Universal Acceptance of Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay

Universal Acceptance of Hamlet by William Shakespeare The tragedy and situation in the play ‘Hamlet’ has been commented on as ‘universal.’ Audiences of many different cultures can enjoy ‘Hamlet’ even though it is set in an alien culture to them. The reasons for this are that many people can relate to the play, they feel that they are living though a profound experience, even if nothing in the plot of Hamlet has ever happened to them. The experience of ‘Hamlet’ is not restricted to the plot and its characters. A large factor in this universal acceptance is that the main character, Hamlet, around whom the entire play revolves, is realist and ‘universal’ himself. In this Hamlet is merely a reflection of aspects found in all men, he†¦show more content†¦Hamlet must fight the ‘snake,’ the evil that lays hidden, and is all the more dangerous being so. Hamlet does not have the crowds on his side, he is opposing an evil no one recognizes as evil. This makes his trail all the more harder. This complexity of evil allows Hamlets flaws to appear, for not even he recognizes the evil at first. He first recognized flaw is that of doubt. It is a realistic flaw for him to possess. Hamlet is told by a supernatural figure- that may or may not be his father- to avenge himself on Claudius, the King of Denmark. It would be too naive of Hamlet if he just took the shade at its word and used it as provocation to confront Claudius. Instead the only way available and true to his character is to reveal Claudius’s guilt, with a witness to conform him. It is his subtle methods and slyness that rank him a superhuman again. He takes a non-aggressive (which makes him the good and ‘right’ character) action to conform Claudius’s guilt. If Hamlet is wrong than no one would know Hamlet mistake, and Claudius would not be harmed if he was innocent. Instead Hamlet proves Claudius guilt, without making Claudius too suspicious that he has found Claudius out. 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