May 2011
37 posts
Hamlet and the region of death - The Boston Globe →
boston.com
“We have to re-think our idea of character altogether. It disproves our thinking about characters in binary terms: i.e., they’re either a protagonist or a minor character. They’re either round or flat. Now there seem to be more positions along this continuum.”
Funnily enough, my university teacher was obsessed with Horatio, saying he was a key character, and one of the most interesting. I could never understood why, but now I see he was not alone.
“Seen through Moretti’s network diagrams, “Hamlet” often seems brand new. One notices, for example, that of all the characters who speak to both Hamlet and Claudius, only two manage to survive the play (Moretti calls this part of the network the “region of death”). Or one notices that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the most famous pair of minor characters in all of Shakespeare, never speak to each other.”
This blog exists. Be still my beating heart.
Hamlet does cause increased heart rate, many thanks for following this blog despite the risk of arrhythmia. & If you ever stumble across anything interesting and Hamlet related feel free to share it with us.
“Off to Richmond to see “Hamlet, the Musical” - sort of the Lion King only with people perhaps. I’m v intrigued.”
—Stephen Fry (via arcticfritillary)
David Tennant after being asked on the possible production of a TV movie version of Hamlet
- Christian: And... is this a Russell T Davies or...?
- David: It's with William Shakespeare
- Christian: OHHOHO HE'S GOOD!
- David: Yeah, the script's already written.
fuckyeahhamlet is one year old today!
In celebration, brilliant tumblrs you should follow:
Days 7 & 8
(30 days of Hamlet / rebloggable version)
Day 7 - The most unnecessary or annoying scene
I can’t claim it’s unnecessary, but for some reason I always feel like skipping the nunnery scene, and I often do when reading the play. I wish I could offer some coherent reason for disliking it but I really have none. Perhaps there’s nothing wrong with the scene itself - I suspect a lot of it has to do with just being sick of hearing about it. I have read too many theories and none of them has struck me as particularly convincing or even interesting. Basically, I think the scene has been overanalyzed and taken for more than it is. (Day 9 - Your interpretations of the nunnery scene …Well, this is going to be awkward.)
Day 8 - Your favorite relationship
Days 5 & 6
(30 days of Hamlet / rebloggable version)
Day 5 - Your favourite adaptation
This comes as a surprise to no one:
Laurence Olivier’s (1948)
Day 6 - If you could end the play differently, [how] would you?
I wouldn’t, even though a part of me wants to write in some secret antidote that saves Hamlet because I’m interested in what his thoughts would be if he had time to properly reflect on the events after all the hassle was over. So basically, I wouldn’t mind a couple more soliloquies. But no, I wouldn’t end it differently. I don’t think the play would have had such a strong impact on me if the ending were any less tragic and heartbreaking.
