Rating: 
Summary: poet
Review: Shakespeare- Oh how I love thee.
This play is good, but it feel like it could be so much better. The words and terminogies go over my head at times and it was difficult to read because you always needed your teacher to dycifer the meanings. In the end it is a good story, you just need a translator by your side.
Rating: 
Summary: Chasing Shakespeare -- Finding Hamlet
Review: The sheer magnitude and dramatic measure of Shakespeare is never to be missed -- but it can be a challenge tackling the linguistics of sixteenth century English. For those (like me) who need a leg up, the Durband (Editor) additions of Shakespeare's work are an invaluable help. For the ambitious reader, an additional resource in cracking the code of 16th century grammar comes in the form of Adamson, Hunter, Magnusson, Thomposon, & Wales's "Reading Shakespeare's Dramatic Language, A guide." Finally, an invaluable guild to understanding not only Shakespeare but also any dramatic structure comes from David Ball's "Backwards and Forwards, A Technical Manual for Reading Plays." With all these resources firmly in hand, I chased Shakespeare, and managed, in some sense, to tackle "Hamlet," the first Shakespeare play I had ever read . . . So what's the play about -- other than ~3-4 hours of live performance? This question actually decomposes into 3 questions: what's does the play "mean," what's its "theme," and what's the play "about?" I've actually no idea what it "means," and I'm not sure I understand what is meant by 'what does it mean?' so I'll let that go . . . A better question: what are it's themes? That's easy: revenge, parental fealty, trust. Most helpful is the last question: what's the play about? I've read that constraints on the answer to this question are: it should be short, 1-2 sentences, and if you were telling it to someone who knows little about the play, it should 'draw the person in: make them want to know more,' so here goes: Hamlet is a play about a son who pretends to lose his mind while attempting to avenge the perfect murder of his father, and he loses his own life in the process. This isn't particularly poetic, but it does capture the basic main plot line, and it's underscores the tragic nature of Hamlet. The murder of Hamlet's father is perfect: it's takes a supernatural event to uncover the murder, i.e., the ghost of his father has to come back and tell Hamlet what happened. These are the two main events that drive the plot: the murder is perfect, and Hamlet chooses to take up the task of avenging his father with absolutely not one shred, not one bit, of evidence that Claudius killed King Hamlet. And this is just how the play reads, how it looks to the audience: If you didn't know the story, the earliest point you might believe that the ghost really was telling the truth is Claudius' line #59, 3.1: "How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!" And what exactly is he feeling so guilty about anyway? It is unclear, not explicitly stated (e.g., it could be guilt for marrying Hamlet's mother so quickly, which is what Hamlet is initially bummed out and angry about, and justifying the quick marriage is in part what Claudius' initial speech is all about in 1.2.) And up until 3.2, Hamlet's not even sure about the veracity of the ghost -- so he sets a 'mouse trap' ("the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king"). Up until 3.2 (at the earliest), the audience doesn't really know if Claudius murdered the king, and they only know this with certainty during Claudius's confession of the murder in 3.3. And if the audience (and Hamlet) are not absolutely sure about Claudius until Act 3, Scene 3, what about the other characters in the play? They never know. All the way through the play, to them, Hamlet looks just like the guy he's pretending to be: someone who's coming unglued. Take out Claudius's confession in 3.3, and I don't think the audience would believe Hamlet or the ghost. To them, Hamlet would be seen as he is seen through the eyes of all the characters (except Horatio): they'd think Hamlet is crazy, and to his mother (3.4), he's ranting and raving about a murder, and yes, there is a murder, but not of King Hamlet -- it's of Polonius, and yes, there is a murderer, but not Claudius -- it's Hamlet! Killing Polonius was a BIG mistake: Claudius sends Hamlet away to England, to be killed. Hamlet, far from being a man incapable of action, is "acting" every moment, struggling with one (huge) obstacle after another . . . Hamlet's a brilliant play, a masterpiece, though I'm not convinced it's Shakespeare's best, plot-wise -- but certainty character-wise: as Bloom so aptly puts it: it is "The Invention of the Human." Shakespeare dramatizes a man that's *almost* (not totally) paralyzed with fear and uncertainty until most of the way through Act 4 (these are his first obstacles), and one main action he takes up to the end of act 4 is trying to satisfy for himself that Claudius really did kill his father, and avoid detection that that's what he's trying to do -- by acting crazy. A great play, and a full measure of the genius of Shakespeare.
Rating:
Summary: Just grand
Review: This book was good. I'm not going to overanalyze it like the book worms below me, but it reflects human nature better than anything else i have ever read. ROCK ON, Bill! \m/
Rating:
Summary: Shakespeare's most poetic play.
Review: This play is my second favourite, but a lot of critics think its Shakespeare's best. It owes it greatness to the character of Prince Hamlet. He is a man of thought, not action. He is philosophical and introspective and appears to be swept along by events rather than exercising any control over them. The play consists of some of the most profound and superb poetry ever composed by anyone in the English language. Shakespeare uses his hero, Hamlet, to mirror the hopes, fears and despair of all mankind. This is the play where Shakespeare bares his soul. He has put his whole being into it. Again we have the comic factor which seems to be even more funny because of the other momentous occurrences within the play. We also have the supernatural factor with the ghost of Hamlet's father appearing twice during the play. And who can forget Hamlet's famous soliloquy? This is truly a memorable work!
Rating: 
Summary: I liked the movie better
Review: When I started reading hamlet, I'll be completely honest, I thought it stunk! I never really enjoyed reading Shakespeare anyway, but with word usage aside, it wasn't' too shabby. Although I really didn't understand what was going on, my AP English teacher did a swell job of explaining it to me, and once I got the jist of what was going on (along with a few jokes) it was entertaining. I also enjoyed watching it being performed onstage. Overall, I think it was meant to be performed, and not read.
Rating:
Summary: I liked the movie better
Review: When I started reading hamlet, I'll be completely honest, I thought it stunk! I never really enjoyed reading Shakespeare anyway, but with word usage aside, it wasn't' too shabby. Although I really didn't understand what was going on, my AP English teacher did a swell job of explaining it to me, and once I got the jist of what was going on (along with a few jokes) it was entertaining. I also enjoyed watching it being performed onstage. Overall, I think it was meant to be performed, and not read.
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