Amazing to read the book and realize that it was written in 1604. Four hundred and four years ago, the troubles we fear are much the same.
Hamlet is one of my favorite of Shakespeare’s 38 plays. Not to be intimidated by him is a rarity. I owe my fearlessness to a certain Gary Fountain, my English teacher at Miss Porter’s. Not only was fear not allowed, we were coerced into memorizing the famous soliloquies from many of Shakespeare’s plays.
To my husband’s chagrin, I can still recite, especially late night at a party , Macbeth, Hamlet, and the prologue to the Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales ( I’ll torture you later ).
The gift I was so freely given was that, in overcoming my fear of recitation, I also vanquished my fear of Shakespeare. And to prove how accessible he really is, my eldest daughter, CC (10) will be doing a joint review with me this time.Amazingly, she understood and enjoyed it. In fact, her review will probably be more insightful than mine … but do not abandon me just yet.
Deception, betrayal, familial deceit; it is depressing to register that these are still familiar vices to us all. Hamlet , the Prince of Denmark , is maddened by the horrible realization that he has been betrayed by his mother and uncle and girlfriend Ophelia, among others (Polonius, Rosencrantz, Gildenstern et al ). He has been unwittingly abandoned by his murdered father, the king of Denmark.He is alone by virtue of others’ cravings for power, money and lust. His own murderous madness blossoms under his uncle’s needs and fears. The Queen, his mother, is blinded by fervent lust and Hamlet is left spurned and suffering, “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” Interestingly, Shakespeare’s own son, Hamnet , also died sadly at age 11 in 1596.
Poor Hamlet. One would be hard pressed not to capitulate to horror and shock when faced with murder, incest, and suicide involving the four people one relied upon the most … father, mother, uncle and lover.
Four hundred years ago Shakespeare’s tragedies were very popular. He admittedly aspired to the more educated writers of the time and wrote lengthy diatribes, but Hamlet was a play to entertain the unsophisticated populace, who loved to see the peerage fall from their ivory towers …
Why, if the nobility could not maintain a modicum of kindness and dignity, then the laymen must not be so beneath them.Shakepeare also acted in his plays and is rumoured to have played the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father. How can old Bill kill off the cast of characters and keep us coming back for more? As a playwright, Shakespeare may have been the salve for the masses, but he was also the inspiration.
The introduction of his plays into the popular mainstream was a gift that still galvanizes us a half century later. All 38 plays and 150 plus sonnets are still widely regarded. So Hamlet’s very real questions are obviously still relevant today.
“To be or not to be.” This is still the question. Do you continue to suffer or end your suffering? Is it more admirable to tolerate unfairness and catastrophe or to jump the proverbial ship?
What if you do capitulate to grief? Will death be better? Worse? Can you abide the indecision that paralyzes mankind?
Hamlet never knew. No one has answers to these questions 400 years later and I hope they never will.Some things are better contemplated than resolved, leaving our passion for The Bard to spring eternal.
Act II by Campbell Mann. Age: 10.
Hi people, I’m Campbell Mann. Yup, you guessed it, I’m the daughter of little-miss-crazy-book-reviewer. OK ,enough of that, today we will review Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Hamlet, the prince of Denmark finds that his father is dead, killed by some surprising murderers. Yes, I’ll tell you who the murderers are – Hamlet’s mom and uncle.
They kill his dad because his mom loves her husband’s brother. So together they kill Hamlet’s dad so they can get married … and they do. Hamlet is not too happy when he finds that out. His Dad’s ghost comes and tells him. Then almost everyone dies. His uncle accidentally poisons his mom. His girlfriend’s brother (Laertes) kills him. But before Hamlet dies, he kills his uncle. Hamlet is dead. Mom is dead. Dad is dead. Uncle is Dead. Polonius and his kids, Laertes and Ophelia, are dead. Cheery it isn’t.
I know what you’re thinking. Pretty sad,right? Well, 400 years ago the uneducated masses LOVED ( I mean really, really loved) to see the mighty die. Shakespeare wrote this play and many others to entertain them. Today, people think shows like House* and Project Runway* are entertaining (*yup, seen them both). Four hundred years ago, Hamlet was just as exciting to them as these shows are to us.
See you later, peeps!
* Older reviewer’s note – not often because bedtime is at 7:30, but dramatic embellishment is encouraged.