Postcolonial Criticim Of Hamlet In Reference To Poland

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Postcolonial criticism of the Hamlet in reference to Poland

Post-colonialism represents a period where foreigners are no longer in control of the land they

colonized affecting the culture religion and political diversity that was previously there. Hamlet a play

written by William Shakespeare set in Denmark focuses principally on the revenge of prince hamlet

toward his uncle Claudius who appears to be the one who killed the king, Hamlet’s father. The play

brings forward a theme of political instability and unrest after the king passed. The prince, Hamlet is

summoned home to find that his mother has already wed Claudius, his uncle while attending his dead

father’s burial. Hamlet, son of the late king, appears as the protagonist and his uncle Claudius as the

antagonist. Even though the play was written way before colonisation took place it uniquely relates to

Poland in the post-colonial period.

From the play identity politics played by Claudius when marrying the queen and crowning

himself as the present king makes Hamlet feel played being the rightful heir of the dead king Hamlet.

This creates a political strain as Hamlet feels played. Claudius represents an imperial power which is

Hamlet’s rightful position. A ghost appears in the form of king Hamlet demanding vengeance from prince

Hamlet. The ghost vanishes after hamlet agrees to avenge his father’s death. (Shakespeare) The prince

latter acts insane while keeping his plans of vengeance private, keeping in mind that he cannot rely fully

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on the ghost’s information. The first act relates to the polish borderland study where the so-called Eastern

borderlands of the east side of Poland due to political and geographical reasons were separated from

Poland state. The borderland is said to be magical nature in which the poling community is greatly

influence by. Because the state has lost it to another nation, there is a sense the polish feels a like

something that was rightfully theirs has been taken from them.

At the Danish royal castle, the soldiers stationed to keep guard Bernardo and Marcellus discuss

about a ghost that they had latter seen. The ghost resembles the late king Hamlet. They later approach

prince Hamlet’s friend Horatio, and after the ghost appears again, they plan to tell the prince. After they

all met the prince and informed him of their encounter, the prince informs them of his plot against King

Claudius for the vengeance that the ghost demanded (Shakespeare). The “demonic other” represented by

the ghost represents a key concept in post colonialism where an inferior creation which want vengeance.

From the play, Fortinbras prince of Norway wishes to attack Denmark to avenge and restore

honour of his father who was slayed by king Hamlet. Norway and Denmark have been on a standing feud

for long. One of the guard soldier Horatio describes the ghost he saw as wearing armour in which he

introduces us to the Norway subplot. Horatio describes how prince Hamlets father how he conquered

Norway to gain land from Denmark. (Shakespeare) He also illustrates how Fortinbras is gathering a

massive army and planning to invade Norway at some point. Latter prince Hamlet’s uncle decides to send

Cornelius with a letter of restrain to the king of Norway to keep an eye on the vengeful Fortinbras.

Fortinbras brings in place the theme of retaliation towards Denmark that is a main character of conquered

or colonised nations in which they plan for retaliation to regain back they lands and honour. On the other

hand, the coloniser plans to stop their plans of retaliation with effectiveness or in other ways they

assassinate the planer to stop the retribution as like that of Fortinbras. On his way to exile, prince Hamlet

is amazed by Fortinbras courage to seek vengeance in honour of his father, while he marches his army to

Poland. The play concludes with Fortinbras seeking the death of all present in the Danish royal family.

The Norwegians represented by Fortinbras are viewed as barbaric in their plot to attack Denmark. In

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Norway, there is a double standard identity in the sense that the Denmark king Claudius seems to

communicate with the king of Norway to stop his nephew from attacking Denmark. In the play, the

ordeals surrounding Denmark seem to represent the polish state. It portrays Poland as the conquered state

scheming to strike back to regain what it had initially lost.

Hamlet, the play was written between 1564-1616 the era of queen Elizabeth of England.

Although America had been discovered, Britain had not yet expanded her empire, Shakespeare was at the

time already thinking about colonisation. He demonstrated it with the case of Denmark that can be taken

to represent Poland. He articulated with effectiveness the post colonialism ramification to Poland in the

play. The play demonstrates aspects of post colonialism like racism in the way the word “polack” is used

with a negative connotation.

In the play, widowed women are the only ones treated with dignity, while the married women are

treated like properties. Men hold the upper positions in the society while women are viewed as simple

minded in the sense that the do not take part in making of laws. Polonius daughter depicted as a beautiful

young woman is seen to be dependent on men on how she should behave. The queen of Denmark

Gertrude act to only care about her current situation and does not seem to make safe choices in the sense

that she got married to Claudius just after her husband’s death (Shakespeare). Hamlet comments about

women in general as: “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (I.ii.146), after being disappointed by his mother’s

move in marrying his uncle. This clearly shows how women are viewed in the play as inferior. Ophelia’s

death through drowning is reported by Gertrude when Claudius and Laertes are planning to kill Hamlet,

after being a spy for Polonius on Hamlet. Though in this era suicide is deemed as illegal those who would

achieve it are buried in disgrace. This is another aspect of postcolonoalism that is displayed in the play.

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Work cited

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet.

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