I don't particularly have a favorite work, but I do have one that I'll certainly remember for a long time: Hamlet. My previous exposures to Shakespeare's works have left me underwhelmed. I read Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and saw a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream (with the orgy scene cut to be family friendly of course). I didn't dislike those plays, but none of them particularly stuck out to me, perhaps Macbeth would have if I had been introduced to it in high school when my critical analysis skills were more developed instead of being introduced to it in middle school. But Macbeth really stood out to me in multiple ways and now I understand, at least a little bit, why Shakespeare is still taught so frequently centuries after his passing and in another country no less.
Hamlet doesn't stray far from the plot of a typical revenge tragedy, especially a Shakespearean one: the former king is killed and his son wishes revenge and ends in the deaths of just about every named character. At first I thought that Hamlet would be a deconstruction of the genre. Hamlet only knows that his father was murdered from a ghost, previous uses of supernatural elements by Shakespeare have been used to tell characters information they wouldn't already know such as in Macbeth. So if Shakespeare had decided to go that route, it could be possible that Hamlet is using the rumor of a ghost to justify his desire to kill his uncle now step-father. If his uncle really was innocent, this play could have delivered a truly powerful message on how revenge leads to many innocent deaths and the destruction of everything important around the person who sought revenge. Instead, the genre is played straight, while leaning more on the revenge side of the revenge-tragedy, where everyone lies dead and the country in shambles.
Other than that slight disappointment, there is something else about Hamlet that I like; the amount of small, but important details that are left unknown. The overall plot of the play is straightforward and easy to understand, however some key details are left vague. These details being left unknown do not hurt the play at all, but give people who do like the play some meat to chew on after the actors have taken their bows. This play leaves a lot open to interpretation and a lot of evidence that can support various interpretations, its the perfect mind candy for critical thinkers. That's why Hamlet will long stay in my mind and the minds of others for centuries to come.
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