English
In-Depth News Analysis on the Country’s Current Political State
Introduction
The prince and his companions are up until midnight. He is waiting for the ghost to appear. As they were talking, Horatio, Marcellus and Hamlet they have observed the loud noise coming from the King’s drinking party. Horatio asked if it was a custom of their country. The prince answered yes and added that he would not like to practice it for other countries will mock the Danes, and will call them drunkards. The discussion will look at the political state of Denmark from the lenses of Hamlet’s Act 1 Scene 4 play. The issues will be addressed in the discussion by looking at the exchanges of response in the scenes and assess the country’s political situation drawing the rationale from the play.
Discussion
As a common citizen of Denmark, I would say that the Prince is very cautious of his actions. He does not want to follow a custom that is bound for criticism by other countries. I think he gives more importance to what other states might say to their country. Politically this would account to the pride of the Prince as the head of state. It is obvious that the Prince (Hamlet) wants to be a leader that loves to gain appreciation from his neighboring states. It also gives a bit of an insight that the Prince would love to conform to the other states’ custom standards. Well, for me it’s not bad to behave accordingly in a party. The Prince wanted to be seen as a good model to others.
He also emphasizes that a little evil could do harm to a person or even to a nation. That is his philosophy of becoming a leader. It is very common for leaders to act out when things seem to be a little bit of inappropriate. But too much idealism is bound to fail. The prince also signified an act of wanting to change the custom. Of course that was just a little bit of a distraction in the scene. The Ghost is appearing before them. Horatio and Marcellus are terrified of what is going to happen. But the prince seemed to be so interested rather than being afraid. He is fixated on the thought that the ghost might be his father. He keeps on calling it the Dane, the King and any words that will exalt its position as the King. But the Ghost did not answer Prince Hamlet.
Prince Hamlet was eager to know if the ghost is his father or not. Marcellus and Horatio argued that the ghost could do evil and will make the prince mad. Nevertheless of these thoughtful words from his two companions, the Prince still insisted to go. After the Prince had followed the ghost, Marcellus and Horatio uttered insightful phrases. Marcellus said “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”. This quote means that the prince is going mad in Marcellus’ point of view. He viewed the Prince as the state of Denmark, for he is the head of the state. He was anxious of what may happen to the prince as well as to Denmark. The curiosity of the Prince makes Marcellus think that something is wrong. He theorized that the prince’s action is not for the good of Denmark; for he might meet death. Marcellus has viewed the prince as an important political icon of Denmark. As for Horatio, he gives it all to God’s guidance. He is certain that God will do something for the prince.
Conclusion
The political state of the country based on the readings from the Hamlet is constant turmoil that is almost uncertain from the plain sight. Everything seems at the right place, but the feel of the dubious intentions makes the air to become stale. Idealism is good for a leader and to the country as long as they are being exercised with great caution. However, too much of idealism locks the country and its leader into ideologies that are rather unreal and does not conform to the realities of life of the people. Therefore, the political state of the country is in the verge of disaster due to the ideologies of the leader that locks itself away from the realities of his country’s situation.
References
Opensourceshakespeare.org (n.d.). Hamlet, Act I, Scene 4 :|: Open Source Shakespeare. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=hamlet&Act=1&Scene=4&Scope=scene
Tiphane, G. (2002, April 10). Hamlet and Politics. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from http://www.tiphane.org/guy/portfolio/hamletpolitics.htm
