How effectively does Shakespeare introduce the characters and themes of 'Hamlet'?

... AS English Literature: Hamlet- A brief study Jaffar Al-Rikabi 12 - 2 How effectively does Shakespeare introduce the characters and themes of 'Hamlet'? (Acts one and two) "To be or not to be - that is the question" Hamlet famously declaims in the third act of William Shakespeare's longest drama, and one of the most probing plays ever to be performed on stage. Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' was written around the year 1600 in the final years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who had been the monarch of England for more than forty years and was then in her late sixties. The prospect of Elizabeth's death and the question of who would succeed her was a subject of grave anxiety at the time, since Elizabeth had no children, and the only person with a legitimate royal claim, James of Scotland, was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and therefore represented a political

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