Political Decadence and Ruling Entropy in "Hamlet" (PDF)

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Didactics - English - Literature, Works, grade: A, Northern Arizona University, language: English, abstract: Even in high school during which my teacher interpreted Hamlet as a psychological drama with a cowardly, indecisive and disturbingly Oedipal main character, I saw Hamlet as primarily a depiction of a political showdown between Hamlet and Claudius. Having reigned for only two months, during which time he has, despite his country's weakened position, used diplomatic maneuvering to defuse the violent ambitions of the young Fortinbras, married his sister-in-law, and maintained the goodwill of the multitude shows that Claudius is a remarkably crafty and charismatic, even seductive, politician. His furtive murder of his brother also demonstrates his ruthlessness and cunning. As for Hamlet, his profoundest frustration is not the loss of his father or the marriage of his mother to Claudius: It is that Claudius has usurped what Hamlet perceives is his rightful place in the succession for the throne, a fact that he obsessively discusses with most of the play's principal characters. In their first interaction of the play, Claudius publicly reassures Hamlet that he remains next in line to the throne. To remain heir apparent to a man younger than his father is not satisfactory to him, and he is filled with impotent rage at his mother's marrying Claudius, an act that surely solidified Claudius in the eyes of the nobles who elected him. The appearance of his father's ghost and his learning of the true circumstances of his demise present a golden opportunity. Though the elder Hamlet asks his son only to avenge his death, the younger man wants to have his cake and eat it, too: to kill Claudius, and assume the throne himself. The latter is Hamlet's primary objective, and to achieve it within the conservative royal milieu without upsetting it, he must navigate through complex historical, cultural, and political realities that stack the odds decidedly against his favor. Nonetheless, Hamlet is nearly Machiavellian enough to succeed, though ultimately he is defeated by his towering passions and rage.