Hamlet: Inner Turmoil

Hamlet: Inner Turmoil


Within the play Hamlet there exists many puns and phrases which have a
double meaning. Little ploys on words which tend to add a bit of entertainment
to the dialogue of the play. These forked tongue phrases are used by Shakespeare
to cast an insight to the characters in the play…to give them more depth and
substance. However, most importantly these phrases cause the reader or audience
to think. They are able to show a double meaning that not all people would pick
up on, which is the purpose of the comments.
Little is known about Shakespeare's life, other than he was a great
playwright whose works serve to meld literary casts for ages to come. This was
his occupation, he wrote and directed plays to be performed. This was his sole
form of income that we know of, it was his way of putting the bread on the table.
If people did not like what Shakespeare wrote, then he would not earn any money.
If the people didn't like what they saw, he became the starving artist.
Shakespeare wrote these dialogues in such a manner as to entertain both the
Nobility, as well as the peasants.
The Shakespearean theater is a physical manifestation of how Shakespeare
catered to more than one social class in his theatrical productions. These
Shakespearean theaters has a unique construction, which had specific seats for
the wealthy, and likewise, a designated separate standing section for the
peasants. This definite separation of the classes is also evident in
Shakespeare's writing, in as such that the nobility of the productions speak in
poetic iambic pentameter, where as the peasants speak in ordinary prose. Perhaps
Shakespeare incorporated these double meanings to the lines of his characters
with the intent that only a select amount of his audience were meant to hear it
in either its double meaning, or its true meaning.
    However, even when the tragic hero Hamlet's wordplay is intentional, it is
not always clear as to what purpose he uses it. To confuse or to... [continues]

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