What makes Hamlet so great? (Debate)
● Ambiguities
○ A wide range of themes, and a range of questions which remain unanswered
means critics keep returning to Hamlet trying to answer these questions -
there is no one definitive answer or scheme
○ The range of themes means the audience and readers can select a theme
that is relevant to them, and project their own lived experiences onto the play,
and make it deeply personal and about them
○ Range of interpretations as a result of critics across the centuries regularly
returning to Hamlet - Renaissance critics saw Hamlet as the romantic ideal,
whereas critics today are seeing him as more pathetic and internalised. There
are a range of performances with different interpretations and portrayals, with
modernity or bare bones, but the core play itself stays the same
○ We never see a full resolution, and understand the full context of the play - we
never meet Old Hamlet in person, we never know Gertrude’s full role in death,
we never know how good Claudius as a replacement would be for Old Hamlet
as we don’t fully understand the previous level. This means the audience can
review the ending, and decide whether they are happy with it, depending on
their views of the rest of the play and the questions and themes posed
○ The wide range of themes mean Hamlet always remains relevant, like
psychoanalytic studies, and discussions of women mean that it is still relevant
today, and analysis of women is always changing, just as their role of society
is changing
● Interiority
○ The interiority which is so different from the tragedies of the time means the
audience cannot have the distance between themselves and the characters
which was common at the time, and the interiority means instead of
condemning the players actions, the audience begins to understand them,
and relate to them, bringing in an aspect or humanity - even if you dislike
Hamlet, you can relate to some parts of his speech
● Plot
○ The plot is boring and traditional - largely taken from Amleth and Spanish
Tragedy - this means that other aspects of the play must be the more
important, because the plot is not the centre focus. It is a series of disjointed
moments that each are linked together to create an underlying theme and
pattern of wide range of questions and ideas
● Purpose
○ Could be interpreted that there is a feeling Shakespeare didn’t write this play
with a purpose, and it eventually moved and evolved to create the ending
result of the play
● Characters
○ The audience is involved in the debate with Hamlet as to whether to take
action or inaction, and ultimately when we decide to agree or disagree with
him we are forced to either like or dislike him - it is hard to be ambiguous on
Hamlet himself, and so the opinion on whether we like him or not ties into our
views on the themes and questions on the rest of the play. If we sympathise
with his inaction, we may understand his struggle and change our view on
● Ambiguities
○ A wide range of themes, and a range of questions which remain unanswered
means critics keep returning to Hamlet trying to answer these questions -
there is no one definitive answer or scheme
○ The range of themes means the audience and readers can select a theme
that is relevant to them, and project their own lived experiences onto the play,
and make it deeply personal and about them
○ Range of interpretations as a result of critics across the centuries regularly
returning to Hamlet - Renaissance critics saw Hamlet as the romantic ideal,
whereas critics today are seeing him as more pathetic and internalised. There
are a range of performances with different interpretations and portrayals, with
modernity or bare bones, but the core play itself stays the same
○ We never see a full resolution, and understand the full context of the play - we
never meet Old Hamlet in person, we never know Gertrude’s full role in death,
we never know how good Claudius as a replacement would be for Old Hamlet
as we don’t fully understand the previous level. This means the audience can
review the ending, and decide whether they are happy with it, depending on
their views of the rest of the play and the questions and themes posed
○ The wide range of themes mean Hamlet always remains relevant, like
psychoanalytic studies, and discussions of women mean that it is still relevant
today, and analysis of women is always changing, just as their role of society
is changing
● Interiority
○ The interiority which is so different from the tragedies of the time means the
audience cannot have the distance between themselves and the characters
which was common at the time, and the interiority means instead of
condemning the players actions, the audience begins to understand them,
and relate to them, bringing in an aspect or humanity - even if you dislike
Hamlet, you can relate to some parts of his speech
● Plot
○ The plot is boring and traditional - largely taken from Amleth and Spanish
Tragedy - this means that other aspects of the play must be the more
important, because the plot is not the centre focus. It is a series of disjointed
moments that each are linked together to create an underlying theme and
pattern of wide range of questions and ideas
● Purpose
○ Could be interpreted that there is a feeling Shakespeare didn’t write this play
with a purpose, and it eventually moved and evolved to create the ending
result of the play
● Characters
○ The audience is involved in the debate with Hamlet as to whether to take
action or inaction, and ultimately when we decide to agree or disagree with
him we are forced to either like or dislike him - it is hard to be ambiguous on
Hamlet himself, and so the opinion on whether we like him or not ties into our
views on the themes and questions on the rest of the play. If we sympathise
with his inaction, we may understand his struggle and change our view on
