UCI Drama: Hamlet

Join us at the UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts Department of Drama’s Discovery Series Production of Hamlet, as we make our return to love.

Because love can be used to destroy, but love’s saving and honest nature can be used to rebuild as well

Hamlet is one of the most well-known works in the English language. It is often described as a revenge tragedy, but at the same time, many criticize Hamlet’s inability to take said revenge. Why can’t he kill Claudius?

The word love is mentioned 84 times in the play, Hamlet saying it 24 of the times, and Claudius saying it 17 times himself. For comparison, “revenge” and related words are only mentioned 18 times. Over and over, Hamlet mentions love and others speak of how he loved them once.

As much as Hamlet is a show about death and vengeance, the reason Hamlet feels his pain so exquisitely is because time and again, the people he puts his love and trust in betray him.