Shakespeare’s Essay Alan Massy-Shakespeare’s plays speak to us today with an extraordinary and an unfailing immediacy. There are themes in the play that are relevant to life today such as when mans social, political and ethical worlds are out of balance. This lack of balance is symbolized by a disjunction in his own health and in nature. In other words natural illnesses or occurrences are symbolic of the illness in his thinking. This happens today and is also illustrated in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Man often equates his own physical illness with the break down of his political system. In the opening scene of Hamlet Francisco says ‘Tis bitter cold, / And I am sick at heart (1.1.9). His discomfort is a result of the political instability brought about by the death of Hamlet’s father and the appearance of what they believe to be his ghost. Correspondingly in today’s world many suffered and grieved greatly when Princess Diana passed away. She was loved by many and was seen as a remarkable person. Similarly, man often sees supposedly abnormal occurrences in nature as symbols or warning about the breakdown of political, social or ethical systems.
In Hamlet Act I, Scene I, Lines 120, Horatio says the moon Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse. He compares the forthcoming downfall of Rome with the pending destruction of Denmark. He takes natures happenings to be a sign of future misfortunes for the state of Denmark. Today, people still do the same thing.
For instance many religious groups take nature’s destructive force, El Nino, to be forthcoming of Earth’s Armageddon. Hamlet’s timelessness can be seen through the themes that it portrays. Political, social and ethical corruption will never disappear. As long as time stands their will always be these moral dilemmas which we still face today and seemingly forever.
