Hamlet Is a Play About

Hamlet is a play about a man who has had a father killed by his uncle. This occurred after this act of treachery. The uncle marries Hamlet's mother which affects his sanity because prior to going "insane" he informs us he is going to. Many people argue that if Hamlet were truly insane he would not be able to tell others that he is going to act insane as of a certain point in time. However, the events in this play would make anyone go insane if they were not all ready. Therefore, the consequences seen in the rising action of the play destroys the lives of all involved; the emotions shown are intensified by the stage directions and presence of the actors (Hamlet).

From this point, throughout the play, Hamlet is shown as being a planner, which is highlighted with his organization of the play within a play in act three, scene two. Along with that, he gives the players clear instructions as to the performance of the play, an adaptation of "The murder of Gonzago." Hamlet uses this murder to try to prompt a reaction from his Uncle. At the end of the performance, Hamlet sees the play as a success and he orders music, "Ah, ha! Come, some music. Even though this is lighter moment of the play, the consequences in the action of the play destroys the lives of all involved; the emotions shown are intensified by the stage directions and presence of the actors (Hamlet).

William Shakespeare intended the seventeenth century audiences to see Hamlet's ostensibly excessive planning as a negative feature of his character because, with hindsight, we can see that if Hamlet had acted sooner and killed the king without hesitation, many lives would have been saved. For example, Polonius would not have been killed because Hamlet would not have mistaken him for the king. Ophelia would not have committed suicide because Hamlet would have treated her better and Laertes would have no cause to fight Hamlet and lose his life in the process, and then Hamlet himself would have survived the tragic escapades found within the closing acts of the play. Hamlet can appear to be quite brutal and insensitive towards certain characters in the play, in particular, Ophelia, Polonius, Gertrude (his mother), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He does however, have a reason for his treatment of these people. In the case of the king's courtiers, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, they can be seen as plotting against Hamlet and being 'two faced' in their treatment of him" (Hamlet).

From the above evidence, it is clear that due to the consequences of the actions of characters, lives are destroyed, which can be seen from the direction of the stage. Along with that, in many of Shakespeare's plays, it is clear that each main character is a symbol and personifies something. A good example of this would be the fact that Hamlet represents the portion of society who an excessive amount of time thinking about matters, which could destroy people's lives if action is put into play. This becomes apparent at the end of the play when many of the characters (including Hamlet) die due to this particular trait. For example, if Hamlet had killed the king sooner, he would not have slain Laertes who would not have killed him (Hamlet).

Ophelia would not have committed suicide and Gertrude would not have been poisoned. Fortinbras is a direct contrast to Hamlet as he has a much more 'direct' style of leadership. William Shakespeare emphasizes this with Fortinbras' army marching through Denmark on their way to Poland and theoretically conquest and glory. The reality is, however, that he is sending thousands of men to their deaths in the space of time Hamlet is taking to engineer the death of just one man: Claudius" (Hamlet).