Literature

Introduction
    William Shakespeare did not simply write his plays for the sole purpose of entertainment during the Elizabethan era. It can be assumed that it was his way of criticizing the society around him at the time. In his two most famous plays, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, he was able to use his players, the role-playing and the play itself to dissect human behavior, politics, and other societal issues such as feminism. He made use of complex characters and not simply oversimplified ones to emphasize the depth of human behavior and their reactions towards what was currently happening to the society they were born with.

Romeo and Juliet
    Romeo and Juliet is known for its archetypal characters because of the play’s “star-crossed lovers”. Romeo and Juliet are an epitome of a young aggressive love gone wrong. Their deaths are also a product of a family feud which is a common situation for wealthy families in the Elizabethan era. Apparently, through the double suicide of the lovers and the vengeful feuds of their families, Shakespeare was able to inculcate the idea of human struggle and politics in the play. He uses the character of the Prince of Verona to represent the conflicting political and legal ideologies about how a particular state in the Elizabethan Age operates. The play also demonstrates the duties of the Prince as a ruler trying to maintain peace and order to his community. It also represents the type of government to which the milieu of the play is based.

The family feuds and vengeful attempts of the characters transfer the audience attention from the old habit of simply seeing the emphasis on the whole community to the idea of individuality. In the play, soliloquies are often delivered to provide audience the thoughts and ideas of the character who is speaking. They are able to hear them through their own thoughts and musings. Shakespeare enabled the viewers of the Elizabethan era to look closely and consider the individuals or players doing the role-play to be able to distinguish the roots of the expected tragedy.

Hamlet
Similar can be said with regards to the events that took place in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The playwright was able to criticize the current government in which he had lived with by portraying Claudius as the self-centered and power-hungry brother of King Hamlet. However, aside from Shakespeare’s criticism towards the monarchy’s criminal tendencies to achieve power, he also portrayed the characters with complexities in their behavior to emphasize the issues which are prevalent at the time. There was Claudius and Ophelia whose actions and decisions were triggered by social issues such as religion and sexual oppression.

Without prior knowledge that it was Claudius who murdered the late King Hamlet, King Claudius can be easily dismissed as a gentleman and concerned surrogate father to Hamlet. He is very polite and sympathetic in his words which charmed and gained the respect of his people so as to avert suspicions of his previous murderous activity. His skill in the usage of language is evident in the first part of the story where he is speaking to his courtiers after King Hamlet’s death: “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death / The memory be green, and that it us befitted / To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom / To be contracted in one brow of woe” (1.2.1-4).

It is also worthy to consider that Claudius does feel a fatherly concern towards Hamlet. When Hamlet pretends to be mad, Claudius orders his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to accompany him. He also speaks to Hamlet in a polite manner. However, the sincerity of his feelings and actions towards his nephew is later questioned when he planned the murder of Hamlet with the help of Laertes. His reactions with regard to the key moments of the plot also reveal that he is a person of transparency. His guilt is triggered by the play which led him to kneel and pray. He longs to be forgiven but confesses that he is not ready to renounce his throne and wife.

Claudius’ personality is complex. He is the antagonist in the story, but his villainy is dramatic as he possesses a human side that sometimes gains the sympathy of the readers. He is not oversimplified as an evil ruler only but rather his religious side is revealed. His selfishness is evident all throughout the story, but his tendency to long for forgiveness and his admittance that his deeds were wrong make him a man of understanding, if not of wisdom. However, it can be assumed that the character of Claudius is Shakespeare’s own personal attack towards the hypocrisy of some religious persons.

There is also Ophelia whose character dissects with the very essential issue of sexual oppression during the Elizabethan era. She is most commonly referred to as the title character's mad lover. She is believed to have killed herself out of madness by drowning herself in a river. Interpretations about Ophelia's character have ranged from being a woman who lost her sanity upon her father, Polonius' death to being the object of hatred by Hamlet. However, despite her supporting character in the play, her personality has roused numerous criticisms and interpretations from philosophers and critics. This is probably due to the fact that her role in the play is more of a descriptive character rather than a speaking one. There are also various symbolisms towards the current society such as gender issues which her character represents. The character of Ophelia portrays relevant symbolisms to the feminine history which is continuously open to different interpretations from the sixteenth century up to this present day. Ophelia's character embodies the intrinsic sexual struggle that women in her time have commonly encountered.

Like Claudius’ character, Shakespeare inculcated the concept of religion in Ophelia’s tragedy. The cost of such religions refers to the madness and ultimately the death of Ophelia. Apparently, the history of England's religion reflects that of Ophelia's time as Gertrude reports her drowning while “chanting snatches of old lauds / As one incapable of her own distress” (4.7.176-77).

It can be presumed through Chapman's statement that the Catholic religion puts more pressure down on Ophelia as she tries to overcome her marriage problems and her sexual desires. Ironically though, instead of feeling ashamed, Ophelia resorts to the “old lauds” to assure herself of peace and solace. Therefore, it is also safe to conclude that it is her religion or piety which takes away her fear. This is evident in the fact that she drowns just after she chanted such “old lauds”.