The opening act of Hamlet is essential for the purposes of outlining the main issues or themes of the piece as well as revealing the plot, characters and mood of the play. Act I of Hamlet is successful in outlining all of these aspects. Most importantly Act one introduces many key issues of the play such as appearance versus reality or "playing roles", whether in fact the story is a revenge tragedy, clashes of certain people's ideas, problems that must be resolved in addition to the theme of action versus inaction.

The quite centrally important of appearance versus reality is dealt with in Hamlet's first appearance on stage in scene two. Hamlet emerges, still dressed in his mourning clothes with a melancholy face while showing his contempt for Claudius to whom he directs many dry and sarcastic remarks. Gertrude asks Hamlet why it seems his fathers' death has troubled him for so long to which Hamlet replies "I have that within which passes show". Hamlet, by this statement implies that most people only pretend to grieve and do so by using "all forms, moods, shapes of grief...for they are actions a man might play". These people only ac

During the first act of "Hamlet" Shakespeare is able identify and introduce to his audience all of the key issues that will be resolved or explored over the course of the play. He also is able to entice people further into the story by offering ironic references that hint to the tragic end of this story of revenge. Problems are presented in addition to clashing ideals, central themes and a unique way of presenting and performing his chosen genre.

A popularly debated issue of "Hamlet" is it's status as a revenge tragedy. Act one, taken in isolation is in most ways fairly representative of a traditional revenge tragedy, which in Shakespeare's time was a common genre in itself. We are told in the first act that a morally wrong act has been committed (in this case murder) and the protagonist of the play (Hamlet) is told to revenge that act and see what he can do to equal the prior crime. Other than the fact that the play is set in Denmark rather than in a hot climate as most revenge tragedies are, there is not anything to outwardly suggest that the play is atypical of the style. However, as revealed plainly later on Shakespeare has decided in this play to change the rules and test the limits of his chosen genre. To start with it's hard to label Hamlet as a protagonist, and even harder to identify him as the hero of the play. Hamlet thinks deeply and philosophically about any action he considers taking, even as early on as in the first act and by conducting himself in this manner hardly ends up actually doing anything. This is a very unusual personality for the central character of a revenge tragedy to have. The first act in a subtle way does show the audience that this is not a normal revenge tragedy.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gertrude Hamlet, Queen Gertrude's, Denmark Horatio's, Act Hamlet, Hamlet Shakespeare, Hamlet Claudius, English Assignment, revenge tragedy, act hamlet, Act Hamlet's, revenge tragedy act, tragedy act, appearance versus reality, action versus inaction, play act, key issues, versus reality, outward appearance, hamlet feels, play act hamlet, story revenge, playing roles,
Approximate Word count = 1238
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)