Hamlet Act I, Scene 2

[cesario]

And back again, for installment two of The Great Shakespearean Adventure---God, can't anyone help me come up with a better name than that?

Comments

[lovefromgirl]

Hamlet as Goth kid. *snerk*

I continue to love your interpretation. I will send my proposal, along with a fine diamond ring, as soon as I work out whether it's legal to marry text (and whether the paper cuts would get in the way... uh, never mind).

[thefish30]

MYSTERY SHAKESPEARE THEATER 2008?

MST2K8?

[lareinenoire]

My student this term actually gave me a very interesting interpretation on Claudius' reaction to 'The Mouse-Trap' later on. Not that it made him guilty for having killed Hamlet the Elder, but that since the play involves a nephew killing his uncle, that's what drives Claudius to order Hamlet killed -- so Hamlet won't kill him.

You're making me like this play again after having been sick of it for years. Good for you.

[silent_sybil]

Ooh.. that's a really cool thought. Way to invert the box, student!

[lareinenoire]

It's very exciting, especially since she's the first person I've ever officially taught. And I actually hadn't even considered that possibility at any point when I read Hamlet, which is a surprise since I've always liked Claudius as a character.

[cesario]

Something else the Prof_ and I were discussing last night is the various ways you can stage Claudius' reactions to that play---it seemed plain to both of us that, even if Claudius hadn't been guilty, he still probably would have walked out smack in the middle, because it was so obviously an accusation. I could buy your student's interpretation, since I do believe that Hamlet killing Polonius ("had we been there!") is the turning point where Claudius sets himself against his nephew.

And, yay! :)

[dancesontrains]

I now see Hamlet as a man wearing a black hoodie and eyeliner, and with some random face piercings *g*

[corbistheca]

You're making my day with this. Two days in a row. Thank you for reading aloud over the interwebs!

And you're seriously challenging me to think differently of Claudius. Much as it is, after all, arguably and according to conventional wisdom, the greatest play ever written -- I've never really been able to connect to any of the characters in Hamlet. They're a fairly off-putting bunch. Gertrude is intriguing, what with the whole "was she in on the murdering her husband thing or not?" question, but I have a hard time giving a fuck for Hamlet or Claudius or Ophelia or the whole bunch and so my appreciation of Hamlet consists largely of eye-rolling. However you've just made an excellent point about Claudius trying very hard to be the best king/father that he can -- and I find myself actually kind of fond of the guy, and sorry that it all has to go down the way it does.

So thank you.

Also, If Hamlet were ever to be performed with audience participation in the style of Rocky Horror, we'd all be doing a dance right now. -- you have no idea

[silent_sybil]

Do it! Doooo iiiiit!!! :D

[cesario]

Hmm. I dunno if I ever saw myself in any of the characters or not. I do feel a certain pained kinship with Hamlet, mostly because I know what it is not to ever be able to turn one's brain off for a single second and have to think about everything down to the last exhaustive degree---but he has, shall we say, handicaps of cultural conditioning that make it a little hard for me to truly put myself in his shoes :). I have been Ophelia, too, though I had better chances than she did to pull myself to shore.

I don't think Gertrude was complicitous in her husband's murder, but I think she was willfully blind to everything that might have clued her in because she's so much happier with Gertrude.

You know, if we can't get Rocky Horror Hamlet off the ground, we might get a Hamlet drinking game going.