What essential human truths can you take away from Hamlet? Through the writing of your essay, I hope you have considered how the Bard's influence on society could be so prominent, even 400 years after his death. Share your thoughts on the validity of Hamlet's themes, morals, and messages.
13 Comments
Mitchell Johnson
3/13/2015 04:58:53 am
One thing that really stood out as one moral of the story to me was that good will always triumph over evil. Maybe in a way that is not as well recognized, but by the end the only one standing was Horatio, the only genuinely good guy in the whole play. Everyone else got what they had coming, so to speak. Out of all the people in this play Horatio was the only one who didn't have something sneaky he was involved in and in the end every other character's evil was paid for by their deaths. So moral of the story is be a good person and you won't be murdered.
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Faith
3/22/2015 06:54:22 am
I agree with you, Mitchell, that the theme of good versus evil is evident in Shakespeare's plays. However, the characters in his plays (especially the tragedies) never quite conquer the evil that is their tragic flaws. I think Hamlet's tragic flaw was his inability to take action because he was constantly over-thinking his plans, and then he wouldn't go through with them. There are quite a few Shakespearean characters that have tragic flaws (Othello=jealousy, Macbeth=ambition), and they all succumb to their inadequacies. I think it is the evilness inside each character that brings their downfall, and not necessarily the triumph of goodness.
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Nate Day
3/13/2015 05:44:03 am
Shakespeare's influence on society is rather unknown. The story structure that Shakespeare brought to the modern world is taken for granted because of how commonplace they are. Its easy for us to take it for granted because to our minds the structure is common sense while in Shakespeare's time the way he was writing was revolutionary both in literature and in pop culture.
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Tyler Ellefson
3/26/2015 05:57:23 am
I agree with you Nate. Not that many people realize that most of what Shakespeare was writing was completely original and many modern works are based on his influence. He had little influential works that drove him to write plays and poems and it was he himself that became the greatest inspiration in the future. His ideas and plot structures can still be seen in modern works though they are nearly 400 years old which I think is pretty cool and shows how great of a writer he was.
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Hank Larson
3/26/2015 06:17:53 am
I agree with you Nate that Shakespeare's influences on today's society is sometimes forgotten about. Many people realize and acknowledge that Shakespeare was a revolutionist for his time, but it is forgotten that his influences on the theatrical world continue to leave their impressions on everyday life today. People forget the Shakespeare created and made popular the themes of comedies and tragedies, that are now used in many modern movies. Many people unknowingly use, read, and watch themes made famous by Shakespeare.
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Cole Snyder
3/30/2015 06:06:06 am
I think the question asks more about how it can be so influential on us nowadays rather than society back when he was relevant. This story influences us because although it was based over 400 years ago, it shares with us common values. Revenge, morality of choices, and degree of love are all common values that we can relate to.
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Miranda Haack
3/22/2015 04:01:14 am
Hamlet, as well as Shakespeare's other works, can teach us many lessons. The one most prominent to me is truth. Having read Hamlet, we see quite a bit of revenge being prominent in the story. Most of that revenge was lead by Claudius lying about how Hamlet Sr. had died. If he had only told the truth, there would be no story because the insanity would not have developed. This lesson is true now as well. Lies lead to more hardship, and can truly cause death. Truth is an important thing to keep in mind.
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Elizabeth Anderson
3/23/2015 05:49:53 am
The fact that we still read Shakespeare proves that there's morals to his stories that can be linked to everyone's lives. This one specifically shows human tendencies, the tendency to hate, be jealous, sin, and desire revenge. Shakespeare does a good job of showing the dark side people sometimes fall prey too and how we can let our tendencies, hardships, or dark sides get the best of us. In a way it's a warning of what could happen as a consequence of selfish or reckless actions. It shows a lot about loyalty and betrayal and how evil people and things can infiltrate our lives and heads and change us.
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Faith
3/29/2015 06:22:55 am
I thought this was a very interesting input. I agree with you that morals can be learned from Shakespeare's characters, and that they are warning us away from bad tendencies. I think in modern times, the darker side of people is not always shown as a warning, but I think we like to use good characteristics of people to present as something to aspire to. Instead of using someone "bad" and saying "Don't be like them," modern writers use someone "good" and say "Be like them."
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Pearl Davis
3/31/2015 09:20:44 pm
I like this conversation going on here! I think that morals are present in Hamlet in the manner of showing poor characteristics in an individual, causing the audience to see these flaws and avoid them; however, I think that finding morals in these flaws is not the primary intention. I believe that Shakespeare primarily set out to make a commentary of sorts on society of the time by exaggerating the flaws he saw in it within the characters of Hamlet. Morals can definitely be drawn from Hamlet, but I don't believe that was the primary intention of Shakespeare.
Cassie Quinn
3/25/2015 10:09:47 am
One "human truth" that I took away from Hamlet, was just how much loneliness can affect a person. All of the characters spent their time building secrets, sneaking around and plotting. There were hidden agendas for each one of them, and it slowly deteriorated their sanity. It seems that if some of them had taken the opportunity to confide with another, maybe some of the decisions would not have been so rash. They could have rationalized their plans, and maybe they would not have gotten quite so crazy if they didn't let their thoughts fester in their own mind. Too much deception and lies ended with everyone dead.
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Tyler Ellefson
3/26/2015 06:13:08 am
One lesson I took away from Hamlet was the destruction that lies and secrets can cause. Throughout the story, people lying about the truth leads to conflict and ultimately results in the death of innocent people. Claudius murdered Hamlet Sr., he lies about the truth. Had he admitted the truth right away after Hamlet found out the real way his father died, he would have been selling himself out, yes, but him withholding the truth leads to more destruction in the end.
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Aidan Manley
4/1/2015 12:32:10 am
While I believe that there are many truths to be learned from reading Shakespeare, such as the destructive power of lies or the dangers of revenge, I also believe that Shakespeare's influence and genius is sometimes overstated. In my opinion, Shakespeare doesn't seem like a serious writer. His writings, tragedies and comedies alike, are riddled with inappropriate humor and curse words. Obviously there are lessons we are supposed to learn regardless of the jokes, but it seems to me like he was mostly just trying to make his audience laugh rather than teach them something. If Shakespeare were alive today, I think he would be shocked that we are taught his plays in school. I think that sometimes we over-analyze these writings to find a meaning that he didn't intend.
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