The first source I found was from a forum on Quora about the relevance of the play itself (https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Hamlet-still-relevant-popular-today) and it was intriguing to see many different reasons why people still support the play. Many people said his indecisiveness and procrastination, the portrayal of human nature and dysfunctional relationships, the “young man’s disease” of contemplating suicide and the issue of depression, and the “teen angst” of Hamlet were relatable. These answers could take me to discuss how Hamlet can be related to step-family situations, human nature of selfishness or personal gain (through Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude – basically all the characters have their own agendas), how stressors lead to depression and suicide, etc.
Another resource I found was a 2010 prezi of what appears to be a student’s assignment (https://prezi.com/ox6xvkxx0wm1/hamlet-comparison/). “Chelsea” argues about heroic traits of Hamlet and how he can be defined as a “tragic hero,” which was interesting because I never once saw Hamlet as being heroic in any real way when I first read/watched the play. It might be a fun approach to support his antics.
Those sources paid off in taking you to relevant and legitimate themes you could explore. With Hamlet you need to bring in more than one new layer in order to do a fresh reading of the play. It wouldn’t do, for example, to write a paper about Hamlet and depression / suicide. That is overdone. Maybe Chelsea is helping you out in finding a new angle...
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