A Play Called Hamlet

Shakespeare has written a multitude of famous plays, such as Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night and other celebrated masterpieces. However, there is none other that can compare itself to Hamlet, Shakespeare's unbeatable champion.

Before getting to know the play better, many begin to wonder about the factors that make it such an incredible piece. According to A.C Bradley, the main ingredient to the play's great taste is the main character, Hamlet himself. Not for nothing did Shakespeare decide to honor him with the title of his story. It is Hamlet the one who makes the play the extraordinary artwork the play managed to become.

Bradley declares that without Hamlet "the remaining characters could not yield a Shakespearean tragedy at all"(Bradley, 57). In my opinion, this observation is correct, and I think that it is Hamlet the one who makes this story something more than a typical struggle for power within a royal family.

Hamlet is the central character, standing alone surrounded by the rest of the cast members. As opposed to other Shakespeare plays like Macbeth or Othello, Hamlet has no accompanying figure of similar importance to him. There is no accomplice like Lady Macbeth, or plotting traitor like Iago that share comparing importance in the narrative. Everything happens because of Hamlet, and everyone seems to act in accordance to Hamlet's scheme.

Up to Act II Scene II, the turn of events has been occurring as an effect of Hamlet's actions. Determined to avenge the murder of his father, Hamlet has taken a rather peculiar but brilliant attitude in the presence of the others. From the moment he talks to his "father's ghost" and discovered the truth about his death, Hamlet has devised a plan to get back at Claudius. It's still not certain how he will accomplish this difficult task, but it seems that part of his plot is to feign insanity, and make sure to make it apparent to his mother and uncle. I still wonder how the rest of his plan will unfold, but Hamlet's character is making of this play and argument to prove Shakespeare's genius.

If you think about it, without a character as complex and developed as Hamlet, the rest of the story would have no particular importance. Bradley himself confesses that without Hamlet, he would have considered it to be a play similar to "those early tragedies of blood and horror"(Bradley, 57). Practically primitive and hardly considered worth being called a child of Shakespeare. Thanks to Hamlet's presence, the play has gained the fame and prestige it has deservedly acquired. After all, only Shakespeare can create a character so fantastic that it is able to alter the course of the entire play.