The Theme of Social Class and Power in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Some of William Shakespeare’s most famous playwrights tell the stories and air the dirty laundry of people associated with a high social class and power. In Hamlet, Shakespeare gives many examples of social class and how it can both be destroyed and disrupted when greed gets in the way. He also shows how the power that comes from social class can manipulate and ruin individuals caught up in the dramas of these social standards. During the year 1599, there was no form of social media, there wasn’t even internet or phones. In today’s age, we have all of that and more, it makes me wonder how Shakespeare might have written Hamlet in the 21st century with the presence of social media in the form of social classes. In Hamlet as well as today people are in constant battle and competition with one another all aiming to reach the highest of the high they can achieve. In this paper, I will discuss the similarities between social media and social classes as it relates to Hamlet and the consequences that come from both.

William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet during the Victorian age, this age saw the development of the intricate social classes heavily shown throughout the play. These social classes presented in Hamlet didn’t just hang over the characters' heads but were an important part of life during this time. Throughout the play, we see many examples of how the pressures of social status can make people go to the most extreme to gain power and recognition or to get away from it. We first see this happen when Prince Hamlet of Denmark finds out the awful truth regarding the death of his noble father King Hamlet. It was revealed to Hamlet when his father visits him in the supernatural form as a ghost to tell him that he was murdered by a poison that was put in his ear by his brother Claudius. “A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown” (Act 1. Scene 5 43-47). In this scene, Hamlet finds out about his evil uncle who had wrongfully stolen the throne from his father King Hamlet. Shakespeare reveals to the readers how a person that craves power will take any risk to gain their selfish desire.

Shakespeare's play Hamlet greatly represents the current situations going on today that deal with social class and power. The media reveals to us through the news, internet and other forms of social media the crazy scandals that people of power and higher social classes go through. In Hamlet, many scandals are happening all at once. One scandal that was unexpected was the rapid and unexpected marriage of King Claudius and Queen Gertrude. The matrimony of the King and Queen nearly drives Hamlet to the point where people believe he has truly lost his sanity. In Act 1, Scene 2 Hamlet states “She married. O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor it cannot come to good: But Break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.”  This shock leads him to a depression that lasted months but Hamlet knew that he must continue to keep his cool until he finds the answers he is searching for.

In Hamlet, you have the Royal Court which consists of Prince Hamlet, Queen Gertrude, and King Claudius. They are the highest form of power in Denmark and everyone else in the country falls behind them in the ranking. Close to the Royal family are Polonius and his children Laertes and Ophelia. The families are fond of each other because they both are high in status but this becomes an issue when Hamlet and Ophelia fall in love. Since their statuses are not the same they forbid each other to be with the other because they cannot marry. Ophelia’s father and brother entrust her to cut off all relations with Hamlet because if any of their affairs were to get out it would ruin their family reputation. Laertes explains to his sister that, “Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister, And keep you in the rear of your affection, out of the shot and danger of desire” (Act 1. Scene 3 33-35). He takes this time to discuss with Ophelia the importance of why she should cut ties with Hamlet because he says there is no possible way the two could ever truly be with each other. He warns her to clear out before she gets caught up and things get too deep.

The media today always reports on the upper class rather than focusing the lower classes. They show the higher class people of society as the happiest while they emulate the lower class. The media is interested in the lifestyle of rich celebrities and doesn’t care to show those who struggle to pay their bills and if they do often the stories are misleading or distorted. In Hamlet this occurs a lot, we don’t meet lower-class individuals until Ophelia’s death where we are introduced to the gravediggers. Even when we meet them they are talking about Ophelia and how her death was considered an unholy death since she committed suicide. The catholic church usually has the person's head removed and the person would be buried upside down because it was thought that they could make sure that a person could not find heaven. But Ophelia was buried right side up with her head still attached. The two gravediggers had a very long debate about this. The first gravedigger says that those in power have ruled that Ophelia is to be buried properly while the second gravedigger says that she is being treated like a man who “The water come to him, and down him, he drowns not himself” but he feels “if this had not been a gentlewoman, she’d have been buried out O’ Christian burial” (Act 5 Scene 1 15-27). This shows again how there is special treatment given to those that have a “noble” family and being able to influence the coroner to rule her death as an accident.

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows how individuals that have power and a higher social status often end up disrupting and tearing apart families, kingdoms and lives of others. The example of social class issues in Hamlet relates to many issues in today’s age that people with power and high social status go through. You could say that Shakespeare’s Hamlet teaches many valuable lessons that money and power does not always mean that you are happier than those below you. If anything there are more consequences for your actions when all eyes are on you.

References

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