LITERARY FICTION AND EMPATHY

What the article said about why fiction helps us understand others is something that I agree with. It claims that "literary fiction often leaves more to the imagination, encouraging readers to make inferences about characters and be sensitive to emotional nuance and complexity." In terms of Hamlet, this very strongly applies. From what I have researched about Hamlet, it is mainly about tough questions and moral dilemmas. Seeing people at their most vulnerable and at their strongest allows us to see them for what they actually are because at those two extremes, there is no concern for what you are showing the world due to other preoccupations. Hamlet would be a good insight into the human psyche because it allows for plenty of interpretation (for example, there is still debate on what "to be, or not to be" means, and there is no clear and concrete evidence on exactly what is it Shakespeare meant- it all depends on what the reader interprets) and it allows our mind to wonder and play with the material. Hamlet gives plenty of room for deep and higher level analysis that could then be translated into the real world. What we learn about motives and human mentality in Hamlet could then be used to either justify or condemn something, maybe of a lesser degree, that we see in our lives.