Hamlet on bikes : A comparative analysis of the television series Sons of Anarchy and Shakespeare´s tragedy Hamlet

In 2008 Fox first aired its hit show Sons of Anarchy, a drama series about a Californian motorcycle club. The main thrust is about the club’s vice-president and his struggle to find his place in a life of violence. According to creator Kurt Sutter the series is partly based on Shakespeare’s 16th century drama Hamlet - Prince of Denmark, which causes the show to often be referred to as ”Hamlet on Harleys”. Focusing on the first two seasons of the series, this essay looks into the relationship between the two works of art. Asking how the inspiration of the play is reflected in the television series, it compares the stories’ main themes and motives with help of the actantial model, as well as the different characters and their relationships with each other. A major motive in both pieces being vengeance and violence, the last chapter of the analysis looks into those themes and their importance for the main character. The series uses Shakespeare´s play as an inspiration and an underlying superstructure, there are remarkable similarities in these seemingly completely different stories. The characters are the main driving force of both tales, and the greatest link between the works consists in them trying to expose the workings of the human mind and their study of human behavior and relationships