Hamlet Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hamlet - Research Paper Example True enough, the infuriated king proved to have reacted to the play as a mere act one should enjoy and appreciate. The entire play of Shakespeare is believed to be a retelling of an earlier play based on historical fiction (Friedlander, Theatrehistory), with important changes made in some places. The play within the play would probably be one among these important revisions in the story that gives the playwright his unique view of the circumstances in between Hamlet’s knowledge of the king’s murder and the culmination of his revenge. Being unable to get his father’s ghost as a witness to his own murder, Hamlet acts to be insane and ingeniously devises the plan of the play while he waits and plans his revenge. The Roman historical novel also claimed that his protagonist, Brutus, also pretended to be a lunatic (Friedlander). Other versions of Hamlet before Shakespeare were written though not as popular as the renowned playwright’s adaptation, somehow affecte d the totality of the widely acclaimed play by Shakespeare. Probably, the playing of a historical drama was Shakespeare’s inspiration to come up with the play within his play. It could be that the playwright aimed to show the lessons learned when one sits down and watches his role in this world. As Shakespeare himself said, ‘All the World’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players’ (Shakespeare) and continues to say that all of us have many parts to play in our lifetime. An actor of a play playing his part as an actor could prove to have inspired the playwright, using the reality of which to portray a strong and effective employment of irony. In this respect, the plea of the author for the reader to sit aback and watch his roles he played in the past; is a plea to the conscience. Before the portrayal of the play in the written text, a short summary of what was to take place was narrated (Bate & Rasmussen) so that the reader would understand how it fits in the whole story. However, as the real players watch the ‘play’, the playing of their roles still continues with conversations done in between the portrayal of the ‘play’. I can say that this is a literary style of Shakespeare to hold his reader’s attention. Simply reading across the lines can leave the reader confused with which scene is being ‘acted out’ and which is being acted out. That would be, determining which scene is the real act and which is the play in the play. Concentration is needed from the reader in order for him to follow the trail of the story and not get lost. This would also be a style used to let the reader think as he continues with the story. Having read the summary of the play in the play, a reader can basically know how the act would go however, conversations of the ‘real’ players hold the reader’s attention to the text. It presents a seemingly mathematical problem to be solved by the reader as one devotes more attention to how the story goes. In proving the guilt of the king, Shakespeare’s use of the play within the play as a speaker to the former’s conscience elicited the response perceived by Hamlet as a proof of guilt. This method of the writer to move towards the climax of his story seems to be his unique version of the play as we have mentioned earlier that the whole legend was not the original concept of Shakespeare. However, coming up with a