History YMMV / Hamlet

!!The original play

* AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame: The EverybodysDeadDave DownerEnding is probably one of the best-known parts of the play, third only to the "to be or not to be" speech and the imagery of Hamlet holding Yorik's skull.

* HilariousInHindsight: In the Theatre/TakarazukaRevue musical, Ophelia is played by Ranno Hana (蘭乃 はな). 蘭 means "orchid", and "hana" (written in katakana) sounds like "flower". ''Ophelia'', who gives a speech about flowers and herbs, and is compared to flowers by other characters.

* AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame: The EverybodysDeadDave DownerEnding is probably one of the best-known parts of the play.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Hamlet is often idealized by many fans, and even scholars, because they project themselves onto him. Mostly because he's a character who is an intellectual and waxes eloquent philosophical views about existence and death, making him appealing to scholars and intellectuals. Thus, his negative qualities -- his misogyny, his snobbism[[note]]"The age is grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier" (ACT V, SCENE 1, "the Gravedigger scene")[[/note]], and his hypocritical idea of violence, i.e. he hates war, but dismisses the crime of killing Polonius -- makes him out to be very bad news indeed.

--->'''Hamlet:''' Horatio, thou art e’en as just a man as e’er my conversation coped withal.

* FanPreferredCouple: Hamlet/Ophelia has its fans, but Hamlet/Horatio is ''ridiculously'' popular among modern readers.

* HeManWomanHater: Hamlet is often accused of being this, what with his "get thee to a nunnery" tirade to Ophelia and his arguments with his mother about her marriage(s). However, people who take this view often tend to overlook the fact that Ophelia has been rejecting Hamlet and was actually in the process of giving back his love-letters and gifts to her (Hamlet ostensibly doesn't know that she was forced into it), not to mention being caught out in a lie about the whereabouts of her father [[note]]she tells Hamlet her father is at home when he's spying on their conversation along with Claudius. Though no specific stage directions are given, most productions have Hamlet being somehow tipped off to their presence which prompts him to ask Ophelia "Where is your father?"[[/note]], and Gertrude...well, [[DysfunctionalFamily marrying your former husband's brother a month after said former husband's death isn't exactly ''ever'' likely to do wonders for your relationship with your son...]] When all is said and done, Hamlet seems to care more about people (of any gender) appearing to betray him rather than just outright hating women.

--->'''Polonius:''' What do you read, my lord?
--->'''Hamlet:''' Words, words, ''WOUEUOEOUEUOERRRDS.''[[note]]Creator/DavidTennant uses the exact same delivery in his performance as Hamlet.[[/note]]

* ScienceMarchesOn: Multiple examples given how old the play is.
** Laertes mentions how we feed the masses like a pelican with his blood. At the time pelicans were thought to feed their young with their own blood. One wonders if they'd ever actually seen a pelican.
** A chameleon is mentioned for its diet of nothing but air. Yes they really thought that.

!!The [[ShowWithinAShow Play Within A Play]]:

* MagnificentBastard: Hamlet used a play to determine if his uncle really was guilty, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard turned his uncle's plots to kill Hamlet against him]] and used his last action before his death to prevent a succession crisis.

** '''Hamlet''': Insane, or faking it -- or BecomingTheMask and ''actually'' becoming insane without realizing it? TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth prince manipulated into evil[[note]]No, seriously; this was in vogue in the 19th century.[[/note]]? Deeply troubled youth wrestling with moral and honor codes? Spineless whiny git who killed in cold blood many times before hitting his actual mark? Misogynistic, Oedipal, whiny jerk? NonActionGuy {{Bookworm}} who would prefer to be back at school studying or writing more poetry for his girlfriend instead of carrying out the unsavory task of murder, unlike his predecessors in the Revenge Tragedies his story {{deconstruct|ion}}s? A total [[TheSociopath sociopath]]? Suffering from multiple personality disorder[[note]]Hamlet has been played by two different people in some versions of the play, with each one having a different personality and lines.[[/note]]? All of the above?

*** This is most notable in Hamlet’s death scene when Horatio attempts to poison himself just because he doesn’t want to live without Hamlet.
*** The scene can also be seen as a parallel to the famous poisoning dilemma of [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet two lovers in another famous Shakespeare work.]]

*** From the play one could walk away with the impression that the King was a cold, stern, warmongering bastard in life and Denmark is better off with him dead, even if he was killed for selfish motives. One of the first things Claudius does on talking the throne is make peace with their enemy Norway- was King Hamlet unable to do this, or was he unwilling to try? One notes how Hamlet seems to care more about him than his mother, partly because she married Claudius and did so shortly after her husband's death: was he a crap husband and is she relieved he's gone? And was he a cold and distant WellDoneSonGuy Hamlet has a higher opinion of than he should? Does he want justice for his death or revenge? Or does he see no difference? Maybe he died because he was a crap brother too?

* EscapistCharacter: Amazingly for a tragedy, Hamlet proves to be this. The main reason is that Hamlet doesn't really have a TragicFlaw in the classical sense (the flaws that we now ascribe to him, indecision, over-introspection, oedipal hang-ups are modern). He's incredibly intelligent, has Ophelia deeply in love with him, has Horatio's support, incredibly witty, able to belt out long soliloquies while chatting up and bantering with his pals and the plebes (the theater company), he's devoted to his father and family, and is more or less an {{Ubermensch}} aristocratic Prince who dislikes war and fighting, but is quite charismatic and good with a sword. Throwaway comments even imply that he's popular among the people. Until the part in the end, where he and the rest of the cast die, Hamlet more or less comes up on top and wins every contest and situation he is in.

--->'''Hamlet:''' Horatio, thou art e’en as just a man as e’er my conversation coped withal.''

** Hamlet and Horatio, most notably in Hamlet’s death scene when Horatio attempts to poison himself just because he doesn’t want to live without Hamlet.
*** The scene can also be seen as a parallel to the famous poisoning dilemma of [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet two lovers in another famous Shakespeare work.]]
*** Just as he tries to poison himself, Horatio comments that he is "more antique Roman than a Dane." Ancient Romans had a much more favorable view of suicide than the Danes... and a much more favorable view of male homosexuality.

*** The scene can also be seen as a parallel to the famous poisoning dilemma of [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet two lovers in another famous Shakespeare work.]]

*** The scene can also be seen as a parallel to the famous poisoning dilemma of [[RomeoAndJuliet two lovers in another famous Shakespeare work.]]

* ItWasHisSled: Ophelia goes mad.

*** A specific scene with '''Hamlet''': when he's exhorting her to "get thee to a nunnery", is he simply being a massive asshole to her because he's stressed? Or mental imbalance? Or, under the ''cover'' of this, is he intentionally [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim trying to drive her away]] from the castle entirely, so that she's way outside of the line of fire when things inevitably have to go down? It's been noted that it is ''very'' easy to change the entire tone of the scene just off of the delivery of that one line.

* CounterpartComparison: Hamlet often reminds modern audiences of ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''. He's a spoiled rich kid burdened with a mission to avenge his father's death, he is extremely moody and introspective, incredibly well-educated even among the aristocrats and known for travelling around the world, and is also aces as a swordsman and fighter, and who worries friends, audiences, and others about his sanity. Batman's speech about why he wears a costume, "criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot" is not far from why Hamlet decides to stage the play within the play, which is analogous to Batman's embrace of theatrical tricks and gestures (as taught to him in ''Film/BatmanBegins''):
--> "...Hum, I have heard\\
That guilty creatures sitting at a play\\
Have, by the very cunning of the scene,\\
Been struck so to the soul that presently\\
They have proclaimed their malefactions.\\
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak\\
With most miraculous organ..."

** Hamlet and Horatio, most notably in Hamlet’s death scene when Horatio attempts to poison himself because he doesn’t want to live without Hamlet.
*** The scene can also be seen as a parallel to the famous poisoning dilemma of two lovers in another Shakespeare work, Romeo and Juliet.

** Hamlet with Horatio.

** Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.