Hamlet What Is the Appeal to the 21 Century Audience
As people in the twenty-first century generally don't believe in ghosts and don't consider revenge a duty, why is a play like Hamlet still of interest to film and theatre audiences?
As William Shakespeare began writing Hamlet in 1598 - at the end of the 16th century - the play which would go on to become one of his most famous pieces of work was geared towards an audience of “churls”, “groundlings” and the less-educated members of theatre-going society, just as equally as the more educated and affluent audience members. Theatre being a relatively affordable and popular form of entertainment for the less wealthy individuals, Shakespeare would cater as much to their tastes as he would to the ‘higher society’ who would attend his plays. A fellow playwright, Ben Johnson, noted the diversity of the audiences in his verses to Fletcher's The Faithful Shepherdess, in which he refers to them as “the wise and many headed bench that sits upon the life and death of plays” and cites “gamester, captain, knight, knight's man, lady or pucelle, that wears mask or fan, velvet or taffeta cap, rank'd in the dark with the shop's foreman, or some such brave spark that may judge for his sixpence” as the various components of an audience.
Therefore it is not uncommon to find characters and situations in Shakespeare’s plays which may appeal more to the less-educated and “naïve” in attendance. Such undemanding elements could include clowns, lewd characters and, some may argue, ghosts. It is acceptable to believe that some of Hamlet’s audience, possibly even a majority, would have believed in the existence of ghosts to a degree. Fiercely religious, the audience’s fear of God and the supernatural would certainly lead them to accept that the more seemingly-absurd elements of Hamlet to us were deemed more than plausible when the play was originally performed in the early 17th century. However, as more contemporary productions of Hamlet are performed to today’s modern audiences, the
As William Shakespeare began writing Hamlet in 1598 - at the end of the 16th century - the play which would go on to become one of his most famous pieces of work was geared towards an audience of “churls”, “groundlings” and the less-educated members of theatre-going society, just as equally as the more educated and affluent audience members. Theatre being a relatively affordable and popular form of entertainment for the less wealthy individuals, Shakespeare would cater as much to their tastes as he would to the ‘higher society’ who would attend his plays. A fellow playwright, Ben Johnson, noted the diversity of the audiences in his verses to Fletcher's The Faithful Shepherdess, in which he refers to them as “the wise and many headed bench that sits upon the life and death of plays” and cites “gamester, captain, knight, knight's man, lady or pucelle, that wears mask or fan, velvet or taffeta cap, rank'd in the dark with the shop's foreman, or some such brave spark that may judge for his sixpence” as the various components of an audience.
Therefore it is not uncommon to find characters and situations in Shakespeare’s plays which may appeal more to the less-educated and “naïve” in attendance. Such undemanding elements could include clowns, lewd characters and, some may argue, ghosts. It is acceptable to believe that some of Hamlet’s audience, possibly even a majority, would have believed in the existence of ghosts to a degree. Fiercely religious, the audience’s fear of God and the supernatural would certainly lead them to accept that the more seemingly-absurd elements of Hamlet to us were deemed more than plausible when the play was originally performed in the early 17th century. However, as more contemporary productions of Hamlet are performed to today’s modern audiences, the