"Hamlet" and the Narrative Construction of Reality

This paper examines Shakespeare's “Hamlet” within the framework of the narratological concerns hinted at in Hamlet’s dying injunction to Horatio to “tell my story”. Taking its theoretical point of departure from the concept of narrative construction articulated by Jerome Bruner and others, the paper argues that the play illustrates the manner in which individuals not only perceive the world in terms of the stories they tell about it, but also project those stories onto reality in such a way as to determine the course that events take.