Humanism in Shakespeare's Hamlet

As a writer of the millennium, Shakespeare stands alone, as the most influential and read, most eluded and loved, most copied and screened, most criticized and acclaimed, most novel and unique. Today, this great author is read from almost all perspectives. The result is we have “political” Shakespeare, “feminist” Shakespeare, “patriarchal” Shakespeare, “Indian” Shakespeare, “marketing and finance guru” Shakespeare, “colonial” Shakespeare, “imperial” Shakespeare and so on. The greatness of Shakespeare lies in the fact that he has become a ghost who can haunt anywhere in any field of knowledge.<br><br>It is right that Shakespeare sees great and small, righteous and unrighteous, pleasant and unpleasant, in equality. He analyses the pros and cons of life meticulously and draws his reader to peep into his own life. In his four great tragedies, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and Othello, he explores the inner workings of human beings. This paper points out some humane and value-oriented concepts which were already there in Indian cultural texts and Holy Scriptures. It attempts to examine how Shakespeare, in his Hamlet reflects some important concepts of Indian value system. Whether Shakespeare was influenced by these Indian texts is a question to be researched but it can be submitted without much doubt that most of the cultures or religions have some common concepts, values and notions about the creator, human being and life on the earth. Here, a humble attempt is made to connect and examine Shakespearean tragedy in the light of cultural, scriptural, philosophical and religious concepts of India. It projects Shakespearean characters, especially Hamlet in the context of these great ideas and notions.