What does "Hamlet" mean?

Question

We've just gotten through reading Hamlet in my World Lit. Class, and we've been discussing what we think it means, or what Shakespeare was trying to say to us. "Imaginitive Literature helps a reader understand what it means to be human." We want to know what Shakespeare thought it meant to be human through Hamlet, and what Hamlet essentially means and what it is really all about. What are some opinions of you all? I look at Hamlet as saying that to be human is to have that ever controlling force of fate above you, but to be aware of it. You don't have to necessarily believe in fate, but I think that's what Shakespeare believed in and expressed his beliefs in Hamlet. In Act 5 Hamlet himself even says something like that if something is fated to happen now, it will happen, and if its fated to happen later, it will happen later. Could this be the meaning of the play? I've also heard ideas about uncertainties with others and ideas with human emotions. What's your opinion?

Answer 1

I don't think that there is a controlling force of fate above Hamlet, and that the play is essentially about uncertainty and not knowing about one's fate; about man's uncertain place in the universe. My favourite quote from the play, which I think sums it all is:

I have of late--but
wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone all
custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily
with my disposition that this goodly frame, the
earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust?

Answer 2

Especially with Shakespeare, you need to be careful not to interpret too literally.

While I tend to agree that good literature speaks to the human experience, you have to keep in mind that literature as a whole is like a tool box and there are different tools in there which are used for different purposes.

Shakespeare was a playwright... and not one of those guys that started with a king as his patron. He was a part-owner of a bunch of actors and did a lot of acting himself. Most of his work was written for a theatre where common folk could pay a penny to get in. And most of his plays are written to make money.

I think it's important not to lose sight of this last fact. A work written to be 'art' is often quite different from one that must be popular at all costs. Art is usually instrinsically laden with meaning, but popular work is more of a mirror for the people who go to see it. Thus the WAY in which Hamlet tells us about people is by telling us what they like to see, not by telling us directly about life itself.

And let's face it - it would really be difficult for most people to see themselves IN Hamlet. Few of us are nobles, constantly surrounded by plots, intrigues, madness, and death. Throw in some racy double-entendres and a lot of blood, and you have the makings of a top-notch action/adventure/drama. Even today.

There is evidence to suggest that Hamlet was adapted from another, previous play, often referred to as the 'Ur-Hamlet'. But again, there is a REASON why we remember the latter and not the former - obviously, some adaptation was needed for audiences to really take to it. The dramatic and historical elements may have all been there, but people wouldn't pay to see it. So look more at HOW something is said than WHAT.

Answer 3

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