INTRODUCTION OF HAMLET of Agostino Lombardo

The work of Hamlet is complex and mysterious. Hamlet is no longer a myth but a character polyvalent and polymorphic . He must live an heroic life without having the characteristics of a hero. In fact, in 600 , there are no heroes but men.

Hamlet had a different interpretations :

• for romantics he was a symbol of their inspiration to infinity

• for the Symbolists he was image of boredom

• in 900 he represented evil and disposals

There are many differences, but the interpretation of Shakespear's Hamlet is an objective fact of the culture where he lived. The character is universal because he has a link with the contemporary period .

With the end of the reign of Elizabeth began a period of unrest and power struggles . The crisis became more extensive with the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Shakespear 's work becomes a vehicle and a mirror of the culture of the period wherein it led to the discovery of new worlds and the advancement of science. Indeed, the Copernican view replaces the Ptolemaic system and the collapsing feudal order goes up to the Puritan Revolution .

This crisis can already be seen in the texts of 500 ( Julius Caesar) , by the Copernican man reaching up to Hamlet .

In Hamlet there is a subplot . The viewer is always attracted by the figure of Hamlet and his antithetical character : harshness of truth Vs fiction.

The character has a prodigious awareness. All Hamlet play is a answer and this is the reason why he is the image of modern man: he is always full of doubt.

The structural principle of the work is based on the constant questioning about themselves , others and the world. Indeed the work opens with a question: "Who is there? " .

The ghost becomes a concrete symbol of the mystery. The doubt arises from the lack of certainty of the existential character . The man no longer wants to be submissive but wants to dominate the world .

In Hamlet there is an intellectual pursuit of which the language is the proof ( " words , words, words , .. " ). In addition the work of Shakespear has the theme of the human being and the theme of reality and fiction.

The conventional language is an illusion, then it is a language that does not involve emotions.

Moreover the difficulty of the playwright is the setting .

Life as theater is another important theme : life is imagination of itself . In the act III Scene II there is the theater within theater. This through the madness Hamlet manages to make others feel what they think of him. Doubt is a permanent condition of human beings.