And now to wrap up Hamlet into a nice neat little package. He was a young,
idealistic boy back from college. He has high hopes and dreams, but he sees them killed,
along with his father. The court is crumbling and extremely corrupt and worst of all his
beloved (and I mean beloved) mother is at the center of it. This wreaks havoc with his
mind, as it would any human being. Along with losing his mother, he loses the only other
person he loves, Ophelia. Then on top of that he is
faced with the task of avenging the murder of his father, by killing his uncle; but it is not
that simple because his uncle is doing the same exact thing that he himself wants to do
(kill his “father figure” and get into bed with his mother). All of these circumstances
cause poor Hamlet to swing in and out of
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insanity, yet he is strong enough to try to plot a cunning revenge scheme; but sadly in the
end something his way of thinking could not allow him to go through with avenging his
father, until he was near death himself.
And now for some interesting thoughts on Hamlet (non-inclusive of my paper).
Hamlet was actually a woman, and that is why Christopher Marlow did not allow her to
kill the King. John Lennon had the same thesis as mine stating in Her Majesty on Abbey
Road “Her majesty is a pretty nice girl/ but she changes from day to day/ I wanna tell her
that I love her a lot, but I gonna get her a belly full of wine/ Her majesty is a pretty nice
girl some day I’m gonna make her mine.” This could very well refer to Hamlet talking
about his mother referring to her remarriage and the final scene in which it is probable
that they will together in heaven after she drinks the deadly wine
i
Babcock, Weston. A Tragedy of Errors
Purdue Research Foundation. 1961.
Charlton, Lewis. The Genesis of Hamlet
Kenniket Press, Port Washington, NY 1907.
Leavenworth, Russel E. Interpreting Hamlet: Materials for analysis
Chandler Publishing CO, San Francisco 1960.
Lidz, Theo. Hamlet’s Enemy: Madness and Myth in Hamlet”
Basic Books, Inc. NY 1975.