Hamlet Bibliographic Essay

...

true friend, a sophisticated, intelligent young man with blithe regard for his royal heritage. Duncan suggests that the play itself presents varying inconsistencies in the character of Hamlet, presenting facets of his complex personality reflected by other characters. Hamlets growing irrational and deranged behavior that leaves vestigial traces everywhere in the play is not how we should define Hamlet instead as Duncan points out, Hamlet should be remembered how he wanted us to remember him, through Horatio as he says in his final words to his friend “ Thou liv’st. Report me and my cause aright To the unsatisfied.” (Act 5 Scene 2) here Hamlet speaks to his friend Horatio asking him to justify his account and set the record straight for Hamlet and recent events. With Shakespeare ending the play and making these the last words of Hamlet it is Horatio’s Hamlet that wins the sympathies of the audience. In Act 3 scene 2 Hamlet hatches the plan to expose the King he confides in Horatio, Duncan asserts this speech as “Hamlet’s most significant speech to Horatio, and reveals Hamlet’s real self, the sound core of his inmost being that he lets only Horatio see” (Spaeth).

In the review of Hamlet “Teaching Hamlet” by Robert Ornstein in the journal “College English”; Ornstein argues that the play with all its depth and mystery is often oversimplified by those teaching the play. He suggests that there is so much more to Hamlet that unless fully appreciated and understood, teaching the subject will leave students uninterested and lackluster about one of the most classic and complex pieces of literature ever written. With strong emphasis on major characters and scenes there is an absence in understanding the dialogue and themes of the play. Ornstein says, “Hamlet is the Shakespearean play which comes closest to mirroring the random casual form of daily experience which turns on unexpected meetings, conversations, and such accidents as the arrival of players. And if we do nothing else in class but convey as accurately as we can the immediate sense of life which Hamlet offers, we will perform a valuable service because so much of recent criticism falsifies it” (Orstein), in saying this Orstein suggests that the experiences of Hamlet and other major characters in the play add or take away from their personas. By taking this into consideration we can further understand the complexities each character faces that defines the many facets of who they are.

Works Cited

Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical

Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. Print.

Croxford, Leslie. "The Uses of Interpretation in Hamlet." Alif: Journal of Comparative Snider,

Poetics 24 (2004): 93. Web.

D. J. Snider "HAMLET." The Journal of Speculative Philosophy 7.3 (1873): 78-89. Web.

Ornstein, Robert. “Teaching Hamlet.” College English, vol. 25, no. 7, 1964, pp. 502–508. Web.

Spaeth, J. Duncan. “HORATIO’S HAMLET.” The Shakespeare Association Bulletin, vol. 24,

no. 1, 1949, pp. 37–47. Web.