Shakespeare was writing Hamlet in the last years of the ailing Queen Elizabeth's reign. With the recently past foreign wars and the impending complication of a monarch dying without an heir he lived in a very uncertain country politically. With the death of the monarch, the country could well be plunged back into a holy war between the Protestants and the Catholics. In discussing the dramatic potential of Hamlet it is vital to point out …showed first 75 words of 1505 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1505 total…as an incestuous beast in love with his own mother. Some show him as a valiant hero while others dismiss him as a coward. Shakespeare would have been fully aware of the dramatic implications when writing the text, his true feelings about Hamlet were never disclosed. Maybe this was deliberate, he wanted the different interpretations to take place because it leaves the audience guessing no matter how many times they have seen the play performed.