaches us about friendship, about our minds and how to understand us, and that it also helps with life.

Hamlet teaches us that your friends may just be your close enemies. In Hamlet Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were good friends with Hamlet in college. But Claudius called for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to keep watch on Hamlet and to tell Claudius what Hamlet was planning. Hamlet says to them,”Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks; but I thank you, and sure, dear friends, my thanks are too dear a halfpenny. Were you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation? Come, come, deal justly with me. Come, come. Nay, speak”. (II.ii.266-270). This shows that Hamlet found out who they really were and not actually his friend. This teaches us today that you should really wonder who your friends actually are.

Another reason why it should be taught is because Hamlet demonstrates the human mind and how sophisticated it is.

The article “Why Hamlet is the Greatest Role of All” says,”It’s not just because, like Everest, it’s there for the ascending; not just because others have climbed it, stood at its summit. It’s because it’s possibly the most complete psychological portrait of a human being in the whole of world theatre – as fully rounded as anything in nature, shaded with incredibly rich and subtle colours, the verse a dream to speak and listen to throughout.” (Cavendish 2) This quote shows us that we can learn a lot of off Hamlet about the human mind such as people's emotions and behavior in certain situations such as

Hamlet.

Hamlet should be taught today because it teaches us many things about life. In the article it says,” Fiction enhances our ability to understand other people; It promotes a deep morality that that cuts across religious and political creeds. More peculiarly, fiction’s happy endings seem to warp our sense of reality. They make us believe in a lie: that the world is more just than it actually is. But believing that lie has important effects for society-and it may even help explain why humans tell stories in the first place” (Gottschall 2. A counter argument to this is that people say that fiction is mentally and ethically corrosive. Fiction such as the “Breaking Bad” and “CSI” corrupts our youth with filth such as swears, drugs, drinking, and violence. This is wrong because the youth will see this in their lifetime and it’s better for them to see it now than down the road. In Hamlet, we learned about death and how violent it can be. We also learned about some sex jokes while watching the play Hamlet created for his uncle Claudius.

Hamlet should be taught because it teaches us about friendship and how your friend may not be your friend. It shows how complex the human mind is and how it teaches us about human behavior in certain situations. Finally fiction allows us to get away from reality and to make us feel like we are there with the characters.