Here’s another one in the “timeline immediately before the play” series. When the story opens it’s been two months since the king’s death, right? And we’ve got Laertes telling Ophelia to watch out for Hamlet, and Polonius coming right out and saying “I forbid you to see him anymore” (paraphrased drastically).

Why? Why then? Does that mean that for the previous couple of months Hamlet and Ophelia have been cool, a couple even, and that the melancholy prince has actually had a girlfriend to rely on for some emotional support? And then, for no reason at all, the rug gets swept out from under him and she’s all “Nope, can’t see you anymore, sorry, take your presents back.” It seems odd to think that right in the middle of all this is when Hamlet decided for the first time “Hey I think I’ll ask Ophelia out.” Gertrude even later says “we’d hoped you would be Hamlet’s wife” or something to that effect, so surely they have a previous relationship.

Like the “Hamlet’s friends” question, I’m trying to recreate, in terms a modern reader could empathize with, the lead up to the play itself. Guy’s dad died. We know his mom is messed up at first, but seems to get over it awfully quickly, too quickly for most people’s taste, and then goes and does something that’s just so awkward it borders on gross. A couple of Hamlet’s friends come to pay their respects. So the next logical character is his girlfriend.

What I want to do is blame Laertes. He’s dragged back to the kingdom for the funeral, and can’t wait to take off again. While he’s home, he seized on the opportunity to say face to face what he’s no doubt told his little sister many times in the past – Hamlet’s no good for you. Only this time, their father Polonius hears the conversation. Who knows? Maybe Polonius is so out of it with respect to his daughter’s actual life that he had no idea they were already a couple, and all he’s really doing is picking up on what Laertes said and expanding it.

Looking at the text I see this line from Polonius: ‘Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you yourself Have of your audience been most free and bounteous:’, so clearly he’s got some idea. But I don’t know how to interpret “very oft of late”. I mean, I know what it means, but what does Polonius think it means? Did Hamlet’s father die and then all of a sudden, with no other emotional support, Hamlet threw himself at Ophelia? Is Polonius arguing that Hamlet and Ophelia used to spend time together, and he realizes that, but now they’re spending way *too* much time together, and that’s what he doesn’t like?

I guess I’ve come around full circle. The clues are all there that Hamlet and Ophelia had some sort of relationship prior to the play. But the Polonius says “Nope, give him back his gifts and don’t see him anymore.” We can explain away Laertes, the big brother away at college, who has probably never liked the idea of his sister and Hamlet. But why does Polonius suddenly take an interest, and make her shut him down?

I’m imagining Hamlet back at school, before news of his father’s death came in.  Do you think he’s the kind of guy (kid?) who was very social, had many friends? Or was that biting sense of humor and condescending tone too much for those around him? I’ve heard it argued re: Horatio that he was either a) Hamlet’s best friend in the world, or b) just a nice guy acquaintance who tried to pay his proper respects, and got caught up in the whole thing.  I honestly don’t know the answer either way. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, I assume, fall more into that category of “I know them, but they are not my friends.”  I don’t see it as a very great surprise that they turn on Hamlet so quickly, as I have no reason to imagine them as close confidants to begin with. Thoughts?

http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-shakespeare-digital-media-language When I spotted an article entitled “Teach Shakespeare However You Want – Just Keep His Language Alive” I knew I’d found a kindred spirit.  When I noticed that the article comes from the George Lucas Educational Foundation, it almost makes me forgive him for Jar Jar Binks.  Almost. There’s not a great deal that’s new in the article, it comes off more as a plea to not forget the greatness of the language.  I’ll just paste one quote, which sums it up quite nicely for me:

Those who value the craft of writing do not take this lightly. C.K. Williams, an award-winning poet who teaches at Princeton University, told me, "The very thought of William Shakespeare being rewritten makes me ill."

Continuing on the music theme this week we have Lady Gaga Wrote Shakespeare’s Works from the American Shakespeare Center. I suppose you have to at least be familiar with who this chick is, to appreciate the funny.  Put it this way, 10 years ago I’m sure somebody wrote this exact article about Britney Spears.  Exact same idea.  Only here it’s all about “Poker Face”, the only real song of hers that anybody knows. Bonus points for recognizing the other music reference in my title :).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/may/03/classics.news Articles like this make me sad.  I don’t know the celebrity in question – Carol Vorderman? – but apparently she made a bit of a spectacle of herself on a television quiz show by missing a Shakespeare question and proclaiming him “dull as ditchwater.” Yawn. The points are all the same – what came first, his greatness or our worship of him? Is it all self-fulfilling?  And blah and blah and Harold Bloom and so on.  “The best Shakespeare is the Shakespeare we understand best,” the author writes. I like that line. Couple of interesting points, though, cheered me up: * The author noting that to decide for yourself whether Shakespeare is in fact dull, ideally you would have to know the plays in the first place.  Good point indeed, since this woman (the one on the tv show) failed her question.  Does that mean that she’s proclaiming Shakespeare dull from the position of someone who’s actually read him?  Or someone who has not? * “Toby Belch, as the name indicates, really is a pig; Shakespeare could as well have called him Fart.”  I love that the article’s not afraid to go there. 🙂 * “In my department, I’m happy to say, you won’t graduate unless you know all 39 well enough to take a six-hour exam on them.”  That could be fun.  Not sure I’d pass, but it’d be cool to live the life where I actually had an opportunity to try it. * “400 years on, no one will be watching reruns of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire…but will they still be performing and studying Shakespeare?  Nothing is more certain.” Damn straight. There’s also a pretty good Shakespeare test at the bottom, that I’m happy to report I got an average score (27 out of 55) on, just off the top of my head.  It’s somewhat unfair to we U.S.-bound (this being a UK article), as the final question is about modern English politics.