4. William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, can be considered a metafiction as the author uses not only the play within the play to act as a commentary on entertainment not being intended for every audience member, that plays and other forms of drama are driven towards a specific audience, but also Hamlet himself to show the differentiation in styles of acting and interpretation of plays. Shakespeare expresses this concept with the play within his play and Polonius’s reaction to the players soliloquy being “too long” (II.ii.59) and the polar difference between his response to Hamlets’ soliloquy. In adding this response from Polonius to the play the audience can see that Shakespeare is making a social commentary on his plays not being for everyone,…show more content… Act V, from American Life, takes the general interpretation of Hamlet, and changes the meaning, the significance, and the understanding of the plot. The story in itself is dissected piece by piece and analyzed from the eyes of inmates, a perspective that shows the struggles of deciding good and evil, of figuring out how to carry the burden of seeking justice, and the grief and vulnerability held after committing such crime. Hamlet, broken down to its bare bones is about a man deciding whether or not to kill another man, to be or not be a murderer, with this simplistic break down, we can see how this story relays to criminals in today’s society, as the thoughts that flew through Hamlets’ mind are similar to those thoughts that flew through the inmates’ minds. Telling the story of the impact Hamlet holds, allows readers to see the significance this nearly 500-year-old play holds as it is still relevant based on its interpretation. Scenes such as Claudius in the church confessing to his emotions and his regret to committing murder change the meaning of the story when you realize that many criminals go through this, as they’re tethered to the actions of Claudius are eye awakening as you realize that these people are not inherently evil, but have made mistakes in their life and are forced to live with regret to their actions. Another aspect that helps alter the view point of Hamlet is the connection one of the actors held to the ghost, as the ghost reflected on the actors past not his emotions or his mistakes, but the ghost of the man he killed. That actor being able to say those words with such an emotional tie to his past shows the emotional bond to our consequences, how our actions are forever tied to us, and the actor saying those words were not said by him but by the man he killed allows the audience to realize that our wrong-doings, our actions stay with us forever. Thus, adding to the importance of William Shakespeare’s play as the audience sees that there is