the Most important theme in Hamlet and why...

[whiteangel]

Hi, this is just a question I have been interested in....
I personally would say death, i mean it runs throughout the play....and is the consequence of most actions -- you cannot escape death in this play...

[Gladys]

I'll vote for integrity and loyalty. Hamlet perceives a dearth of these in all but Horatio.

[Silas Thorne]

I think the main theme is the conflict between the imaginary and the actual, the poses of the characters in the play (the masks people present to others in the play) and their true intentions.

Why:
Hamlet acts himself as a madman. Claudius' pose and it's removal through the miniplay depicting the murder of Hamlet's father. The false friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The truth behind the duel.

[whiteangel]

I like the reality Vs appearance theme.....it runs throughout the play...

Gladys, its interesting you pick the two that I find are lacking throughout the play....can I just ask why you think these two - I suppose for me to understand better... obviously i can see they are themes, but the main?

[Gladys]

I like the reality Vs appearance theme.....it runs throughout the play... I've no argument with this.


I'll vote for integrity and loyalty. Hamlet perceives a dearth of these in all but Horatio. Look at all the characters through Hamlet's eyes.

Claudius murders his king and brother, and would murder Hamlet. Gertrude is disloyal to the memory of Old Hamlet and commits incest. Ophelia is disloyal through no fault in Hamlet as a result of Polonius' meddling - no integrity here. R & G lack integrity in their dealings with Hamlet. Laertes tries to poison him and fights with an unguarded foil. And Osric is a fawning hypocrite.

[whiteangel]

I've no argument with this.

Look at all the characters through Hamlet's eyes.

Claudius murders his king and brother, and would murder Hamlet. Gertrude is disloyal to the memory of Old Hamlet and commits incest. Ophelia is disloyal through no fault in Hamlet as a result of Polonius' meddling - no integrity here. R & G lack integrity in their dealings with Hamlet. Laertes tries to poison him and fights with an unguarded foil. And Osric is a fawning hypocrite.


ofcourse I understand the Lack of loyalty .... which is why I wanted to know why you thoght Loyalty and integrity are main themes- Because from what I could deduce, the opposite of betrayal is more prodominant than the two.

[Gladys]

of course I understand the Lack of loyalty Let me elaborate. Seeing the play strictly through Hamlet's eyes is surely a viable interpretation, which Shakespeare does his best to make possible. And yes, lack of loyalty and integrity implies betrayal and insincerity.

If we empathise with Hamlet, loyalty and integrity are all important. Deception is more prominent where the viewer assumes the role of a distant observer. The play begins and ends with the disloyalty of Claudius. In the interim, Hamlet is bombarded with the fickleness of those around him.


How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! ah, fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!

Hamlet's dying words testify to this lack of loyalty and integrity of those around him.


If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.

[whiteangel]

Again, I do understand the LACK of loyalty, which is why when you said it was a MAIN theme i was a little bemused, apart from Horatia there is no other character who imparts loyalty.... neither integrity
and looking at the play from ONLY hamlet's eyes would b e quite problematic for then you can not understand the errors in him, neither King hamlet, and you can never appritiate other characters plausible features, i.e. Claudius's diplomacy .....
Perhaps looking at the play from the eyes of all characters, which shakesperae also intended, would be wiser.

[Ray Eston Smith]

If we empathise with Hamlet, loyalty and integrity are all important.

I agree that loyalty and integrity are all important to Hamlet. But I think Hamlet's main problem is the conflict between loyalty and integrity within his own soul. To be loyal to his father, he should kill Claudius, become King Hamlet, and kill Fortinbras and his army. However that would be "not honesty" - it would be untrue to himself, the Wittenberg scholar. "Horatio, or I do forget myself." Horatio was like Hamlet's true rational self, but then, out of loyalty to his father ("If thou didst ever thy dear father love"), he did forget himself: "from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all..." "Hamlet from himself be ta'en away."

The disloyalties (and misplaced loyalties) and dishonesties of the other characters are mirrors to Hamlet's own spotted soul.