Hamlet – its universalityWhat secrets of dramatic genius underlie the universal acceptance of Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet so long after its composition? Harold Bloom in the Introduction to Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet explains a very solid basis for the universal appeal of this drama - the popular innovation in the characterization made by the bard: Before Shakespeare, representations in literature could change as let them speak, but they do not change because of what they say. Shakespearean performance involves his characters listening to themselves simultaneously with our listening, and learning and changing even as we learn and change. Falstaff delights as much as he delights us, and Hamlet modifies himself by studying his own modifications. Since then, Falstaff has been the essential model of almost all wit, and Hamlet the paradigm of all introspection. (3) Another characteristic of the play is that the bard presents characters who are realistic and with whom the audience can identify. William Hazlitt comments in “Characters of Shakespeare's Plays” about Prince Hamlet: “It is we who are Hamlet.[. . .] he who felt his spirit sinking within him, and sadness clinging to his heart like a disease, who saw his hopes shattered and his youth shaken by the appearances of strange things; who cannot be at ease, when he sees evil hovering near him like a specter; whose powers of action have been eaten away by thought, he to whom the universe seems infinite and himself nothing; whose bitterness of soul makes him heedless of the consequences [. . .] -- this is the real Hamlet. (74-75) Brian Wilkie and James Hurt in Literature of the Western World conclude that the bard's “sharply etched characters,” representing universal types, are the secret of his incredibly wide appeal (2155-56). “Clearly engraved characters” imply heterogeneity. Harry Levin, in the general introduction to The Riverside Shakespeare, explains: Universal as its appeal is, it is best understood through the details.[. . .] The bookish learning that Shakespeare exhibits here and there is far less impressive, in the long run, than his stock of general information. His frame of reference is so broad, and he is so concretely versed in the tricks of so many trades, that lawyers wrote to prove that he was trained in the law, sailors for his seafaring know-how, naturalists for his botany, etc. across all professions.