DVD? I’ve only experienced it as a play. (read the script, performed in a production, and watched two other productions.) I didn’t know there was a DVD. Is it the original cast? Is it a filmed play or a real movie?
The Complete Works of William Shakepeare (Abridged)
It’s a live performance. Don’t know if this is the original cast, but the IMDB lists two of the three actors as writers…so it’s probably pretty close.
This is one of my favorite films in the world, and I’ve never heard anyone else mention it before!
On a less exulted note, does anyone remember the episode of “Gilligan’s Island” when for some reason or other they put on a musical version of Hamlet? I remember “Neither a borrower or a lender be” sung to the Toreador’s song from Carmen, Hamlet’s soliloquy sung to the Habanera, and Ophelia singing something to the Tales of Hoffman barcarole.
Another movie to catch is the Bob & Doug MacKenzie extravaganza Strange Brew. Or if you have seen it a while ago, but didn’t get what it was about, look at it again.
I recently read a book of “popular” critical essays on factual problems in Shakespeare by John Sutherland called “Henry V, War Criminal? and other Shakespeare Puzzles.”
He asks the question: “Was the ghost Catholic?”
Hamlet and the other players who see the ghost are suspicious that the ghost is a demon–this may point to a Protestant view of the world. Since there is no Protestant purgatory, the ghost would therefore be eternally condemned, a demon. Yet, he is an “honest” ghost and claims to be suffering in purgatory. But, if he is in Catholic purgatory, he certainly hasn’t learned any lessons in mercy or forgiveness. Indeed, the body count at the end would indicate that we were right in the first place in positing the ghost as a demon. (Note that while elements of S’s Denmark (and the source material) are pagan/pre-Christian, Hamlet attends the U of Wittenburg, the ne plus ultra Protestant uni of the day.)
I watched a (History Channel?) biography of Shakespeare recently that indicated that Shakespeare’s cousin got in trouble as a practicing Catholic, and implied that Shakespeare likewise had Catholic tendencies. Now, this may well be a load of speculative bilge, but it is interesting to remember that the Protestant/Catholic quarrel in England was still quite fresh, and that censors watched the theaters on behalf of the new orthodoxy.
According to Asimov this is not specifically a Protestant view of the world but a medieval view.
The medieval view was that a ghost could be the spirit of the late departed, but more likely a demon that assumes the form of the dead for its own evil purposes. The Ghost looks like the King (“He walks in the same figure, like the king that’s dead”), but until it identifies itself (“I am thy father’s spirit”), it is an unknown.
However, Hamlet has no way of knowing if the Ghost is telling the truth or not. He thus stages the play-within-the-play to “catch the concience of the King”. Claudius’ guilty reaction to the play confirms the Ghost’s tale, so Hamlet declares it “an honest ghost”, and that he would"take the ghost’s word for a thousand pound."
You owe me three hours of my life. Curse you!
And here’s a song by the sormer schoolteacher, turned folksinger/bookseller, Adam McNaughtan.
And here’s a song by the former Scottish schoolteacher, turned folksinger/bookseller, Adam McNaughtan.
Reading Asimov. WOW. It’s like reading Hamlet for the first time with a completely clear view of it. I’ve totally misjudged all the characters and it’s like I’m meeting them all again. This is definitely the best book I’ve found to explain Shakespeare. A must-read, indeed. I intend to read Hamlet again when I’ve finished the corresponding section. Thank you so much, BrotherCadfael
My friends and I hope to have a Branagh-fest sometime soon, so I’ll be sure to hunt down In the Bleak Midwinter somehow, and of course, the melencholy Dane himself.
Slightly off-topic, but if you found Asimov’s Shakespeare guides helpful and interesting, you might want to check out his Guides to the Bible, as well. Very, very interesting takes on the scriptures, with historical tidbits and a (most likely) take on what really happened and what really didn’t.
Another Hamlet weenie here. I have Ken’s version which is splendid. Mel Gibson’s which is OK and The Laurence Olivier version(say no more). Also an audio version with Derek Jacobi as The Dane* (he’s Claudius in Branagh’s version, how confusing is that? I could splice the two together and have him playing both parts).
I keep meaning to broaden my Shakespeare, I’m pretty familiar with Macbeth too but woefully slack on the rest. Must…read…Tempest**.
Buckleberry Have you seen Branagh’s Henry V or Much Ado? Good stuff.
*I saw this production on stage 
**being word perfect on Forbidden Planet does not count.
Glad to help, BuckleberryFerry. Check out his take on Romeo and Juliet for another eye-opener. He makes a good case that the Capulet/Montague feud has all but burned itself out by the opening scenes of the play, and that nobody but Tybalt has any interest in continuing it.
I have seen both. Good stuff is, IMHO, quite an understatement. His acting (and directing) is magnificent. Plus, he’s quite a treat to look at. But, uh, yes, acting genius. ahem ^_^;;
BrotherCadfael, I intend to read his take on R&J just as soon as I reread Hamlet with this fantastically new clarity. Because of you, I have been inspired to broaden my Shakespeare horizon. I might even invest in my own copy of Asimov. Thank you.
And thank you all for your suggestions and recommendations!
Well, there are countless readings of Hamlet out there, so it’s possible, too, that your reading holds up… 
I’m guessing that the documentary Humble Servant saw was Michael Wood’s In Search of Shakespeare, which, among other things, makes the case that Shakespeare was Catholic, and reads his experience in terms of the religious strife that pervaded Elizabethan England. It’s very watchable, but as scholarship needs to be taken with a considerable grain of salt, as a lot of the things Wood presents as facts really fall into the realm of theory and speculation. What it’s best at is creating a sense of place – Shakespeare’s England juxtaposed with modern England – and of course the clips of plays performed by RSC actors are also fun. I wanted to see more of that.
And yeah, Henry V: War Criminal? is fun. Doesn’t really come to a conclusion about the ghost, largely because there’s no easy answer to the dilemma (and, pace Michael Wood, trying to pin Shakespeare down theologically is always a dicey proposition). But the book is a quick read and is often very funny – I’m rather fond of the essay that tries to explain the chronology of Richard II (which I never saw as problematic in the first place) in terms of Star Trek’s treatment of relativity.
Hey, Im reading Hamlet for the first time in my English 30 class.
The leet cartoon and text based games are awesome! 
Two last small items.
This is actually “Claudius’s Song” from a musical parody of Hamlet in a 60s issue of Playboy.
And here’s the only other song I remember from that parody (sung to the tune of “I Want A Girl Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad”):
And while we’re doing song parodies – though coming on after the Skinhead Hamlet is probably terribly anticlimactic – a bit of G&S-inspired doggerel (I wrote it, so I can call it that ;)).
I just invested in The Complete Works of Shakespeare–found the gilded beauty on sale and snatched it up. Any recommendations for me after I finish rereading Hamlet?