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Redemption In Hamlet

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Redemption In Hamlet
Throughout the four centuries, since Shakespeare wrote and produced the play Hamlet, many have sought to interpret and find meaning in the words of the Bard. While only William himself can truly confirm the messages he intended for us to find, we each can express those that come to us. This essay will attempt to examine Hamlet and the themes of Redemption, Moral Truths, and a Just Society.
The theme of Redemption refers to that human action of trying to put right that which is wrong. This attempt at redemption can include correcting actions as small as unintentional mistakes to gross, intentional sins, whether in our own selves or in others. It is an attempt to restore that which has been lost, most often a sense of peace. In Hamlet, there …show more content…
These are eternal truths that are unchanging in spite of time, place or circumstances, as they apply to human behavior. These truths can be either positive or negative and each has consequences, both good and bad, depending on how we act upon them. It is said that life would cease to exist without them and certainly stories would not be stories without them. Hamlet is no exception and it does not take intense study and search to find these gems. One of the most obvious places to look is in the parting words Polonius gives to his son Laertes as he is about to depart to France. His advice, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" (avoiding debt and making one's own living) and "to thine own self be true" (live what you know is right and you will be good to everyone) are as applicable today as in Shakespeare's time. There are also less obvious moral truths in Hamlet. In his famous soliloquy, Hamlet appears to be contemplating suicide as he says, "To be or not to be: that is the question:", but also appears to reference agency and our right, and obligation to choose. Further contemplation would lead us to consider this truth, our obligation to use our agency, to be a major theme of the play. Hamlet's seeming inability to choose, and moreover, choose wisely, is in large part, what leads to the play's tragic
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