Summary of The Tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Description

The 16th century and its religious wars; colonial conquests; and economic, technological and military advances brought an end to the certainties of the Middle Ages and the naive hopes of the Renaissance. When Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark at the dawn of a new century, Tudor England was enjoying a brief period of stability and comfort under an aged Queen Elizabeth I after a century of turmoil, intrigue and existential wars. Shakespeare’s prince is a man of comfort and privilege, but obligations derived from past events for which he wasn’t responsible torment him. While passion may bring others to act before thinking of the consequences, he is too thoughtful to act foolishly. Like many of Shakespeare’s contemporaries who knew the compromises of Tudor England and its falsity and opportunism, Hamlet also knows that a principled stand may be worse. The late Tudor period is a time for cunning, not idealism. Still, Hamlet is troubled because he knows that inaction isn’t just, and the play follows him as he tries to reason his way to a better answer – suffering madness, cynicism, duplicity and betrayal in the process. The final disaster presages the horror of the English Civil War only four decades into the future.

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Sujets

• Classics
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: GetAbstract AG
• Date de parution: 17 septembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798887271002
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Tragedy of Hamlet
Prince of Denmark
William Shakespeare•First edition: London 1603

Tragedy
Elizabethan Era

Take-Aways The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare is one of the most famous and widely discussed tragedies in world literature.  The ghost of King Hamlet appears and tells his son, Prince Hamlet, to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, murdered King Hamlet and married his widow after the deed. Yet, Hamlet hesitates. He accidentally stabs the wrong man, causing the dead man’s daughter – Hamlet’s lover – to commit suicide. By the end of the final act, all the main characters are dead. Hamlet is the quintessential doubter; he questions every single action. With his contradictory and ambiguous nature, he’s a modern literary figure that continues to fascinate audiences. His desperate search for the meaning of life causes Hamlet to say his world-famous line, “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” The play was written around 1600, when England experienced an economic boom under Queen Elizabeth I, a patron of the arts and theater. This long play was popular in Shakespeare’s lifetime. Later, Hamlet became a veritable obsession for writers and intellectuals. It has provided inspiration for many literary characters and been frequently adapted in surprising ways, including the Disney animated hit The Lion King. Shakespeare’s life is sparsely documented, a fact that continues to feed speculation that someone else wrote parts of his work. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”

What It’s About
The Tragedy of a Well-Examined Life
The 16th century and its religious wars; colonial conquests; and economic, technological and military advances brought an end to the certainties of the Middle Ages and the naive hopes of the Renaissance. When Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark  at the dawn of a new century, Tudor England was enjoying a brief period of stability and comfort under an aged Queen Elizabeth I after a century of turmoil, intrigue and existential wars. Shakespeare’s prince is a man of comfort and privilege, but obligations derived from past events for which he wasn’t responsible torment him. While passion may bring others to act before thinking of the consequences, he is too thoughtful to act foolishly. Like many of Shakespeare’s contemporaries who knew the compromises of Tudor England and its falsity and opportunism, Hamlet also knows that a principled stand may be worse. The late Tudor period is a time for cunning, not idealism. Still, Hamlet is troubled because he knows that inaction isn’t just, and the play follows him as he tries to reason his way to a better answer – suffering madness, cynicism, duplicity and betrayal in the process. The final disaster presages the horror of the English Civil War only four decades into the future.

Summary
A Ghost Appears
The Ghost of old Hamlet , the late King of Denmark, appears to the sentries  at Elsinore Castle. The soldiers are scared because they fear that the spirit heralds calamity in the war against Norway and its Prince Fortinbras . Although they prompt the apparition to talk and even threaten it with a battle axe, the ghost vanishes without a word at the cock’s first crow.