How can reading fiction help you understand others? Use Hamlet as an example to explore your own thinking process and reactions to a character's innermost thoughts/struggles.
Reading fiction can help you to better understand yourself, others, and the world around you. It helps you in this way as reading fiction has the capability of bringing the reader much emotion and letting you feel apart of a nonexistent world that can feel very real. You begin to feel attached to some of the characters as you read through their life experiences and struggles and see yourself beginning to relate to the characters' personalities and lives. Also, giving the reader the power to step out of the picture and become an outside witness alters their thinking when they step back into the picture, making them more understanding of why people say and act the way they do. As I am beginning to read Hamlet, I am able to relate and feel a connection to the story in this way. As I read through Hamlet's thoughts and inner struggles with not being able to effectively express his emotions, I can really relate to this as I have a hard time showing emotion all the time. When someone hurts me, I usually don't show it and bottle things up until I break. In this same way, Hamlet bottles up all the emotions he is experiencing with the loss of his father and the betrayal of his mother and uncle. You'd expect him to break, but he doesn't. In this way, we are alike. Hamlet seems to be a very strong-minded character and I hope to be able to relate to him more as the story goes on.
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