The Tragedy of a Well-Examined Life

The 16th century and its religious wars; colonial conquests; and economic, technological and military advances brought an end to the certainties of the Middle Ages and the naive hopes of the Renaissance. When Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark at the dawn of a new century, Tudor England was enjoying a brief period of stability and comfort under an aged Queen Elizabeth I after a century of turmoil, intrigue and existential wars. Shakespeare's prince is a man of comfort and privilege, but obligations derived from past events for which he wasn't responsible torment him. While passion may bring others to act before thinking of the consequences, he is too thoughtful to act foolishly. Like many of Shakespeare's contemporaries who knew the compromises of Tudor England and its falsity and opportunism, Hamlet also knows that a principled stand may be worse. The late Tudor period is a time for cunning, not idealism. Still, Hamlet is troubled because he knows that inaction isn't just, and the play follows him as he tries to reason his way to a better answer – suffering madness, cynicism, duplicity and betrayal in the process. The final disaster presages the horror of the English Civil War only four decades into the future.