If there are a thousand readers, there must be a thousand Hamlets. This wide-spread remarktells us that on the one hand, different people may have a quite different opinion while looking at the same thing; on the other hand, Shakespeare¯s Hamlet has a hard-to-define topic.

Hamlet, written in 1601-1602, was the first of the greatest tragedies. Though the chief elements such as the story of murder and revenge, the appearance of a ghost, the performance of a play within a play, were nothing new, Shakespeare took all these and adopted the story of Hamlet the Prince of Denmark which had been the plot of an earlier play °The Spanish Tragedy± by Thomas Kyd, and wrote his immortal masterpiece ° Hamlet±.

Hamlet is the central character of the play. His character has remained a hard-to-answer puzzle for nearly 400 years. Is he firm or lightweight? Is his madness real or only pretended? Is the melancholy his nature or his moodiness? Is he afraid of no difficulties or is he always undecided? These kinds of questions confuse all the critics of Shakespeare of every generation. In the 17th century, Hamlet was considered as an eloquent, noble avenger. In the 18th century, he was not a heroic aven

No matter what a man of infinite variety he is, no matter how successfully he pretends to be mad, he has no way to avoid his tragic ending. His enemy is too strong, and he is caught in a trap. He is forced to have a fencing bout with Laertes and killed by Laertes¯ poisoned sword. With his last breath, Hamlet executes his revenge on his enemy. This moving and tragic ending makes me remember Du Fu¯s famous remark in °The Temple of the Ptime Minister of Shu±: °Before seeing victory, he died in the camp ground. It oft makes later heroes weep with sighs profound!±

Hamlet is a many-sided talent of the Renaissance. His learning, wisdom, noble nature, even his tragedy are all representative of the humanists at the turn of the century.

As a prince, he has his political ideal; as a son of his father ° from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!±; as s statesman, his personal avenge should be combined with the reformation of the society; as a man with sparking wit, he realizes that his power is not enough and that his ideal in his own time is beyond him; as a heroic humanist, even though the failure awaits him, he will still do the destined-to-come-to-a-tragic-end job. All these factors have influence on Hamlet¯s action. They make him even more melancholic and delay his avenge.

to grunt and sweat under a weary life.±

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1627
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)