Hamlet | Hamlet and Revenge
In this excerpt from a highly regarded work on Hamlet, Eleanor Prosser meditates on the reasons for Hamlet's universal appeal, and how, in many ways, Hamlet's dilemma is the same one experienced by civilized man.
(From Hamlet and Revenge by Eleanor Prosser. ©1971 Stanford University Press. Reprinted by permission of the publisher)
May not the peculiar power of the play be based to a large extent on our ability to sympathize with Hamlet and yet judge him for the course he pursues? And is this not exactly our response to Shakespeare's other great tragic figures? It has been harder to admit our intuitive judgment of Hamlet because his tragic choice commands not merely our sympathy but our admiration. In the first place, his situation is much closer to our own than that of Macbeth or Antony...
[The entire page is 1310 words long]
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