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30 Day Book Challenge: 10
Feb. 21st, 2012 08:07 pmDay 10 – Favourite classic book
HAMLET. I love Hamlet beyond all reason. I love the language, and the passage about worms, and the way that there are so many ways to interpret everything. Polonius: he's a doddering old man, he's a long-winded purveyor of common sense! Gertrude: unhealthily attached to her son, loves Ophelia and is distressed by her death, murders Ophelia, doesn't murder her but lets her drown herself, loves Claudius, doesn't love Claudius (I'm not a Gertrude fan in any of these scenarios, btw). Claudius: did he kill his brother for loves of Gertrude, did he kill his brother for love of power? And, of course, Hamlet: is he insane? Is he justified? Is he a quivering little brat, or a morally upright asshat, or a vindictive bastard, or all of the above? Is he sixteen years old or thirty? SO MANY QUESTIONS! And of course I have my own answers to them, because one of the things I like about the fact that certain aspects are so open to interpretation is that when someone is like 'ewwww why do you like this part/character/play?' then I can give them lots of different answers.
I'm more than a little in love with the version where David Tennant plays Hamlet, for several reasons. Mostly because Tennant's Hamlet is the sort of Hamlet I read: clever and funny, but also a self-indulgent, indecisive brat, who starts off purely behaving like he's gone mad and using it as an opportunity to make fun of everyone else, but then devolving. I love love love the part where he's talking to the players, and he starts trying to declaim at them, and the head player is just like '... Leave this to the professionals, kiddo.' But! Moreso than David Tennant, because the dude who played him at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival was even better, I am a fan of these Rosencratz and Guildensterns. I think it is great that, without changing any lines, the two actors managed to portray two different characters, instead of the interchangeable 'best friends' originally intended. (Guildenstern is the mercenary friend, and Rosencrantz appears to be bitter that his crush on Hamlet was never returned.) I enjoyed Horatio as well; when I read the book, and when my class watched the version where Helena Bonham Carter played Ophelia, I didn't understand Horatio, I thought he was a little bland. I liked this version of him; the part where he started playing the recorder with Hamlet was particularly good.
In conclusion: pretty much everything that comes out of Hamlet's mouth that is not the part where he's talking to himself while Claudius is 'praying' is great, and I love it.
HAMLET. I love Hamlet beyond all reason. I love the language, and the passage about worms, and the way that there are so many ways to interpret everything. Polonius: he's a doddering old man, he's a long-winded purveyor of common sense! Gertrude: unhealthily attached to her son, loves Ophelia and is distressed by her death, murders Ophelia, doesn't murder her but lets her drown herself, loves Claudius, doesn't love Claudius (I'm not a Gertrude fan in any of these scenarios, btw). Claudius: did he kill his brother for loves of Gertrude, did he kill his brother for love of power? And, of course, Hamlet: is he insane? Is he justified? Is he a quivering little brat, or a morally upright asshat, or a vindictive bastard, or all of the above? Is he sixteen years old or thirty? SO MANY QUESTIONS! And of course I have my own answers to them, because one of the things I like about the fact that certain aspects are so open to interpretation is that when someone is like 'ewwww why do you like this part/character/play?' then I can give them lots of different answers.
I'm more than a little in love with the version where David Tennant plays Hamlet, for several reasons. Mostly because Tennant's Hamlet is the sort of Hamlet I read: clever and funny, but also a self-indulgent, indecisive brat, who starts off purely behaving like he's gone mad and using it as an opportunity to make fun of everyone else, but then devolving. I love love love the part where he's talking to the players, and he starts trying to declaim at them, and the head player is just like '... Leave this to the professionals, kiddo.' But! Moreso than David Tennant, because the dude who played him at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival was even better, I am a fan of these Rosencratz and Guildensterns. I think it is great that, without changing any lines, the two actors managed to portray two different characters, instead of the interchangeable 'best friends' originally intended. (Guildenstern is the mercenary friend, and Rosencrantz appears to be bitter that his crush on Hamlet was never returned.) I enjoyed Horatio as well; when I read the book, and when my class watched the version where Helena Bonham Carter played Ophelia, I didn't understand Horatio, I thought he was a little bland. I liked this version of him; the part where he started playing the recorder with Hamlet was particularly good.
In conclusion: pretty much everything that comes out of Hamlet's mouth that is not the part where he's talking to himself while Claudius is 'praying' is great, and I love it.
