William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet more than four hundred years ago. Yet, it was not the first mention of Danish Prince in the literature. The history knows about the Prince Amleth, a character, preserved by 13th century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus and retold in 16th century. Actually, this means that the tragedy of Hamlet is not new. Yet, Shakespeare made it look modern in the eyes of his contemporaries. Furthermore, the story of Hamlet, his revenge and his love seems to look modern even in 21st century. Nowadays, the play of Hamlet is one of the most famous and most staged plays in the world. Besides, several movies were done on the basis of the Hamlet’s plot and one of them, titled Hamlet or Hamlet 2000, sets the story into the modern time. But the story of Shakespeare is universal and the topic covered in the play can be always up-to-date.
The story of the Danish Prince is the story of revenge, treachery, morality and madness. Prince Hamlet returns from his studies and discovers that his father is dead, he was killed by his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, is now married to Claudius. The heart of the Prince is full of grief, he is missing his father, and he wants revenge on Claudius. Yet the Prince is hesitating what to do next – to commit suicide or to live, to kill his uncle or to come to terms with the situation. The story itself is one of the longest tragedies in the English literature because Shakespeare paid attention to details and to the inner world of main characters. He wanted to show as complete image of Hamlet as possible with the help of words.
A ghost, who tells that he is a father of Hamlet, informs Danish Prince about causes of his death. The ghost orders Hamlet to seek for revenge on the man, who killed him and married his wife. It is Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle. Prince wants to revenge but he is hesitating because he is thoughtful and shy by nature. He seeks for evidence of his uncle’s guilt. He looks like a mad person to his mother and Claudius. Both relatives try to guess the reason of the illness.
Polonius, one of the Lords, thinks that the madness is caused by love to his daughter, Ophelia, but Hamlet seems to be indifferent to the girl. According to King and Queen’s order, Hamlet friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are watching him and trying to entertain him. A group of travelling actors comes to Elsinore. As Hamlet is looking for evidence to prove Claudius’ guilt he asks actors to stage a scene, where a character is killed under the causes resembling the death of Hamlet’s father. Hamlet describes the play: “He poisons him i' the garden for's estate. His name's Gonzago: the story is extant, and writ in choice Italian: you shall see anon how the murderer gets the love of Gonzago's wife.” (Shakespeare, Act III, Scene 2). Claudius leaves the room during this act and Hamlet follows him to kill the King because Hamlet finally gets the proof of Claudius’ guilt. But Hamlet finds the King praying and does not want to kill his uncle during the prayer. Claudius gets worried about his nephew’s madness and his own safety and wants to send Hamlet to England. Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius in the bedroom of his mother and goes to England.
Meanwhile Ophelia goes mad because of grief and commits suicide. Laertes, her brother wants revenge. Hamlet returns from the ship because of pirates and they fence with Laertes. The blade of Laertes’ sword is poisonous because of Claudius’ plan to kill his nephew. Laertes wounds Hamlet but he does not die immediately. Gertrude drinks from the poisonous goblet, prepared for Hamlet also, and dies. Laertes gets cut with his own sword and dies. Hamlet stabs Claudius and makes him to drink the liquid from the goblet. Then Claudius dies and Hamlet dies after him. Horatio tells the true story to Fortinbras, the Norwegian Prince, who enters the room and finds everybody dead.
In his story William Shakespeare explores the issues of treachery, revenge, moral corruption, love to others and motherhood and many others. Yet the theme of revenge is the most important in the tragedy. Hamlet should kill his uncle. During the times of Shakespeare, let alone the time described in the play, revenge was a usual case as well as intrigues at court of King or Queen. Yet, Shakespeare showed us a hesitating man, who is unable to decide and to be the true King. He does not seem to think about the state policy and his people. He is useless as a monarch. On the other hand, he is a great man, because he treats his enemies humanely. He is clever and thoughtful.
The story seems to be puzzling and embarrassing. The Hamlet stays always in the centre of this story. The character has been fascinating readers and audience for centuries because of his puzzling soliloquies and dialogues. In the course of his speeches, a reader understands that what Hamlet wants to say is more important than what he is actually saying. He pays lots of attention to allusions. A reader sees a university student, whose studies were broken because of his father’s death. He rushes to Denmark. He supposed to be a future king but Hamlet sees that his mother married his uncle and Claudius has probably killed the King. From the one hand, Hamlet wants revenge. On the other hand, he wants to be sure that Claudius is the real murderer. The ghost at the gates of Elsinore is not the proof for the educated student. Faced with evidence of the fact of the murder Hamlet becomes obsessed with the idea of revenge. But usually, his brain is full of philosophic thought. In the famous soliloquy “To be or not to be” Hamlet thinks about life and death, afterlife and does it exist or not. He is philosopher and not the King. He thinks little about the future of Denmark and Norwegian invasion his country is going to face.
He thinks little about love as well. Shakespeare provides no evidences that Hamlet loves Ophelia. Yet he does not deny it. In his dialogues with Ophelia Hamlet recommends her to go to nunnery. In other speeches the Prince of Denmark seems to be disappointed with woman at all. Yet, even this image cannot describe Hamlet fully. According to T.S. Eliot, “None of the possible actions can satisfy it; and nothing that Shakespeare can do with the plot can express Hamlet for him.”
Film Hamlet screened in 2000 is a modern adaptation of the Shakespeare’s immortal story about attempt of Hamlet to avenge his father’s murder. A movie is set in contemporary New York. Event of the play are translated into the world of big business and big money as well. Scenes take place in the skyscraper of the Denmark Corporation, in the Head Quarters. In this version of the story Claudius becomes the CEO of the Denmark Corporation by killing his brother. The other difference between the film and the classic play relate to the technical advances used by the main characters. The director preserves the words but change settings of the play. And modern city needs some technical improvements. For example, a ghost is changed by an image on TV and real flowers are just photographs in the hands of Ophelia. Besides, the film shows that there was a true love between Hamlet and Ophelia as it was not shown in the play. Furthermore, as it was impossible to preserve all the speeches director and actors use elements of emotional poetry by the means of gestures, clothing and photographs. The movie shows more obviously that Hamlet does not see himself as the CEO of the Corporation or the King of Denmark. In the movie he seems to be an artist, he want to make movies and not to rule the company. But he is disappointed with the actions of his mother and he is outrageous about his uncle. He shoots him. The meaning of revenge is not the main theme in this movie and it is not the main theme in the modern time. The director pays more attention to the inner world of Hamlet and wants to show the psychological vulnerability of this character and that he was the victim of conditions. Yet, Hamlet from the movie is more active than the Prince from the play.
References
Eliot, T.S. (1922). Hamlet and his problems. The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism. Retrieved from http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/dial/t&vseminar/hamletannot.htm
Hamlet (2000). Hamlet. IMDB. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171359/
Shakespeare, W. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The complete works of William Shakespeare. Retrieved from http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html
