What a piece of work is Hamlet.
Nov. 10th, 2009 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
talkstowolvesUntil recently, I had never read Hamlet. I have still never seen a production of the play: not on stage, not on film. And yet, I am pretty familiar with this particular Shakespearean work. Somehow, throughout twenty-eight years of life, I have accrued knowledge of this play. I knew many lines before reading it (and was surprised by how many more I knew that I hadn't known came from Hamlet). I knew the story and the characters and had no trouble following Stephen Greenblatt's book-length analysis Hamlet in Purgatory before reading the text of the play itself.
I have no idea how this happened. Well, I know how I picked up the lines - Shakespeare's material gets recycled in everything from other works of literature to television shows to magnets and aprons and t-shirts. But where and when did I hear the story of Hamlet in the first place? When did I first learn who Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are? Was it really from seeing part of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead performed at a high school forensics competition? How did I first pick up the tragedy of Ophelia, come to associate her with wilting flowers and pale limbs, drowned?
My mother tells me she told me the story as a child, although I don't really remember this. However, I fully believe my mother was that awesome (and bizarre); after all, suitable bedtime fare was William Blake's The Tyger right alongside Puff the Magic Dragon.
I am incredibly excited about getting to discuss this play under Dr. H, whose knowledge of and enthusiasm for Shakespeare are quite something to experience.
I am almost as excited about the Hamlet-themed event I am planning to celebrate (hopefully) surviving the rest of this semester. See, I am the kind of geek who likes to do things like read books, discuss them with her husband (and other interested parties), and then watch film adaptations or appropriations of those works with a fully themed menu. (The most spectacular occasion of this has been history-themed: Andy and I had an "Axis Friday" a few years ago where we discussed World War II, watched Letters from Iwo Jima and Downfall, and ate German and Japanese food. Not at the same time. We also had an Italian wine at some point during the day. Last December, we had a themed event for Moby Dick, but I fell down on the New England menu.)
So, this December, I'm planning to watch a film production of Hamlet (and also Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead) and am periodically working on a suitable Danish menu. If any of you know Danish food, suggestions are certainly welcome. Yes, I'd like for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all to be thematically appropriate.
...yes, these are the kinds of things that keep me sane when two term papers are threatening to eat me. Why do you ask?
To wit, a poll! You're not necessarily deciding this for me, dear LJ Flist, but I do value your opinions.
SEE LIVEJOURNAL FOR POLL.
And let's close this with some funny: one foul-mouthed illustration and a pretty accurate summation of Hamlet behind the cut!
From the new-to-me webcomicish site, Married to the Sea:
That just cracks me up. I can't help it. Just. Done.
But then there's this "review" of Hamlet from Madeline on GoodReads:
Fun times. By the way, I'm on GoodReads! If you are too, you should swing by and say hello.
P.S. Regarding the choice of film adaptation in the poll... this is a question of which Hamlet should I watch first because I fully intend to watch several as time goes by.
I have no idea how this happened. Well, I know how I picked up the lines - Shakespeare's material gets recycled in everything from other works of literature to television shows to magnets and aprons and t-shirts. But where and when did I hear the story of Hamlet in the first place? When did I first learn who Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are? Was it really from seeing part of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead performed at a high school forensics competition? How did I first pick up the tragedy of Ophelia, come to associate her with wilting flowers and pale limbs, drowned?
My mother tells me she told me the story as a child, although I don't really remember this. However, I fully believe my mother was that awesome (and bizarre); after all, suitable bedtime fare was William Blake's The Tyger right alongside Puff the Magic Dragon.
I am incredibly excited about getting to discuss this play under Dr. H, whose knowledge of and enthusiasm for Shakespeare are quite something to experience.
I am almost as excited about the Hamlet-themed event I am planning to celebrate (hopefully) surviving the rest of this semester. See, I am the kind of geek who likes to do things like read books, discuss them with her husband (and other interested parties), and then watch film adaptations or appropriations of those works with a fully themed menu. (The most spectacular occasion of this has been history-themed: Andy and I had an "Axis Friday" a few years ago where we discussed World War II, watched Letters from Iwo Jima and Downfall, and ate German and Japanese food. Not at the same time. We also had an Italian wine at some point during the day. Last December, we had a themed event for Moby Dick, but I fell down on the New England menu.)
So, this December, I'm planning to watch a film production of Hamlet (and also Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead) and am periodically working on a suitable Danish menu. If any of you know Danish food, suggestions are certainly welcome. Yes, I'd like for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all to be thematically appropriate.
...yes, these are the kinds of things that keep me sane when two term papers are threatening to eat me. Why do you ask?
To wit, a poll! You're not necessarily deciding this for me, dear LJ Flist, but I do value your opinions.
SEE LIVEJOURNAL FOR POLL.
And let's close this with some funny: one foul-mouthed illustration and a pretty accurate summation of Hamlet behind the cut!
From the new-to-me webcomicish site, Married to the Sea:
That just cracks me up. I can't help it. Just. Done.
But then there's this "review" of Hamlet from Madeline on GoodReads:
Hamlet, abridged:
GHOST/DAD: Hamlet, your uncle killed me and married your mom. I want vengeance, so best get to murdering, plzthnx.
HAMLET: EEK!
OPHELIA: Hamlet, are you okay?
HAMLET: Get away from me, skankwhore!
OPHELIA: WTF? *goes from zero to crazy like that*
GERTRUDE: Kid, you need therapy.
HAMLET: And you need to be less of AN ADULTEROUS WHORE!
POLONIUS: OMG so rude!
HAMLET: Eavesdropping? I KEEL YOU!
*play goes on hold while Hamlet talks to skeletons*
LAERTES: You killed my dad and drove my sister to suicide, you jerk! I challenge you to a duel!
HAMLET: I KEEL YOU!
CLAUDIUS: MWAHAHAHA! I put poison in your goblet, Hamlet!
GERTRUDE: Yum, poisoned wine. *dies*
CLAUDIUS: Whoops, my bad.
HAMLET: I KEEL YOU!
GHOST/DAD: Wow, nice job son. Except for the part where you're bleeding all over my castle.
HAMLET: Ah, dammit. *dies*
And then the even more abridged version:
ROCKS FALL, EVERYONE DIES.
The end.
Fun times. By the way, I'm on GoodReads! If you are too, you should swing by and say hello.
P.S. Regarding the choice of film adaptation in the poll... this is a question of which Hamlet should I watch first because I fully intend to watch several as time goes by.