like many of his other plays the idea for Hamlet can be traced to a range of earlier literary sources as far back as a Norse Legend composed in 1200 A.D as well as historical sources about Denmark while there is no evidence to suggest that Shakespeare ever visited Denmark Hamlet's castle Elsinore is a real castle called Kronberg located in helsinger in Denmark can you hear the similarities in the name in the original version of the story The Plot outlines how an ambitious and devious man killed his brother to become king then married the widowed Queen the prince pretends to be mad while he plans his revenge and successfully manages to kill his treacherous uncle sure it's pretty similar to Shakespeare's version but there are some significant differences that we can identify which reflect the unique concerns of Shakespeare's context for a start there is a lot more going on philosophically in Shakespeare's play his focus on deep and difficult philosophical questions about morality and mortality reflects the concerns of a time period called the Renaissance this was a cultural movement that began around the 15th century in Italy and moved throughout Europe it was popular among Scholars and the nobility the Renaissance focused on the Revival of classical Greek and Latin texts that had previously been lost a key idea in these texts was the importance of humanism humanism is a school of thought that says that the unique virtues that make us human should be studied and celebrated Renaissance thinkers explored Human Experience because they thought that Humanity's capacity for understanding and reason is amazing in fact Hamlet's iconic line in act 2 scene 2 what a piece of work is man how Noble in reason how infinite in faculty is influenced by oration on the Dignity of man a key text by Italian humanist Pico Della Miranda however Renaissance humanism conflicted with traditional perspectives of the world before the Renaissance got going lots of people were driven by medieval ways of thinking medieval thinkers like Laertes and fortenbra considered right and wrong to be a simple black and white issue they valued action and honor that's why Laertes and fortenbra are so quick to spring into action to defend their honor in contrast Renaissance humanists wanted to use reason to figure out complex problems rather than jumping straight into action indeed for the first half of the play hermit relies on his ability to reason his way through his problems leading him to the brilliant plan of the mouse trap to finally confirm claudius's guilt however his Reliance on reason also causes him to delay his revenge and leads to quite a bit of collateral damage remember the awful death of Ophelia after Hamlet accidentally killed her dad Polonius by the time he agrees to duel with Laertes in Act five Hamlet has given up control over his life to the power of fate this reflects the influence of later Renaissance thinkers such as Michelle de Montan a French philosopher who argued that there are definite limitations on human understanding furthermore Montan thought that the world we live in and experience is merely a world of appearances and that we can never really know the true reality Behind These the uncertainty that pervades the play is one of the things that makes the characters so engaging and well human written and performed at the end of Elizabeth the First's Reign the play also reflects the uncertainty that surrounded England's political future the country had prospered greatly under the Peace of Queen Elizabeth's guidance but as she had remained unmarried and therefore produced no air the future of the crown was unclear nobody was Keen to go back to the bloody and violent time that preceded the Elizabethan period but there seemed to be no clear plan for the future The Bleak ending of Hamlet has the stage littered with bodies of the royal family and various other characters the Royal Line ends with the death of The Prince and authority over Denmark is conferred to fortenbra the prince of Norway England faced a reality that was scarily similar if the problem of succession was not dealt with before the death of the queen this political uncertainty may go some way to explain why the Revenge tragedy genre of Hamlet was such a popular one during Shakespeare's time this genre was established by a playwright called Thomas Kidd who wrote a play called the Spanish tragedy and became a favorite genre for Shakespeare's plays the genre consists of a series of basic elements that revolved around the protagonist's Quest for Revenge some of the key elements include bloody and violent acts the portrayal of Madness ghosts disguises and deception a play within a play and the death of the Avenger at the end the genre was popular amongst writers who wanted to explore concepts of tyranny and corruption in politics and with the uncertainty surrounding the political future of England it is no wonder it was a generic staple when Hamlet was written as well as the political and economic uncertainty that the country faced during this time there was also a real possibility that a religious war between the Catholics and Protestants could be reignited Elizabeth the First's father Henry VIII had instigated a split from the Catholic church and founded the Church of England this was followed by a violent and brutal purging of Catholics from England the country was divided during the early years of Elizabeth's Reign but Elizabeth wanted peace so she passed a couple of laws to stop all the fighting this was called the Elizabethan religious settlement eventually protestantism became the norm and the church of England flourished peacefully of course lots of people were still confused about religion that's why religious uncertainty is a key theme in Hamlet and is foregrounded by the ambiguity surrounding the nature of the ghost of Hamlet's father remember how terrified the guards were when the ghost appeared on the battlements of Elsinore in act 1 scene 1. this is because according to Protestant theology the ghost is an evil spirit who has been sent by the devil however when Hamlet speaks to the ghost in act 1 scene 5 he is told that it really is the spirit of his late father who has been trapped in purgatory according to Catholic theology Purgatory was a place that The Souls of the Dead were sent to temporarily suffer for the minor sins they committed in their lifetime once this suffering was complete the souls could pass to heaven there is some evidence that Hamlet subscribes to protestantism seeing as he has been studying in Wittenberg a city made famous by a Protestant Theologian called Luther who criticized the Catholic faith and was instrumental in spreading protestantism throughout Europe however the appearance of Catholic theology at Key moments in the play brings back that trademark uncertainty to the question of religion about one of the only religious aspects of the play that wasn't super ambiguous was the importance of the great chain of being this was a way of explaining the way power operated in the Elizabethan era the great chain of being was a hierarchy that saw society organized with God reigning Supreme at the top of the chain he was followed by the king or queen who was chosen by God as his representative on Earth this was followed by the Nobles and Aristocrats all the way down to the peasants who were relatively powerless at the bottom of the chain the most important point about this way of viewing the world is that God ordains where each person falls on the chain and this must be maintained or else the world will fall into chaos this is clear in Hamlet as the murder of Old King Hamlet sets Denmark spinning off into a chaotic darkness that continues until the Injustice is set right finally it is worth remembering that there were key differences between the way men and women were expected to behave in Shakespeare's context and these expectations affect the way the characters in the play behave the Society of Elizabeth in England was a patriarchal one which means that men had all the power men were expected to behave in typically masculine ways ordering their women about occupying positions of power and generally being strong and brave Hamlet is often criticized by Claudius as acting in unmanly ways when he shows too much emotion similarly it is the moments when he thinks too much about his actions rather than being masculine and assertive that things start to go awry on the other hand women were expected to be submissive and obedient seen and not heard they were basically possessions and were controlled by the men in their lives look at the way Ophelia is bossed around by her brother and father in act one and the way that she becomes little more than a pawn in Claudius and polonius's Shady dealings in act three furthermore women were only valuable if they could bring wealth and power to their family through making a good marriage and to do this they needed to protect their chastity this means that they were expected to remain virgins until they were married this is why such a big deal is made over protecting Ophelia's virtue against the sexual advances of Hamlet early in the play her Madness and eventual death is a direct result of the way she is manipulated and exploited by the men in her life men who should have been protecting her and reminds us of the powerlessness of women in Shakespeare's time [Music] we hope you enjoyed this schooling online production for more easy lessons on Hamlet check out our explanation of the play's plot summary