After Ophelia dies, I kind of guessed that Hamlet wouldn't really want to live anymore. And what more would there be for Laertes, once his father and sister died? And, if those two were going to die, then why not the queen as well, since she really would otherwise live in darkness and depression for the rest of her life anyway. And, just because the bad guy can't go on living after causing the death of so many, he should probably die, too. Well, did that get everyone? I don't want to leave anyone out...Shakespeare created such a twisted and complicated story, that the only resolution possible was to kill off all of the main characters involved in the corrupt plot. How could there be a happily ever after, after such a disgusting act as what Hamlet's Uncle did, killing his brother, and marrying his brother's wife, to become King. But was it really necessarry to kill off Laertes and Hamlet, too? Not to mention Ophelia, although it was probably better for her to die, seeing as she had resorted to singing about her problems, and most likely wouldn't have recovered from the traumatic experience of her father's death.
But, what was the whole point of Shakespeare's play, if everyone was just going to die in the end? Was it a fable, where a hidden lesson is tucked between the words of the characters? Could it have merely been a distraction for people back then? Were the audiences' lives so miserable that they needed to watch a play to forget about their own troubles? Maybe, but why do people find these plays so interesting now-a-days, then?
Obviously, our lives aren't that bad. We have a more substantial diet than just potatoes, work is generally possible to find, and we aren't exactly freezing to death. We pretty much have all of Asops' Fables now, (which, to tell you the truth, are much happier) so all of our moral lessons have already been taught. So, why does everyone still make a big deal about Shakespeare's plays?
I am guessing, just because it is old. Why wouldn't it be interesting? It is a way of going back in time, to read the words that were written so long ago. People actually gathered to hear those same exact words be performed that we can watch and/or read today. Thinking about it, it is actually super cool! Same goes for the Odyssey, Dante's Inferno, and Chauncery's Tales. All of those pieces of Literature that were parts of people's lives hundreds of years ago interest us today, because it allows us to grasp the concept of how they lived, and that they really did exist. Having pieces of the past makes the past more tangible. And that is why we find things like Hamlet interesting. Not because the plot is super genius, or the characters completely likeable, but because the fact that it was written long ago allows us a source to understand and experience the past.
So, I won't give Shakespeare too hard of a time for such a bad ending. After all, he is kind of famous for his tragedies. Through his plays, we can see that his life was most likely not all that happy, he was probably surrounded by alot of death, and didn't exactly get to experience the whole warm-and-fuzzy feeling all that often, seeing as he never really focuses on the relationships between people, but more on the conflicts. And that reflects on that time period, maybe people didn't really want to focus on the love that they felt for one another, because they were all going to die soon anyway (the life span wasn't exactly what we would call long). Maybe it was easier to dwell on what was bad, so that they wouldn't miss the good when it was gone.
That said, Hamlet has allowed me to experience a revelation consisting of three parts. One, I can appreciate Shakespeare now, not because I adore his plays, but it is a way of understanding history. Two, I now see that my life has so little drama, that it is pretty much boring compared to Shakespeare's works. And three, after looking Shakespeare up on wikipedia, I found out that he was married to a lady named Anne Hathaway, which now a days is the name of one of my favorite actresses! Woah.
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