Hamlet involves many important and universal themes which can be easily applied to our times. Shakespeare portrays that in a world of complexity, instability, and unpredictability, people are struggling to make sense of the changes and to situate themselves within the new milieu. Without education and knowledge, people would be limited by their narrow worldview based on domestic values and prejudices. Thesis Shakespeare vividly portrays that education and knowledge give people great opportunity to choose their life path and become free from other people, social prejudices, and narrow worldview shared by society.
Learning has always provided the advantage for human survival through difficult, even seemingly impossible, times. In the play, Shakespeare portrays that learning is at the core of our being, as individuals and collectively. Hamlet and his friend Horatio are students who support each other in difficult life situations. Hamlet exclaims: “And thy commandment all alone shall live / Within the book and volume of my brain, / Unmix’d with baser matter: yes, by heaven!” (Shakespeare, 1995). As we moved into a new century, there are compelling social forces that necessitate better learning and learning in new ways. In modern terms, the challenge for educators is to apply this new learning to help pupils deal with the opportunities and stresses of shifting and unpredictable social forces in their lives. Different subject disciplines provide intellectual frameworks to help make sense of information and ‘turn’ it into knowledge. From a personal standpoint, education means self-realization and personal achievements important for every student. For many students, good education and knowledge mean a possibility to expand existing knowledge if you are a persistent, hard-working, and talented personality. At the beginning of the play, the King declines Hamlet’s request to return to school. “For your intent In going back to school in Wittenberg, / It is most retrograde to our desire “ (Shakespeare). It is possible to assume that knowledge and education were perceived as tools of personal Independence and freedom. Knowledge gives total freedom and guarantees complete control over life. Without knowledge and education, people are limited by their false views and interpretations of events, unable to compare and contrast their universal values. The ability to read and write opens new horizons for information search and knowledge retrieval. Education allows one to find a better and a steady job which also reduces personal dependence and failures. Learning has the potential to foster creativity, and creativity is an essential feature of learning. It requires hard work, commitment, and practice. New ways of learning or creating do not come easily: accommodation, as a process of learning, is actually a process of coming to terms with different ideas, different ways of doing things (Elgin and Woolf , 2005).
Motivation affects people’s willingness to devote time to learning. Without commitment, openness, and a sense of purpose, real learning cannot take place. Hamlet is motivated by the desire to learn more about the world and the people around him. Hamlet says: “I would not hear your enemy say so; / Nor shall you do my ear that violence, / “To make it truster of your own report / Against yourself: I know you are no truant” (Shakespeare, 1995). Students may go through the motions, and there may be an appearance of change, but this change is likely to be shallow. It is clear that emotion and learning have a powerful relationship. The human dimension of learning is critical. Through the character of Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays that learning is about needing to know, even when what you find out is something you think you didn’t want to know. It means reserving judgment and being open to new ideas, gathering the necessary information, and questioning and challenging your own beliefs and perceptions.
Inquisitive mind and search is another important feature typical for Hamlet. Hamlet tries to answer any questions he does not understand and explain. In this case, the freedom opens through knowledge to all who are genuinely interested and meet the criteria set down: persistence and great personal desire to master this knowledge. On the other hand, knowledge and education develop such important skills as the ability to analyze and synthesize the information you receive. In this situation, a person takes into account universal concepts and experiences of other people trying to solve his/her life problems or trying to find a solution to these troubles. Through the characters of Ophelia, Claudius, and Polonius, Shakespeare depicts that without knowledge, a person depends upon his/her own life experience limited by prejudices and life scope. Ophelia says: “Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,/ Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; / Whilst, like a puff’d and reckless libertine/ Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads / And recks not his own read” (Shakespeare, 1995). For Hamlet, the main determinants of knowledge include a new perception of the world and self, a new interpretation of freedom and reality.
In sum, learning and knowledge, motivation, and personal commitment are pillars of education that help every student to achieve good results and master a course. Through knowledge and education, people “borrow” their ideas from the past. In another term, knowledge and education help to develop new practical knowledge on the basis of the existing one making people free from old technologies and views of their peers. Without knowledge and education, people could not benefit from the outside worlds depending on their limited world perception. Freedom of choice is the main priority given by education and knowledge.
References
- Elgin, K., Woolf, A. (2005). Elizabethan England. Facts on File.
- Hanson, E. (1998). Discovering the Subject in Renaissance England. Cambridge University Press
- Shakespeare, W. (1995). Hamlet. Web.