Is Hamlet Outdated
Hamlet written by William Shakespeare is one of the most well known and most taught plays of all time. For decades this play has been read throughout student’s academic career and goes down in history as one of the greatest plays of all time according to many. Despite it’s popularity and history, Hamlet is no longer relevant today and should not continue to be taught to students due to the fact that it is outdated and does not teach any valuable lessons.
As mentioned before, Hamlet is often labeled as “the greatest play ever written”. The play’s popularity has allowed for multiple movies to be made and hundreds of plays to be performed over the years. To play the role of Hamlet is also a great honor to an actor's career and the role has been …show more content…
Director Katie Mitchell examined the interactions between Hamlet and his lover Ophelia and noticed how abusive and offensive Ophelia and other women were treated in the play. “If you just take the five scenes she’s in, it would be a short play on abuse” (Mitchell 2). Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's longest plays and the fact that Ophelia, one of the main characters, is only in the play for this limited of time with the only interactions being those considered misogynistic and display a false idea of gender roles and importance proves that Hamlet showcases an outdated concept of women at the time and how they should be viewed or treated. In Act 3 Scene 1, this belief is evident when looking at how Hamlet speaks to Ophelia. “I’ve heard all about you women and your cosmetics too. God gives you one face, but you paint another on top of it. You dance and prance anns lisp; you call God’s creations by pet names, and you excuse your sexpot ploys by pleading ignorance” …show more content…
This belief is not true however because it does not teach any valuable lesson or benefit readers in any way other than to entertain, which all plays do. As discussed before Hamlet could be considered misogynistic, which is not something readers should be learning about or exposed to in today’s society and that combined with the difficulty of understanding the language, Hamlet should not remain as valued as it has been for
As mentioned before, Hamlet is often labeled as “the greatest play ever written”. The play’s popularity has allowed for multiple movies to be made and hundreds of plays to be performed over the years. To play the role of Hamlet is also a great honor to an actor's career and the role has been …show more content…
Director Katie Mitchell examined the interactions between Hamlet and his lover Ophelia and noticed how abusive and offensive Ophelia and other women were treated in the play. “If you just take the five scenes she’s in, it would be a short play on abuse” (Mitchell 2). Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's longest plays and the fact that Ophelia, one of the main characters, is only in the play for this limited of time with the only interactions being those considered misogynistic and display a false idea of gender roles and importance proves that Hamlet showcases an outdated concept of women at the time and how they should be viewed or treated. In Act 3 Scene 1, this belief is evident when looking at how Hamlet speaks to Ophelia. “I’ve heard all about you women and your cosmetics too. God gives you one face, but you paint another on top of it. You dance and prance anns lisp; you call God’s creations by pet names, and you excuse your sexpot ploys by pleading ignorance” …show more content…
This belief is not true however because it does not teach any valuable lesson or benefit readers in any way other than to entertain, which all plays do. As discussed before Hamlet could be considered misogynistic, which is not something readers should be learning about or exposed to in today’s society and that combined with the difficulty of understanding the language, Hamlet should not remain as valued as it has been for