Saturday, April 10, 2010

Themes of Hamlet by Shakespeare

One theme in the play is revenge.  It's a popular Shakespeare theme in a bunch of his plays, so it shouldn't surprise readers that he uses the theme again.  At a simple interpretation, the play is about Hamlet trying to get revenge for the murder of his father.  But a more in depth reading of the text shows the reader that the play is less about the act of revenge and more about the validity of revenge itself.  Hamlet wrestles through most of the play with whether or not to do the vengeful act.  


Lies and deceit is another theme.  It's weird that Hamlet hates deceit as much as he does, because he lies to an awful lot of people throughout the play.  


Along the lines of the lies and deceit is another theme.  The theme of madness.  Is Hamlet really crazy or is it all an elaborate deception?  


One last theme to mention.  The theme of mortality and death.  Like all Shakespeare tragedies, death is everywhere.  The play starts off with a death and ends in a bloodbath.  In between all of that, the audience sees Hamlet holding up skulls and wondering about death.  

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