Many readers regard William Shakespeare’s Hamlet as his greatest work, if not the world’s greatest play written in the English language. However, some famous critics such as T.S. Eliot see Hamlet in a different light — they see Hamlet as nothing more than an “artistic failure” full of inconsistencies. For example, why exactly is Hamlet not crowned king when he is already of age? Is it because he is away at Wittenberg? Despite this fault, these myriads of analyses only highlight the fact that Hamlet is without a doubt one of the most well known plays in the world. One can even ask an eight-year-old and chances are, he or she will know a thing or two about Hamlet. Whether it is about a prince who says “to be or not to be,” or about a prince
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He not only challenges existing beliefs such as the afterlife, but he also takes his personal experiences and forms universal applications out of them. After Hamlet crafts his plan to see if Claudius is really guilty of murdering the late king, Hamlet, in a state of melancholy, begins to reflect “[w]hether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them” (3, 1, 57-61). In here, Hamlet is contemplating if it would be better if one tries to endure the pain of an unfortunate life, or to simply end it all through suicide. However, as seen at the beginning of the play when Hamlet is again thinking of suicide, he is a believer of God, or in other words a Catholic. In turn, as a Catholic, he believes in the afterlife, hence the fact that if one chooses to commit suicide, one will suffer in Hell. Nevertheless, Hamlet begins to question this belief of the afterlife as he ponders if all there is to death is “ . . . sleep: / No more; and by a sleep to say [they] end / The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation / Devoutly to be wish’d” (3,1, 61-5). As Hamlet considers why people who want their lives to end simply end up not doing it, he formulates the idea that maybe in that sleep of death, people may “ . . . dream: ay, there’s the rub; / For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, / When [people] have shuffled off this moral coil / Must give [them] pause” (3, 1, 65-9). He then supports this notion by taking in personal experiences and
He not only challenges existing beliefs such as the afterlife, but he also takes his personal experiences and forms universal applications out of them. After Hamlet crafts his plan to see if Claudius is really guilty of murdering the late king, Hamlet, in a state of melancholy, begins to reflect “[w]hether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them” (3, 1, 57-61). In here, Hamlet is contemplating if it would be better if one tries to endure the pain of an unfortunate life, or to simply end it all through suicide. However, as seen at the beginning of the play when Hamlet is again thinking of suicide, he is a believer of God, or in other words a Catholic. In turn, as a Catholic, he believes in the afterlife, hence the fact that if one chooses to commit suicide, one will suffer in Hell. Nevertheless, Hamlet begins to question this belief of the afterlife as he ponders if all there is to death is “ . . . sleep: / No more; and by a sleep to say [they] end / The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation / Devoutly to be wish’d” (3,1, 61-5). As Hamlet considers why people who want their lives to end simply end up not doing it, he formulates the idea that maybe in that sleep of death, people may “ . . . dream: ay, there’s the rub; / For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, / When [people] have shuffled off this moral coil / Must give [them] pause” (3, 1, 65-9). He then supports this notion by taking in personal experiences and