The Importance Of Hamlet In Making Young Hamlet

While reading Hamlet, the infamous play by William Shakespeare, one question that always reoccurred in my mind is why didn’t Hamlet become king if he was the prince? This question was then followed up by: how old is Hamlet? Before I read the play I knew the main context of Hamlet, however, what I did not know was how complex the plot truly is. In the beginning of the play, I always thought of Hamlet in his young twenties due to his recent attendance at the University of Wittenberg. This made sense to me since most students who attend university are in their early twenties. Keeping my analysis in mind, Hamlet, in the 16th century, was of age to become King, so how did Claudius surpass him? This was the question that led me to two other conclusions. …show more content…
By the older generation, anyone from the age of thirty and younger was considered immature and irresponsible while being old was considered equivalent to being wise. The “young” characters in Hamlet that Harkins focused on were Laertes and Prince Hamlet. The “old” characters that Harkins focused on were Claudius and Polonius. Rather then examine the play as a bildungsroman; Hawkins analyzes the play as a critique on social and political restrictions of youth and their effect on the characters during the 16th century. Hawkins states his main argument as, “Rather than portray an archetypal contest between the young and the old or Hamlet’s development progression from youth to maturity, the play examines the production and application of these categories as political phenomena.” (Hawkins 334) Hawkins continues to prove his point that the age of the characters impact their actions and conscious. Their elders place both Hamlet and Laertes under this stereotype that they are young and immature, therefore they both need to be ministered. Where Laertes and Hamlet differ is how they react towards these social implications. Laertes tries his best to show his father his maturity, yet Polonius continues to knock him down in order to fully grasp control of his reputation.. Hamlet, on the other …show more content…
People were categorized as young until the age of 30, which meant that they were not considered mature until the age of 30. In today’s society, people above the age of 18 are expected to behave maturely and make big decisions. To hear that one was not fully trusted until the age of 30 was shocking to read. This article also shined characters, such as Laertes, in a new light for me. I never thought much of Laertes while reading Hamlet until after this character analysis of him by Harkins. Laertes is a young man who dreams to be the perfect son each day in order for his father to trust him. He knows that most of his privileges derive from his father and that he is dependent upon his father, Polonius. He strives to rid himself of this “young” characterization because of its underlying connotation. One of the ways, besides going to France, Laertes shows Polonius his maturity, is by distancing himself from Hamlet, which explains why Laertes doesn’t approve of Hamlet in the first place. As much as Laertes tries, he can never escape the reflection of youth towards his father and Polonius uses this to his advantage in order to keep Laertes from giving him a bad reputation. The article also shows the keen manipulation of Claudius using the term “young” against Hamlet in order to prevent his inheritance. Claudius gets so caught up in his manipulation that he starts to use it as a type of consolidation for his