Analysis Of Hamlet: A Masterpiece Of Combined Efforts In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Shakespeare’s Hamlet: A Masterpiece of Combined Efforts Shakespeare’s timeless work of literature, and one of the most popular plays to this day, Hamlet, was not just a tale Shakespeare himself thought up on his own with no inspiration from outside sources. Shakespeare’s wonderful writing stems from not only his natural talent, but from his influence pulled from the great writers who came before him. Literature builds upon itself; every work of literature in existence has some inspiration from another work. Excluding any outside influence from a work of literature is something that is just not possible. Shakespeare took inspiration from some of the best works in literature, and it resulted in one of the most known and loved plays to this days. Works that
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the character of Ophelia is introduced. Ophelia is the sister of Laertes and daughter of Polonius. In Virgil’s Aeneid, the character of Dido meets the same fate that Ophelia ultimately meets and they both meet this fate due the pain of loss and the cruelty of rejection. Though their fates are the same, their paths in life that lead them to the fate have contrast. In the Aeneid, Dido, the widowed queen had made an oath of fidelity to her first husband, but violates this vow with Aeneas. In contrast, the virgin Ophelia’s “fair and unpolluted flesh” spoken by Laertes beside while standing over her grace (5.1.232), but with Dido, dare I say “too, too sullied flesh”? Ophelia is last seen in a very dramatic and