Play Review: Hamlet is one of the contenders for the greatest literary work in the English language. Who am I, being bearly literate, to have anything worth saying about it? So, rather than flopping about coming up with a thesis, this review will be just a few of the light bulbs that occurred to me while reading (if I do a re-read, I might try to make something a little more coherent and cohesive). Herewith, a collection of random thoughts: (1) Hamlet, the melancholy Dane, seems less indecisive than he's often made out to be. When we first meet our hero he's in deep mourning for his father and royally irate that within a month of his father's death his beloved queen mother "incestuously" married his sleazy Uncle Claudius ("more than kin and less than kind"), who is now king. Soon, his father's ghost (or is it?) informs Hamlet that Claudius murdered him. Before Hamlet can take revenge as the ghost demands, he must first play detective. Through the well-accepted investigative technique of "play-within-a-play," we learn by Act 3. Sc. 2, that Claudius is the murderer and the ghost a reliable witness (and, Shakespeare is telling us, is Hamlet's father, not some hobgoblin). In Act 3. Sc. 4, Hamlet kills Claudius (or so he thinks). That seems quick and decisive work to me. And if so, would've been a much shorter play.
(2) Having failed to kill Claudius, it takes awhile for things to get going again. Not killing him while eavesdropping on Claudius at his prayers (and remorseful) seems reasonable to me, as Hamlet explains it. It's only right that he hesitate before becoming a vigilante; taking a life should not be done lightly. But when his hesitation is over, bodies drop like flies. Hamlet shows little regret over the death of Polonius, and I believe he suspected that Rosencrantz and Guilderstern were in on the plot for the King of England to murder him, and so is not too broken up when they die. Then poor Ophelia, and again, not as much regret as expected. But then the flood gates open and all hell breaks loose: Mom, Laertes, Claudius. A good day for the undertaker.
(3) Hamlet seems to hate women? He is so Oedipally (Sophocles and Freud would understand) and deeply wounded by his mother's "incestuous" marriage to his uncle ("He that hath killed my king and whored my mother"), that he loses all faith in women and in marriage ("frailty, thy name is woman"). Hamlet says "we will have no more marriage," and has difficulty trusting even his devoted Ophelia. He feigns madness to advance his revenge. Recognizing that Ophelia may become collateral damage in his plot, Hamlet encourages her to go to a nunnery for her own safety ("I must be cruel only to be kind"). But she stays.
(4) Ophelia and Laertes, sister and brother, are Hamlet's doubles in the play. Hamlet feigns madness, and when he kills her father, the frail Ophelia actually does go mad (there is some suggestion that Hamlet's actions too have caused her madness), and mad she dies. Both Hamlet and Laertes are out to revenge their fathers, and both kill the man responsible.
(5) Can we take a moment to look at just how evil is Claudius? He murders his own brother and then, perhaps to cement his rule, marries his murdered brother's wife (which was considered possibly incestuous at the time). He then sends his nephew to England (with R & G) to be murdered. That failing, he convinces the willing Laertes to treacherously murder Hamlet, while Claudius himself (Plan B) will prepare a poison cup for Hamlet to drink. When his wife goes to drink from the poisoned cup, Claudius puts precious little effort into stopping her, despite full opportunity. Evil, thy name is Claudius.
(6) There are two other threads woven throughout the play, the keeping of secrets and eavesdropping to learn those secrets. Many secrets, much eavesdropping. But as Polonius learns, eavesdropping can be a deadly habit.
(7) Can we also take a moment to a look at all there is in this play? Hamlet could've been called Four Funerals and a Wedding. We have three poorly arranged and incomplete funerals (the King, Polonious, Ophelia), and one that is hasty and oddly fancy (Hamlet's by Fortinbras). We also have (pre-play) the hasty wedding of Claudius and Gertrude. But wait, there's more! We have a ghost, many murders and deaths, madness, a play within a play, some great swashing and buckling (in that darn good sword fight), pirates, a Norwegian army, a suicide, cannons, and a penultimate scene in which four corpses litter the stage. Wow, if that's not entertainment I don't know what is.
Hamlet! Good on ya, Shakespeare! [5★]
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