Hamlet is a revenge story that is perhaps like any other- a son’s quest for avenging his father’s murder. But it has been said that nothing is new under the sun. All stories are old and familiar, and it is the telling that raises it to the level of a masterpiece.
Love, lust and hatred, those indispensable elements of every story, are discovered anew in this timeless classic. The drama pulls the reader into an intimate engagement and Hamlet’s tragedy becomes the tragedy of every individual.
No nation is a stranger to political intrigues and love affairs. Scandals in the court are scintillating without being surprising. With the words "something is rotten in the state of Denmark", Shakespeare underlines the universality of’rotten’-ness. The king of Denmark is killed by his brother, who lusts after the crown and the queen. Hamlet, the prince, comes to know about this and vows revenge.
Hamlet changed the way I look at life. I cannot explain why I fell in love with the most flawed character in English literature. Perhaps because it is not easy to recognize flaws for what they are and accept them.