'Hamlet one reads once only in one's life, between the ages of twenty and twenty-five. Then one is Hamlet, one is youth; as, to make a clean breast of it, Hamlet is Shakespeare, is youth. And how can one explain what one is? One can but be it. Thus forced always to look back or sidelong at his own past the critic sees something moving and vanishing in Hamlet, as in a glass one sees the reflection of oneself, and it is this which, while it gives an everlasting variety to the play, forbids us to feel, as with Lear or Macbeth, that the centre is solid and holds firm whatever our successive readings lay upon it.
save for the (in my view, frankly preposterous) soliloquys declaimed upon a cliff top, and set to a Mahlerian whirlwind of music, i thought Branagh's Hamlet best captured this psychological thriller aspect to the play. despite its length, i found the film incredibly pacy and taut.
having just finished Much Ado (of course it's a very different piece), i found we were at our best when we zipped through the play without pondering on anything too much (again, a much easier play with which to do this - not much in the text of Much Ado lends itself to extended bouts of stentorian introspection in its performance).
not sure it's true, but i do feel the best of Shakespeare's plays are teeming with action
Isn’t it the wonder of Shakespeare that two people can read the same play, understand it differently, and both be correct.
In my reading, Hamlet, while having a noble mind, is entirely unsuited to rule and the state of Denmark is well rid of him.
Fortinbras, by contrast, is the very model of the man of action. He is Henry VIII to Hamlet’s Henry VI, Octavius to Brutus, Churchill to Chamberlin, and is exactly what Denmark needed in an age of violence to keep it secure.
What utterly grips me about Hamlet is that I can love and admire him but not mourn his death. The stage full of corpses is the necessary correction to the something rotten in the State of Denmark.
maybe but I don't think subjectivity is a useful guide to whether is full of action or not... I agree with you about Hamlet as king. He is a dangerous, ironic character, unsuited to his ambitions.
Virginia Woolf:
'Hamlet one reads once only in one's life, between the ages of twenty and twenty-five. Then one is Hamlet, one is youth; as, to make a clean breast of it, Hamlet is Shakespeare, is youth. And how can one explain what one is? One can but be it. Thus forced always to look back or sidelong at his own past the critic sees something moving and vanishing in Hamlet, as in a glass one sees the reflection of oneself, and it is this which, while it gives an everlasting variety to the play, forbids us to feel, as with Lear or Macbeth, that the centre is solid and holds firm whatever our successive readings lay upon it.
She is just the best
Is that her diary?
It's from her essay 'On being ill'.
Oh yes ofc
save for the (in my view, frankly preposterous) soliloquys declaimed upon a cliff top, and set to a Mahlerian whirlwind of music, i thought Branagh's Hamlet best captured this psychological thriller aspect to the play. despite its length, i found the film incredibly pacy and taut.
having just finished Much Ado (of course it's a very different piece), i found we were at our best when we zipped through the play without pondering on anything too much (again, a much easier play with which to do this - not much in the text of Much Ado lends itself to extended bouts of stentorian introspection in its performance).
not sure it's true, but i do feel the best of Shakespeare's plays are teeming with action
great piece as ever, cheers
I agree it’s better when it’s quick. They did these plays in 2hrs back in the day!!
good lord. Hamlet in two hours?! that doesn't seem possible. happy to say our Much Ado was two hours including interval!
no probably not but certainly not the ~4 we tend to go for
"This is the story of a man who could not make up his mind." Laurence Olivier
Larry could not have been more wrong.
Man so worng
Dare I ask, do you have a favorite (not so bad) recorded / movie version of Hamlet that you'd recommend?
Many are good, none is splendid. Branagh or Burton probably. What did Hazlitt say? We do not love to see our author's play performed.
Isn’t it the wonder of Shakespeare that two people can read the same play, understand it differently, and both be correct.
In my reading, Hamlet, while having a noble mind, is entirely unsuited to rule and the state of Denmark is well rid of him.
Fortinbras, by contrast, is the very model of the man of action. He is Henry VIII to Hamlet’s Henry VI, Octavius to Brutus, Churchill to Chamberlin, and is exactly what Denmark needed in an age of violence to keep it secure.
What utterly grips me about Hamlet is that I can love and admire him but not mourn his death. The stage full of corpses is the necessary correction to the something rotten in the State of Denmark.
maybe but I don't think subjectivity is a useful guide to whether is full of action or not... I agree with you about Hamlet as king. He is a dangerous, ironic character, unsuited to his ambitions.
All the action flows from inaction.