Reading Hamlet as a Murder Mystery free essay sample

This paper analyzes William Shakespeares most famous play, Hamlet, in terms of detective fiction narrative. Examining Hamlets madness, the Queens guilt, and his relationship with Ophelia. This paper analyzes William Shakespeares most famous play, Hamlet in terms of detective fiction narrative. Hamlet is examined against 19th and 20th century works such as the Sherlock Holmes and Philip Marlowe stories, while the text of the play is presented and backed up as evidence of an inherent detective narrative. Some of the evidence concerns the Queens guilt, and Hamlets confrontation of the Queen in Act III Scene IV as well as Hamlets madness and his relationship with Ophelia. Hamlet, says William Hazlitt, is the one of Shakespeares plays that we think of the oftenest. (Hazlitt, 197) The story, the plot of Hamlet is almost irrelevant: it is his character, and the way we interpret that character, that gives vital, universal meaning to Shakespeares work over three hundred years later. We will write a custom essay sample on Reading Hamlet as a Murder Mystery or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As Hazlitt comments, `[Hamlets] reality is in the readers mind. It is we who are Hamlet.` (196) Hazlitts is a point of view I would like to discuss further. I would argue that Hamlet lends itself almost flawlessly to multiple interpretations, thus remaining a vital, active text that has become a cultural icon since it was first staged in 1600-1601.