Random Comments on the Character of Hamlet

Abstract

Hamlet is considered to be the summit of Shakespeare art and one of the Shakespeare’s masterpieces. Although Shakespeare wrote the play and created and described this character of Hamlet more than 400 years ago, Hamlet is still appreciated by both Europeans and Chinese people. The image of Hamlet appears so vividly before us and the character of Hamlet is still so deeply endeared and admired by numerous Chinese readers that the study of Hamlet constantly becomes a hot topic of Chinese scholars in China. This paper tries to make some comments on the character of Hamlet by analyzing him from the perspective of his inner-mind changes with the story development, especially exploring the formation of his melancholy and its causes in more details, and then attempts to indicate its historical significance of the play so as to give the future readers more implications and draw some lessons from Hamlet as well.