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Hamlet Book Review

Hamlet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1601. It is recognized one of the best plays of all time and for many great reasons.

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“My words fly up;

my thoughts remain below.

Words without thoughts

never to heaven go“

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This play remains probably the most acclaimed of all Shakespeare plays. It remains one of the most distinguished tragedies of all time and one of the most famous English literary works as well. It earned all of those achievements thanks to so many things that the author did right here, in particular the dialogue and the themes.

Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet’s father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet’s mother. This is a story about so many different things, but above all else it is about the complexities of human life and existence as well as how difficult it is to make crucial choices in all of our lives. It’s not at all a play about an insecure man, but about life giving us all difficult decisions to make that seem almost impossible with no inescapable consequences.

Everybody in this play is being observed, so the work is very much about monitoring, the difficulty in recognizing others’ motifs just by observing them and also the performative nature that is very much present in all of our lives. There is a play within a play here that was very much overlong and came as a detour in a way, but it did effectively signify just how fake all of our lives are, especially our interactions with others. We deal with our problems by either brushing them aside or by projecting them onto others.

The play is also very much about madness and how its protagonist may or not be mad when all is said and done. This is where that performance factor comes in, but the ambiguity in regards to this particular storytelling element admirably made the entire story more intriguing. This is a simple story only on the surface, but it’s otherwise, sophisticated, complex and thought-provoking. There is also a smaller political element of this nation in peril. This could have been Shakespeare writing about his own country and era, but because of the obvious restrictions of the time, he chose another country and another period to counter those problems in a very smart way.

As somebody who has big existentialist thoughts all the time, my favorite theme of the play of course is all of the exploration and discussion of death and the afterlife. Here, Shakespeare depicted just how difficult life for Christians is as their faith pretty much prevents them from having these thoughts or recognizing the horrors of death. The author posits that it is exactly this ambiguity about death and what or if anything comes after it that makes everybody continue living no matter how hard their lives may be. The famous to be or not to be soliloquy beautifully explores the deep existentialist dilemma that Hamlet the character faces and it’s such a deeply universal dilemma that most of us thinking men and women have shared often in our lives, which makes this work truly timeless.

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Hamlet the character is indecisive, but for a reason. He is the play’s most sympathetic and by far the most intelligent character. I deeply empathized with his plight to do the right thing and for his highly existentialist thoughts and dilemmas. He is this man who was deeply hurt by his family, especially his mother, so the story operates as a grand tragedy of sorts, one where its protagonist never really stood a chance to be happy. Yes, most of the drama stems from the characters not sitting to actually talk to each other, but that still led to so much powerful ambiguity and the depiction of the complexities of human nature.

Claudius is one truly iconic villain. This man murdered his own brother and married Hamlet’s mother, effectively becoming king. There is this powerful moment where he prays, but says that he doesn’t feel remorse. This moment effectively made him a true villain, one that was realistic in his depiction while being extremely competent throughout, being a great foil for the hero. Gertrude is another highlight as this woman who may or may not had anything to do with her husband’s murder. The ambiguity surrounding her motifs and her relationship with her son made the middle of the play particularly riveting.

These three characters are so fantastic that the other players left a lot to be desired to be honest. Ophelia is a typical tragic female character, one that is submissive and whose faith is solely determined by the men in the piece. She’s realistic for sure, but hardly memorable. Polonius and Laertes both had their moments, but ultimately their arcs were more interesting than their personalities. The others are all fleeting presences for the most part, though the ghost made for a uniquely fantastical, also ambiguous addition to this story. It would have been an even more powerful story had it had fewer characters in my opinion.

Naturally, Shakespeare’s writing is incredible to witness here. He effectively mixed prose and verse depending on the mood of the story and the point of view. There are numerous monologues and soliloquies that are unforgettable to this day. The philosophical nature to these speeches made them quite riveting and thought-provoking. All five acts have their important moments, but clearly Act III is the one where the most intriguing and complex human drama happens.

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The dialogue is phenomenal and quite colorful, smartly being different in style for each and every character. For what is supposed to be a tragedy, the play isn’t as emotionally engaging as it should have been. This is due to the rushed nature of the most crucial plot points. It’s not immaculately paced at all as it’s at times rushed and at times prolonged. I would have preferred to have been longer overall. But Hamlet has so much memorable imagery, powerful moments and perfectly written dialogue that it is still exciting to read to this day.