William Shakespeare’s most notable tragedy, Hamlet, portrays the story of Prince Hamlet seeking vengeance against his uncle, King Claudius, who killed Hamlet’s father to marry his mother and seize the throne of Denmark. For Hamlet to execute his revenge, he fakes madness to those around him creating a chaotic environment to set the tragic ending. The themes of action vs. inaction and the ambiguity of Hamlet’s character make this classic drama such a mysterious masterpiece. The play leaves the reader with so many unanswered questions. Why didn’t Hamlet kill Claudius sooner? Was Hamlet’s madness genuine or truly fake? What was Hamlet like before his father’s death? We will never know as these questions are certainly up to the reader to interpret.

One of the driving forces of the drama is Hamlet’s indecision. His indecision is apparent when listening to the ghost’s requests (supposedly King Hamlet), contemplating suicide, and murdering Claudius. Hamlet’s inability to make decisions stems from his lack of confidence. He admits that he cannot avenge his father’s murder simply because of his cowardice. Eventually, he changes his mind and decides to carry out the murder through elaborate planning. However, the play establishes a boundary between claiming to act and actually doing so. Hamlet constantly says he will kill Claudius, but fails to act on it, to which he drags this problem to the play’s conclusion. Hamlet’s indecisiveness results in his ultimate downfall while successfully completing his vengeance.

Hamlet remains one of the most ambiguous and enigmatic characters in literature. The complexity of his character does not fit the standards of a conventional protagonist because of his brooding nature. The play only explores his personality when he grieves his father’s death and fakes madness, so this puts Hamlet’s true personality into question. The Hamlet that the reader sees is a person going through a crisis and simply acting on it. Could we dismiss his behavior throughout the play as his true character? Possibly. Shakespeare introduces Hamlet as timid and emotional, but this was after the recent death of his father, so he has a reason to act this way. He also fakes madness to deceive the characters from his ulterior motive: plotting revenge. The first victim of his madness is his love interest: Ophelia. Both characters love each other, but Hamlet’s madness weakens their relationship as he treats Ophelia inhumanely. Because of Hamlet’s madness, Ophelia feels betrayed leading her to commit suicide.

Aside from his madness, there are few occurrences in the drama talking about Hamlet positively, but we rarely see that. Shakespeare incorporates one event that could possibly act as Hamlet’s true character moment. When Hamlet finds out about the death of court jester Yorick, he remembers positive memories with him during his childhood. While this scene evokes nostalgia and happiness, Hamlet realizes that good people die even though they don’t deserve to. This is the first and only time we see Hamlet demonstrating sympathy towards another person. Overall, we will never know if Hamlet’s personality was genuine or a person experiencing an existential crisis.

While Hamlet leaves us with so many unanswered questions, the novel raises the biggest question of them all: is revenge justifiable? Want to know the answer? Find out in Shakespeare’s most influential tragedy: Hamlet.

The tragedy of Macbeth overviews the interesting phenomena behind the idea of the duality of power and self-control. One of Shakespeare's most famous plays, Macbeth portrays the life of its protagonist who works his way to the throne, but has an immense downfall even more tragic than his claim to power. Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows the reader the brutal truth of how power can go to anyone's head and make them act in destructive ways.

Macbeth represents the sin of greed and power that many humans may have within their own consciences. A purpose of the story is to enlighten the reader and portray what can occur when someone with a dangerous and obsessive mentality is actually rewarded with what they desire. It portrays how even in victories at times there will be moments that still cause defeat. At the end of the day, Macbeth is a great play to turn and observe yourself. The tragic downfall of Macbeth as a result of his greed and pride is an important one to listen to to be wary of such character flaws within yourself.

To be frank, although these aforementioned questions are very plot-driven and important in the play, the most intriguing part of Macbeth has to be the relationship Macbeth has with his wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth represents a troubled wife, one who supports her husband, it simultaneously asks in destructive manners for self. Yet one must ask the question if Lady Macbeth's concerns of her husband stem from her own dangerous characteristics or from the fear of losing make back. At the end of the day, perhaps Lady Macbeth understands that if Macbeth was to fail she would lose her husband. This is the same husband who shares her grief of the stillborn child, whose early death ultimately connects the two characters together. By the end of the novel (spoiler alert), we see that Lady Macbeth ultimately ends up dying as a result of the grease she feels for the blood she has on her hands. Not only has her son died as a result of a stillbirth, however she has also lost her husband to a power-driven insanity, and she is also equally responsible for the deaths of the people who Macbeth killed. At the end of the day, it is clear that Lady Macbeth perhaps committed these these murders with Macbeth because she thought it would unite the couple together, however as a result of this she sees that she was ultimately wrong and they both suffered the consequences of this event.

The name “Shakespeare” resonates with many people with his notable and attractive dramas such as “Hamlet” and “Macbeth” but there is no more famous play that Shakespeare wrote than that of Juliet and her Romeo. First premiered in 1597, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet follows not two lovers but two families and their rivalry, the Montagues and Capulets in the setting of fair Verona. In fact, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet were just two unfortunate protagonists destined as star-crossed lovers from these two feuding families. The tragedy begins by introducing and emerging the age-old blood feud followed by Romeo’s grievances for love, specifically for a girl named Rosaline. In his pursuit along with best friends Benvolio and Mercutio, he meets Juliet, a refined girl, and Romeo’s eyes and heart fall for her and Juliet in return. Their relationship and the trials they must face ultimately lead to their untimely deaths and the eventual reconciliation of their feuding families.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is often considered the greatest love story ever written, with many sources of media going as far as making this story a format for movies as well as being home to many of the finest scenes in literature. In all its pursuits, Romeo and Juliet’s death-fated relationship teaches that love is not something taken for granted and should be appreciated, for we only know how long we can have them. Besides that, the tragedy also plays with the concepts of fate versus free will, hate and violence, and even family which represents the relationships between characters who blame free will over fate or are more inclined to solve problems by violence and even how each person’s relationships with the two protagonists often show how life was viewed during 14th century times. The tragedy also responds to Shakespeare’s intelligence and clever use of wording as of course, he is first and foremost a poet. Many readers will find the Shakespearean language hard to read and Romeo and Juliet are no different. Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter and making sonnets only give the dialogue for the tragedy a more romantic sense.

Although many may not enjoy Shakespeare’s art due to its difficult language or may be difficult to understand the kind of style that he writes, Romeo and Juliet are one of the exceptions as many people like and continue to find joy in aspects of this fated couple’s story. Blockbusters such as Titanic and West Side Story often incorporate the use of fated love, heavy violence, and in the end, a tragic death that makes these movies very much investing and worthy of watching and these themes even help people reflect on their relationships and show the complexity of human love. If there is one work by Shakespeare that people should read when first trying or studying Shakespeare, it would have to be The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet