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To be, or not to be. Aye, that's the point.
To die, to sleep, is that all? Aye, all.
No, to sleep, to dream, aye, marry, there it goes,
For in that dream of death, when we awake,
And borne again before an everlasting judge,
From whence no passenger ever returned,
The undiscovered country, at whose sight,
The happy smile, and the accursed damned.
But for this, the joyful hope of this,
Who'd bear the scorns and flattery of the world
Scorned by the right rich, the rich cursed of the poor?
...This is the version of the To be or not to be soliloquy first published in 1603. I cannot even begin to say how amused and thrilled I am. Except that I am very amused and thrilled. Because. zomg. ^__________^ Dorky.
It was published by the fellow who played Marcellus; James Shapiro says they know this because the only lines that were right were Marcellus', implying that he had actually, you know, learnt them.
But dude. There are just so. many. injokes. in Hamlet. It's not even funny (except that it really, really is). My favourite is the Caesar-Brutus/Polonius-Hamlet one, wherein the fellow who played Polonius also played Caesar, and Burbage, who played Hamlet, also played Brutus, so when Polonius says, 'I did enact Julius Caesar. I was killed i' th' Capitol; Brutus killed me,' he's talking about himself for serious. And, um, he's about to get stabbed by Brutus again.
...Not even funny.
Shapiro also points out that Hamlet's 'I prophesy th' election lights on Fortinbras; he has my dying voice' is kind of, oh, utterly ridiculous, since everybody is dead, and Fortinbras just invaded, dude. It's not like there's going to be an election. He also says--where is it, can't find it--aha, here--he also says that Hamlet's soliloquies are vastly important because Hamlet has nobody to talk to. And I quote, "His old friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are spies and viewed with suspicion. Horatio is deeply loyal, but likes the sound of his own words a bit too much and never seems fully to understand him (you can sense Hamlet's exasperation with his friend when he tells him that there 'are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy'. Given Gertrude's dependence on Claudius, she cannot be trusted either. And there's no hope of unburdening himself to his terrifying father, back from Purgatory"; he then goes on to address a great deal of reasons why Hamlet can't talk to Ophelia, either, and ends "We are all that's left". But. The sentence that grabs one's attention immediately is, of course:
'Horatio is deeply loyal, but likes the sound of his own words a bit too much'.
This is how I used to portray Horatio, long ago, when I first started writing Hamlet fanfic (to be precise, back when I was actually writing Les Mis fic and crossing it over with Hamlet. see Rosemary and Sage and Oranges); but now I interpret his character entirely differently (no, really?). It made me laugh and sulk both at once. Shapiro also goes on to point out several more examples of Horatio Just Not Getting It, most significantly at the end, when he has his 'so shall you hear of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts' speech. "Horatio's words underscore much he has failed to grasp about his friend, relative to what we know". He does, however, add that Horatio "can be excused for how much he has missed; unlike us, he has not been privy to Hamlet's soliloquies". Exactly. Anything Horatio finds out, he has to intuit.
Also, regarding the Doubt that the stars are fire poem, Shapiro says, "It's mortifying to hear this lame verse recited and it underscores the danger of baring one's soul, because Ophelia, in 'duty and obedience', has betrayed Hamlet by turning these letters over to her father". This is rather amusing if one considers the correct (read: Miss Zara's and my) cause for the bad poetry. --But seriously, he has a point. It's wretched verse and it's even wretcheder being read to Gertrude and Claudius.
...And now I will stop babbling. But I finished the book to-day, and I am devastated that it's over. But it made my weeeeeeeeeek. ^______________^
To die, to sleep, is that all? Aye, all.
No, to sleep, to dream, aye, marry, there it goes,
For in that dream of death, when we awake,
And borne again before an everlasting judge,
From whence no passenger ever returned,
The undiscovered country, at whose sight,
The happy smile, and the accursed damned.
But for this, the joyful hope of this,
Who'd bear the scorns and flattery of the world
Scorned by the right rich, the rich cursed of the poor?
...This is the version of the To be or not to be soliloquy first published in 1603. I cannot even begin to say how amused and thrilled I am. Except that I am very amused and thrilled. Because. zomg. ^__________^ Dorky.
It was published by the fellow who played Marcellus; James Shapiro says they know this because the only lines that were right were Marcellus', implying that he had actually, you know, learnt them.
But dude. There are just so. many. injokes. in Hamlet. It's not even funny (except that it really, really is). My favourite is the Caesar-Brutus/Polonius-Hamlet one, wherein the fellow who played Polonius also played Caesar, and Burbage, who played Hamlet, also played Brutus, so when Polonius says, 'I did enact Julius Caesar. I was killed i' th' Capitol; Brutus killed me,' he's talking about himself for serious. And, um, he's about to get stabbed by Brutus again.
...Not even funny.
Shapiro also points out that Hamlet's 'I prophesy th' election lights on Fortinbras; he has my dying voice' is kind of, oh, utterly ridiculous, since everybody is dead, and Fortinbras just invaded, dude. It's not like there's going to be an election. He also says--where is it, can't find it--aha, here--he also says that Hamlet's soliloquies are vastly important because Hamlet has nobody to talk to. And I quote, "His old friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are spies and viewed with suspicion. Horatio is deeply loyal, but likes the sound of his own words a bit too much and never seems fully to understand him (you can sense Hamlet's exasperation with his friend when he tells him that there 'are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy'. Given Gertrude's dependence on Claudius, she cannot be trusted either. And there's no hope of unburdening himself to his terrifying father, back from Purgatory"; he then goes on to address a great deal of reasons why Hamlet can't talk to Ophelia, either, and ends "We are all that's left". But. The sentence that grabs one's attention immediately is, of course:
'Horatio is deeply loyal, but likes the sound of his own words a bit too much'.
This is how I used to portray Horatio, long ago, when I first started writing Hamlet fanfic (to be precise, back when I was actually writing Les Mis fic and crossing it over with Hamlet. see Rosemary and Sage and Oranges); but now I interpret his character entirely differently (no, really?). It made me laugh and sulk both at once. Shapiro also goes on to point out several more examples of Horatio Just Not Getting It, most significantly at the end, when he has his 'so shall you hear of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts' speech. "Horatio's words underscore much he has failed to grasp about his friend, relative to what we know". He does, however, add that Horatio "can be excused for how much he has missed; unlike us, he has not been privy to Hamlet's soliloquies". Exactly. Anything Horatio finds out, he has to intuit.
Also, regarding the Doubt that the stars are fire poem, Shapiro says, "It's mortifying to hear this lame verse recited and it underscores the danger of baring one's soul, because Ophelia, in 'duty and obedience', has betrayed Hamlet by turning these letters over to her father". This is rather amusing if one considers the correct (read: Miss Zara's and my) cause for the bad poetry. --But seriously, he has a point. It's wretched verse and it's even wretcheder being read to Gertrude and Claudius.
...And now I will stop babbling. But I finished the book to-day, and I am devastated that it's over. But it made my weeeeeeeeeek. ^______________^
