Hamlet -- ThemeThere is lively critical debate over the themes of the Shakespearean drama Hamlet and their ranking in importance. This article hopes to discuss some of the main themes and their significance in the play. Is procrastination the main theme of the drama? DG James, in his essay "The New Doubt", expresses his view: "But few of us will deny that Hamlet's procrastination is the major fact of the play and that Shakespeare intended it to be so . But should we really treat his procrastination as a mystery and leave it a mystery? Is there really something mysterious in a man who has not acquired a clear and practiced sense of life and who, faced with a shocking situation which particularly involves him, gets confused, makes mistakes, procrastinates? and, in his exasperation, cruelly persecutes the person. he loves the best in the world? (46)Perhaps the most popular theme of the play is that of revenge. R. A. Foakes in "The Play's Courtly Setting" explains the burden of vengeance that the protagonist must carry for the duration of the play: And where there is no legal punishment for his father's death, he must s 'lowering, driven by universal evil, and "being thus surrounded by wicked people", to take revenge. He must share the corruption of others despite his nobility and recognize in himself the common traits: “we are all real rascals”. (53) In the essay "Hamlet: His Own Falstaff", Harold Goddard makes a statement about the two main themes of the play, namely war and revenge, by relating them to the final scene: The death of Hamlet is confirmed “like a soldier”. » and the last rites on his body must be the rites of war. The last word from ...... middle of paper ...... and Production. No. 9. Ed. Allardyce Nicoll. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. P., 1956.James, DG “The new doubt”. Interpretations of Hamlet in the twentieth century. Ed. David Bevington. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Levin, Harry. General introduction. The Shakespeare by the River. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974. Neill, Michael. “No one can escape death, the “unknown country.” » Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from “Hamlet: A Modern Perspective.” The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. NP: Folger Shakespeare Lib., 1992. Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line number.