Why Is Hamlet So Popular

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Hamlet is known as one of the best plays ever written. The reason why it’s so popular is because it’s not predictable. Just when the audience thinks that something is going to happen, it doesn’t. The play has a lot of gray areas and spots of uncertainty.
In the beginning of the play, Hamlet gets introduced to the ghost. The ghost turns out to be his dead father, King Hamlet. The ghost tells Hamlet about how he was murdered. He tells Hamlet that King Claudius, the king’s brother, poisoned and murdered him. There is a lot of uncertainty behind the ghost. For example, how do we know that the ghost isn’t lying about his death? Why should Hamlet believe him and how does he know that he’s a reliable source? The king could just be mad that his brother …show more content…

Her father and her brother told her to stop dating Hamlet. After she ends things with Hamlet, she changes. She goes completely crazy after her father, Polonius, is killed by Hamlet. “... I cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him i' th' cold ground.” (4.5.42.) King Claudius tells Horatio to keep an eye on Ophelia. Two scenes later, Queen Gertrude comes and reports to everyone that Ophelia has drowned. The uncertainty of her death is how do we know she drowned? How do we know that she didn’t kill herself because of the amount of grief she was dealing with? One conspiracy about her death is that Gertrude killed Ophelia. When Gertrude tells everyone about Ophelia’s death, she has a lot of deep details about how it happened. “Her clothes spread out wide in the water, and buoyed her up for a while as she sang bits of old hymns, acting like someone who doesn’t realize the danger she’s in.” (4.7.170.) How would Gertrude know all theses details if she hadn’t seen the death herself? Another conspiracy about the death is that Horatio watched it happen. Claudius tells Horatio to keep an eye on Ophelia. If he has done what the king said, then he witnessed the death. Horatio could have reported the details back to the