Concept
Prince Hamlet
Overview
Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet (1599–1601). He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew of the usurping Claudius, and son of King Hamlet, the previous King of Denmark. At the beginning of the play, he is conflicted whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and struggles with his own sanity along the way. By the end of the tragedy, Hamlet has caused the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, Claudius, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two acquaintances of his from childhood. He is also indirectly involved in the deaths of his love Ophelia (drowning) and of his mother Gertrude (mistakenly poisoned by Claudius).
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
Between Ophelia and the young Prince Hamlet a tender affection had grown up. As children, no doubt, they had been companions, for the boy Prince had no brothers or sisters of his own, though at school he had two friends of whom he was very fond, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. As Hamlet and Ophelia grew older this feeling became stronger. Their intimacy was watched with favour by Queen Gertrude, who dearly loved the…
Mary Macleod, The Shakespeare Story-Book
Opens on Prince Hamlet; names Prince Hamlet.
Here the explanation offers itself that it is the peculiar nature of this task. Hamlet can do everything but take vengeance upon the man who has put his father out of the way, and has taken his father’s place with his mother—upon the man who shows him the realisation of his repressed childhood wishes. The loathing which ought to drive him to revenge is thus replaced in him by self-reproaches, by conscientious…
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams
Close in meaning to Prince Hamlet; the term itself is not named.
This much of Hamlet we have now learned: he is a thoughtful man, a genuine student, little acquainted with the world save through books, and a lover of his kind. His university life at Wittenberg is suddenly interrupted by a call to the funeral of his father, whom he dearly loves and honours.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Close in meaning to Prince Hamlet; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed Prince Hamlet
Related ideas
- Hamlet
- Heaven
- London
- Protestantism
- Harold Bloom
- Sigmund Freud
- Los Angeles Times
- PBS
- T. S. Eliot
- Tom Stoppard
- William Shakespeare
- Reformation
- God
- Catholic Church
- Ancient Greece
- Denmark
- American Civil War
- Etymology
- Melancholia
- To be, or not to be
Place in the tradition
Part of Existentialism.