Hamlet is among the most beloved works of the perhaps the most respected playwright's of all time. The tragedy has been a staple of the Royal Shakespeare Company since 1879 and has withstood the test of time, being adopted for television and film every few years. The tragedy and the character of Hamlet are held in such esteem that it is every actors (and actresses) ambition to star as the title character. To see his (or her) name in bright lights or on Hamlet tickets means that he (or she) has truly become accepted as an important performer.
As a character who descends into madness, Hamlet gives these actors a chance to fly from rage to bottomless grief to lunacy. The story of the son of a dead king of Denmark and his hesitant plan to reap revenge on his uncle, Claudius, who has taken the thrown and the hand of his mother, Gertrude, in marriage is a profound work. The story delves deeper into the mind of a confused son that believes he sees the ghost of father and suspects that murder is afoot. The secondary characters deal with their own grief, guilt, and devotion in fantastic fashion. Every young actress covets the role of Ophelia with equal passion as every actor wants to prove himself in the role of Hamlet.
There is betrayal by close friends and the tension of a feud with the neighboring kingdom of Norway all breathing life and tension into the palace at Elsinore. The friends the family has relied on are all tested as every character seems to suffer as the internal strife of the royal family wreaks havoc on life in the royal castle for Prince Hamlet, Queen Gertrude, and the newly anointed King Claudius.
Shakespeare's genius for plot and word seems to have culminated in this work, which he wrote sometime between 1599 and 1601. The very basic theme, the hero as a fool, was never simply his. Like every storyline, stories have existed before the time of Christ that have dealt with mislead and confused heroes and the calamity that power can cause.
Hamlet still resonates and inspires, years after influencing such writers as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Charles Dickens, James Joyce, and Dame Iris Murdoch. Modern actors like famed Shakespearean actor, producer, and director Kenneth Branagh have done there best to bring the power of Hamlet from the stage to the media of film and television.
