Hamlet decrypted / Hamlet décrypté

[fare]

This summer, I saw Hamlet played on the Boston Common by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. It was a memorable moment indeed, with great actors, and a very creative direction, that managed to be very original without sacrificing the least either the letter or the spirit of the text.

But after seeing the play, I could not repress

Comments

Paranoia

[fare]

The obvious direction would show how Hamlet is a paranoiac, who hears voice where there aren't, who imagines his uncle admitting a crime when he isn't, or sending him to death, etc. The same scenes depicted by Shakespeare can be shown with voices getting an out-of-this-world character when they speak things imagined by Hamlet (while lighting can become hellish and put in evidence a different set of features in the costume than are seen with normal lighting). So young madman Hamlet kills innocent people because he has some oedipal problem with his mother. Of course, this doesn't explain how Fortinbras arrives with his men in Elsinore just as the danish royal family is having a party.

[bedlamartist]

this is one of the more bizarre takes on hamlet that i've heard. however, i suppose one of the beauties of shakespeare is that you can manipulate it to suit almost any argument. hell, i once saw a book comparing hamlet to communist moscow, so why not? but i still thing you're nuts. my favorite play is "macbeth" and maybe i should let you read a paper i wrote about it a while ago, about how shakespeare cast his women characters.

[selfishgene]

Amusing and clever interpretation.

[fare]

My friend Sergey K sends me this link, another take on Hamlet: http://naturalhistorymag.com/editors_pick/1966_08-09_pick.html