Response to Course Material #4

The past few weeks have been dedicated almost entirely to Hamlet. After our class read through, we  watched scenes from several different movie versions, and read part of an essay by Philip Edwards. The essay was fascinating, and it introduced me to several different theories of the work (many of which I disagreed with because they seemed too black and white, but some of which I really liked and agreed with). The article helped me get a better (but still not full) understanding of the religious aspect of the play, and gave me valuable insight on the internal moral conflicts of all the characters. I also found the movie scenes to be really helpful in understanding the play. I could see the emotion behind all of the lines, while during the initial read through I felt a disconnect because I was just seeing the words on paper and was too busy trying to understand them to register all the emotion behind them.This helped a lot in my annotating, because I could feel the intensity of different scenes more easily. As I went on annotating, I grew to like the play more as I understood what it was saying, but I also grew to dislike the character of Hamlet a lot. He's sexist, mean, and so self absorbed he reminds me of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory (the main difference being that Sheldon simply doesn't understand social protocol and isn't quite as flat out mean as Hamlet, while Hamlet understands social protocol and chooses to ignore it). While he has some interesting and very morbid insight, I got sick of his quickness to judge everyone else and his nonstop pessimism.

I'd have to say that my favorite Hamlet movie is the Laurence Olivier version. I think the way the setting has labyrinth-like qualities to resemble Hamlet's mind is brilliant. Also, I'm glad the age difference between Gertrude and Claudius is true to the book, because it makes their relationship seem more disturbing to modern viewers. I like how they bring out the incestuous overtones between Hamlet and his mother, because it highlights Shakespeare's point that isolating people from the rest of the world can force them to turn inward in an unhealthy way. Ophelia's portrayal as more calm and subdued in her mad scene is another aspect of this version that I enjoy. It makes it seem like there is more to her than an innocent flower caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her words have more weight to them. I also really appreciate how in this version Gertrude seems to know that the cup is poisoned and sacrifices herself for Hamlet. It gives her some redemption and reminds us that Shakespeare's characters are never just black and white.

I have mixed feelings about the other versions. I'm not a huge fan of the Branagh version. I think Hamlet seems too whiny (I know he's supposed to be pretty whiny, but there are other aspects Branagh could have brought out too). I also think the Claudius is too cold and doesn't seem human-like. I think Laertes does a great job in this version and I understand the character better after seeing all the emotion he puts into it. Tenant does a great job as Hamlet, especially when he is "pretending" to be mad. I also think Claudius in the Tenant version seems much more human and conflicted, and I actually sympathize with him a little. He is my favorite Claudius, and l love how as he is dying he reaches for Gertrude. He really does love her, and it's impossible to write his character off as completely evil. I'm not a big fan of this version's Laertes though. He seems kind of one-dimensional, and he doesn't use much emotion. I also don't like how Fortinbras doesn't come in at the end of the Tenant version. It removes a major political aspect of the play, and turns it into more of a family drama. Overall though, my impression of the Tenant version is positive. I can't say the same for the Jacobi or the Hawke. The Jacobi seems to me more like actors reading lines than actual people's lives, and the Hawke, as Holmes said, is just a cheesy rip off of the Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet. Overall, I really liked getting to see all these different interpretations, and they helped me in my annotating and understanding of the play.


While I'm glad we got to see the movie clips, I do wish we had more discussion time, because I still have questions and aspects of the book I'd like to discuss, and we have to somehow come up with a theme statement even though we are still trying to rap our heads around the complex messages Shakespeare is trying to send. There's a lot going on in Hamlet. I feel like the other two works we have read in class are much more focused on trying to say one thing, and the characters seem more like devices to help them say it (especially in The American Dream).  Hamlet seems to be saying a lot of things and has a complex plot to figure out as well. I think it will be incredibly difficult to put everything Shakespeare is trying to say into one statement. A major aspect of the play involves morality, especially concerning suicide and killing other people for "just"reasons. But there's also some commentary on social classes, and how the royalty/rich seem to be able to do whatever they want, while the rest of the people are completely brainwashed. Also, Shakespeare makes a point of closing his characters off from the rest of the world to show what kind of an effect this can have on people. There's also a complex religious aspect that I'm still trying to wrap my head around. I just have no idea how we will put all this together into one theme statement, and I wish we had more time to discuss. 

Another part to our Hamlet studies was a three part forum. I donn't think the forum did much for my understanding of the play, but I really got a lot out of it- especially the NPR story about the prisoners. That made me happy and showed me how powerful literature can be. The "Shakespeare in the Bush" forum annoyed me a little, because I think the speaker could have gotten the "intended" meaning across to the Tiv much more effectively by focusing less on the specifics of the plot and more on the emotion. However, the article made me realize that the Tiv did get meaning out of the story and enjoyed it, so does it really matter that they didn't get the "intended" meaning? As for the Ophelia poem, I didn't get much out of it. I flat out disagreed with it and it didn't really alter my understanding of the play or make me think deeply about literature like the other two did. So I would have been fine if we were only assigned the NPR story and the Shakespeare in the Bush.

Overall, I liked the way our class tackled  Hamlet. We were given lots of time and were exposed to lots of different interpretations. I wish we had even more time though, especially for discussion.