Hamlet is traditionally considered the greatest and perhaps most closely related protagonist that William Shakespeare ever produced. When considering what elements of the play combined to drive Hamlet insane, it is noteworthy just how much of a creature he was of his own time. It is likely that five things about Modern day America would have driven Hamlet crazy, from the ever present paparazzi following his every move, to ghoulishness of the American funeral industry, the speed with which widows remarry in America and the need to resort to legal proceedings to settle what would have been considered during his time a blood debt. The first thing that would have driven Hamlet crazy is the extraordinary amount of press coverage he would face as …show more content…
(Shakespeare Act I, Scene II).

It is likely that Hamlet would find these thoughts of his published in a blog or celebrity gossip site barely a moment after he spoke them will all the pocket-sized video cameras and audio devices at their disposal. The second thing that would drive Hamlet crazy is the sheer pagan-like aspects of the modern American bereavement industry as it exists now in the twenty-first century. He would likely have had to endure a public viewing of his father’s body that many, particularly in the religious world of early modern Europe, would have viewed as distinctly unchristian and akin to the funeral rites of the ancient Romans and Greeks. The third thing about Modern day America that would have driven Hamlet insane is the skeptical attitude that modern day society has toward the idea of being able to ‘see’ apparitions. His father’s admonitions of danger and demands for vengeance would have likely had Hamlet committed had he confided these things to anyone from the present-day. His matter of fact acceptance of the sight of his father’s ghost as real is apparent from the following passage:
Why thy canoniz’d bones, hearsed in
Death, Have burst their …show more content…
Having seen his own mother remarry his uncle not more than a month after his father’s death was a cause of great anguish for him and he would judge the same thing taking place in modern day America now very harshly and would likely condemn it. One only has to look at the number of widows from the events of 9/11 who have remarried, like Lisa Beamer, widow of Todd Beamer, believed to be the leader of resistance aboard Flight 93 on that fateful day, to see just how cavalier Americans take this issue in contrast to an early modern European like