Critical Analysis Of Marxism In Hamlet

Hamlet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the main character Hamlet, who returns to his native Denmark for the funeral of his father. Later, Hamlet learns that his father, King Hamlet was killed by his own brother in an effort to gain the status of king along with the love of the queen. Although Hamlet is told of this crime by the spirit of his dead father, he faces mental obstacles accompanied by the inability to perform tasks on time. As a result, the ending of the story is the unfortunate downfall of all major characters including Hamlet. Marxist literary analysis focuses on examining works of literature from a socio-economic perspective. It uses the principles laid out by Karl Marx including but not limited to, the class …show more content…
Marxist theory illuminates power struggles in Shakespeare's play, Hamlet by demonstrating that a feudal society naturally leads to corruption which can be seen by examining the levels of violence, lust for power, excessive class struggle, as well as a lack of justice for all of …show more content…
There is profound reasoning behind "[h]amlet's reluctance to murder Claudius while praying, lest his soul should enter heaven" (Smirnov 1). His withdrawal from committing the murder is indicative that the two social classes exist even in the afterlife; the closest resemblance of heaven would be the bourgeoisie class in life while hell would be categorized as proletariat. Hamlet was violent enough to think about killing Claudius and postponing his plan so he doesn't enter the bourgeoisie class even after death. Claudius expresses violence by killing King Hamlet so the person that was once the biggest bourgeoisie during his lifetime is now a proletariat since he is in hell. This is the case for as long as his sins are not forgiven. The violent actions are portrayed to affect other people, therefore a universal truth that everyone must face including someone as prestigious as King Hamlet. He was happy being the king, but is now going to struggle for power as he compensates for all of his previous sins now that he is dead. Next, the priest expresses to Laertes that “[s]hards, flints and pebbles should be thrown on [Ophelia]; Yet here she is allow’d her virgin crants,”(5.1.232-233). In other words, he is against the idea of Ophelia being buried in the churchyard. It is unethical to consider the priest as a sincere person to Christianity when he is as corrupt as every