2023/48

The first time I heard about Hamlet was while watching a Disney movie, perhaps when I was an 8-year-old kid and knew absolutely nothing about the play. In that scene of Freaky Friday, where Lindsay Lohan had to answer what the central conflicts in Hamlet are, she did answer, and then the teacher gave her an F. She got an F and was bewildered by her result. That's everything I could recollect. Then, a few days after finishing up the play, I wanted to see why she was wrong; I went to Disney Plus, looked for that scene, and listened to what she had said: it turned out that she was right. The reason why the teacher didn't approve her answer is something I can't understand or recall—I didn't want to watch the whole movie either—but her answer was precisely what I needed at the moment. I read Hamlet, but honestly, I am not entirely sure if I did read it, if that makes sense.

Without considering that I 'read' Romeo and Juliet more than a decade ago, Hamlet is my first Shakespeare, and also the first time reading it in its original English. I don't remember having trouble reading Romeo and Juliet back then, or struggling to make out what the author wanted to say. Perhaps it was the translation that helped me follow the story easily or the fact that everyone knows how it ends (the ending, by the way, was beyond my expectations). Unfortunately, my story with Hamlet is a little different.
Even though I enjoyed some parts of the story, I can't say I enjoyed the book as a whole, as I found myself looking up as many words as I needed to see and know what was happening. Not only did I find different verb conjugations—along with thou, thee, thine, thy, etc. that was the norm back then—but also many archaic terms that made my experience incredibly overwhelming. I know, when it comes to Shakespeare, you need to be mentally and physically prepared—I had a headache after finishing Act 3, and not precisely due to the storyline—and realize that this won't be an easy task. I can't even imagine reading this in high school, like those students in that movie—nor can I picture myself being tested on Shakespeare at that age (maybe I was just a lazy student). For instance, reading Don Quijote in my Spanish class in high school back then would have been outrageously boring—I haven't read the book yet, I'm just guessing based on what other students usually say about it—knowing that my taste in books was not the same at that time.

That being said, I completely liked Hamlet as a character, his character development was outstanding and his interaction with the rest of the characters was accurate and palpable. The dialogue is also masterfully done—even though I didn't understand some expressions, but that will be for the second read—and Hamlet's monologue is the best part of the play, in my opinion. It feels as if you were in the castle and plotting to kill the king yourself.
The ending, well, it was laughable. I completely forgot that this also happened in Romeo and Juliet, and at that time it was surprising, even memorable (only speaking of the ending), but this time, notwithstanding the tragedy, I couldn't help but laugh at the way the play ends, abruptly and with a chain of unfortunate events.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure this won't be my last Shakespeare, and as a matter of fact, I'm looking forward to picking up the next one soon (it won't be this year though, I'm not that crazy).

Talking to a friend of mine the other day, I told him that I read Hamlet and I wanted to understand its content a little more; he said he also read it a few years ago and saw two adaptations based on the story. I asked, 'Would you recommend I watch them too?' Immediately after he said, 'Well, don't watch Mel Gibson's version,' 'Why not? Is it that bad?' I asked. 'Not really, it's just that Hamlet in the movie is not the twink I imagined he was when I read the play,' then, well, I just burst out laughing. We don't need to explain anything else.

My rating on a scale of 1 to 5:

Quality of writing [4/5]
Pace [3/5]
Plot development [3.5/5]
Characters [4/5]
Enjoyability [3/5]
Insightfulness [5/5]
Easy of reading [2.5/5]
Photos/Illustrations [N/A]

Total [25/7] = 3.57

" ذَلِكَ مِنْ أَنبَاء الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا كُنتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ أَجْمَعُواْ أَمْرَهُم وَهُمْ يَمْكُرُونَ "

هاملت العزيز ، الذكي، الشجاع ، الجسور ، الحنون ، الغيور
حسناً ، أنا أحسد هاملت ، نعم ، أحسده من أعماق قلبي لانه لم يتورع ، لم يتأخر ولم يتنازل عن الأخذ بالثأر ، عن الانتقام لمن سرق منه احبائه ، لمن سلبه حقه في الاحساس بالحب والأمان .
صدّق شبحه ، ذاك الزائر العجيب ، ومشى ورائه ولكن بكل رزانة وخبث

" مجنون ، جنون البحر والريح حين يصطرعان ،
ليثبتا أيهما أشد بأساً "
مجنون ، وصف نعت به ولم ينكره بل حاول جاهداً التشبث به لينفذ خطته بدقة وحرص ويتمكن من فك أسر الحقيقة وإطلاق سراحها للعلن دون الخوف من عواقبها الأكيدة الحدوث.

أحسده ، على سيفه المسلول الذي أغمده في عمق المكر والخيانة في حين اني لم أمتلك ولو حتى سكيناً واحداً اتمكن فيه من تسديد ولو بضعة طعنات إلى ذلك الزاحف الأسود فيرتد على عقبيه . ويتركني وشأني ولو قليلاً ، بل بالعكس، أظهر نفسه امامي بكل وقاحة و أضحى يمشي ، متبختراً بنفسه ، بالإنجاز الذي كان يسحقني فيه كل دقيقة ، شامتاً مني ، بعجزي عن إدراكه وإيقافه .

مهما امتلكنا ، فليست كل الحروب نستطيع الفوز بها ، ولا كل الأعداء مرئيين ، ولا كل الأصدقاء .. أوفياء
هو انتصر ، اما انا ، فخسرت ، غابت شمسي ، وتكسرت اجنحتي ، واظلم عمري ، واصبحت ُ فتاةً من ورق هشة تخشى اي شيء ، كل شيء

https://ibb.co/0m46MMp

" إن رغباتنا كثيراً ما تتعارض وحظوظنا ،
فيفسد كل تدبير دبرناه وكل عزم اعتزمناه ،
واذا كانت أفكارنا من صنعنا فإن مصيرها ليس بأيدينا"
كنت قد بدأت لوم نفسي على تأخري في قراءة هاملت حتى الآن .
ولكن بعد انتهائي منها اكتشفت بأنني قرأتها في الوقت الصحيح تماماً من حياتي ، ولو اني قرائتها قبلاً لما وصلتني مشاعرها بهذا الصدق و الواقعية
لكن ، صحيح تماماً ، الكتب الكلاسيكية له توقيت محدد تدخل فيه حياتك ، وهي من تقرره وليس نحن

‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، بدونِ تردید بسیاری از شما با این اثرِ مشهور آشنایی دارید و یا آن را خوانده اید
‎در زیر چکیده ای بسیار مختصر از این نمایشنامه را برایتان مینویسم
*************************
‎عزیزانم، <هملت> پسرِ پادشاه دانمارک است... پادشاه به دستِ برادرش (عمویِ هملت) به قتل میرسد و این برادرِ قاتل، تاج و تخت پادشاه را تصرف کرده و حتی با زنِ پادشاه، یعنی زن برادرش نیز ازدواج میکند
‎از همین روی <هملت> پس از دودلی و تردیدِ بسیار برای انتقام و خونخواهیِ پدر، برمیخیزد
‎میتوان اینگونه تفسیر کرد که: <هملت> عاشقِ مادرِ خویش است و نسبت به عمویش که مادرش را تصاحب کرده است، حسادت میکند... <هملت> در اثرِ این عشق و حسدِ ناپسند و غیر متعارف، پریشان شده و احساسِ گناه میکند و به همین دلیل از تصمیمی که برایِ انتقام گرفته بود، منصرف شده و از این انتقام جوئی فرو میماند
‎برخی از پژوهشگران و روانشناسان معتقد هستند که: نمایشنامهٔ <هملت> انعکاسِ شخصیتِ " ادوارد دو ور" میباشد که احتمالاً همان <شکسپیر> حقیقی است
‎پدرِ "ادوارد دو ور" در زمانِ کودکیِ او میمیرد و مادرش سریع با مردِ دیگری ازدواج میکند.. به همین دلیل او با مادرش به جنگ و ستیز میپردازد
------------------------------------------------
‎امیدوارم از خواندنِ این اثرِ هنری لذت ببرید
‎<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>

"ما معنى الرحمة إذا لم تملك الوقوف في وجه الحقيقة، فتردَّنَا عن الشر إن نوينا، وتُقِيلنَا منه إن عَثَرنا؟ "

هاملت ...أحد روائع الكلاسكيات العالمية..
كتبها ويليام شكسبير الغني عن التعريف أكيد الذي يعد أشهر مؤلف مسرحي عرفه التاريخ ومن أشهر أعماله تاجر البندقية ،روميو وجولييت ،عطيل ،مكبث و الملك لير...

تُعد هاملت أطول المسرحيات التي كتبها شكسبير، حيث وصلت وقت عرضها إلى خمسة ساعات في النسخة الأصلية كما إنها تعتبر من أكثر الأعمال الأدبية قوة وتأثيراً في العالم و كانت من أكثر أعماله شهرة خلال حياته..
المسرحية مكونة من ٤ فصول بجانب مقدمة طويلة في بداية الكتاب بس مقدمة مهمة و ساعدتني كتير في فهم الأحداث وقد قرأتها بترجمة خليل مطران و كانت ممتازة...

تدور أحداث المسرحية حول قصة انتقام الأمير هاملت من عمه كلوديوس الذي قتل أخاه ثم تزوج أرملته (والدة هاملت) و استولي علي العرش..
علي الرغم من صعوبة بعض المفردات إلا أن الحوارات كانت رائعة و مليئة بالأسئلة الوجودية و الفلسفية...
شكسبير ألقي الضوء علي جانب مهم من شخصية هاملت وهو التردد أو الحيرة وذلك عندما قال جملته الشهيرة..أكون أو لا أكون..

"أكون أو لا أكون؟ تلك هي المسألة، أيُّ الحالتين أمْثَلُ بالنفس؟ أتَحَمُّلُ الرجم بالمقاليع وتَلَّقي سهام الحظِ الأنكد، أم النهوضُ لمكافحةِ المصائب.."

كل واحد فينا مع إختلاف الظروف بيفكر زي هاملت كتير..يكون أو لا يكون..يتكلم و لا يسكت..ياخد موقف في حياته و لا يستسلم...

مسرحية رائعة و علي الرغم إني قرأتها قبل كدة و في الغالب درسناها كلنا في المدرسة إلا إني أعتقد إن كل مسرحيات شكسبير تستحق قراءة تانية و بتأني لإنها حقيقي ممتعة..

"من مصائب هذه الحياة أن تحتاج أحيانًا الفضيلةُ إلى التماس الغفران من الرذيلة.."

Revenge and madness is what takes the theme throughout. Hamlet is eager to take revenge from his uncle, who killed his father - King of Denmark and mother who married his uncle later on.

Yet in his revenge he himself dies along with many others. Madness in great ones must not go unwatched or else it leads to turmoil and failure.

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As this is a reread, and I can't remember now how many times I have read Hamlet, I could just silently move on to other reading.

But then I thought that I would like to bow to Horatio - the storyteller, the last man standing to tell the tale. Each time I read Hamlet, something else catches my unruly imagination. Setting out to find traces of systematic madness versus other madness (which in my world is what we call reality), I was sidetracked again and again by the brilliant sidekicks of the main actors. Yorick, the man of infinite jest, whose skull is such a wonderful costume prop and artistic motive, is well worth his own book title. And he got it. The gravedigger, who digs himself deeper and deeper into the pun of lying, he deserves another review. But most of all, it is to Horatio that I bow this time. For he makes tragedy of the confusing deeds in the rotten state of Denmark.

He lives to tell the tale. So Horatio, this one's to you! Cheers, you mourning madmen. In England they wouldn't be able to tell you apart from other people. They're all mad there, you know. Same goes for Sweden. The rot has spread, and there are tales to tell everywhere.

There is something wrong in the state of humanity. And storytellers know how to ease the pain.

بیاین می‌خوام یکی از اون آثار کمتر دیده شده‌ی ادبیات رو بهتون معرفی کنم
هملت داستان یک دراما کویین همجنس‌گراس که از زن‌ها متنفره. پدرش که شاه بوده دو ماه پیش مرده. معشوقه‌ی هملت، هوریشو یه شب می‌بینه که یه روح با ظاهر پدر هملت خودش رو نشون می‌ده. با هملت این موضوع رو در میون می‌گذاره. هملت خودش هم می‌ره تا ببینه قضیه چیه. با روح ملاقات می‌کنه و روح بهش می‌گه عموت شب که خواب بودم توی گوشم زهر ریخت و من رو کشت و پادشاهی و مادرت رو از چنگم در آورد. برو انتقامم رو بگیر
ولی هملت باهوش‌تر از این حرف‌هاس. می‌دونه ارواح معمولاً سادیستیک هستن و از آزار بقیه لذت می‌برن. پس فکر می‌کنه و تصمیم می‌گیره بهتریـــــــن راه حل برای راست‌آزمایی حرف روح و گرفتن مچ پادشاه اینه که یه نمایشنامه بنویسه و تئــــــــــــــــاتری بر اساس داستانی که روح بهش گفته راه بندازه و همه رو دعوت کنه و به هوریشیو هم می‌گه حواست به عکس‌العمل عمو باشه که طبق اون بفهمیم واقعا این اتفاق افتاده یا نه
باقی ماجرا رو دیگه خودتون بخونید
----------------------

ببخشید ولی واقعاً دست خودم نبود که اینطوری به چشمم نیاد ماجرا
یعنی واقعاً سر چندین سکانس و دیالوگ داشتم حسابی می‌خندیدم
مخصوصاً اونجا که هملت گفت این یارو تو بچگی حتی سر مک زدن سینه مادرشم خسیس بازی در میاورده داشتم اشک می‌ریختم از خنده
همیشه فکر می‌کردم احتمالاً اونقدرا از هملت خوشم نیاد ولی خیلی دوستش داشتم و لذت بردم از خوندنش. بنده معمولی‌ترین خواننده و بیننده‌ی ممکنم و بعد از مکبث این دومین اثر شکسپیر بود که می‌خوندم و می‌خوام بگم که حتی منم می‌فهمم چرا آثار شکسپیر از فیلتر زمان اینقدر راحت عبور کرده و احتمالاً تا پایان عمر بشریت زنده می‌مونه
جوری می‌نوشته که آدم نسبت به شخصیت‌ها و سکانس‌ها وسواس پیدا می‌کنه
هدف هر شخصیت چیه؟
چرا یه شخصیت همچین حرفی زد؟
منظورش از حرفی که زد دقیقاً همون بود یا یه چیز دیگه که ما شاید هیچوقت ندونیم؟
واقعاً چه اتفاقی بین این شخصیت‌ها افتاده؟
این ترجمه هم با اینکه فقط اون قسمت بودن یا نبودن رو تغییر داده بود و کم اثرترش کرده بود، خیلی پانوشت‌ها و توضیحات خوبی داشت. البته عجیب بود که توضیح نداده بود چرا بودن یا نبودن رو به ماندن یا نماندن تغییر داده
ترجمه‌ی به آذین رو هم داشتم و اونم خوب بود ولی پانوشت کمی داشت. از تهامی رو هم چک کردم ولی به نظر زیادی سخت کرده بود خوندنش رو
برای بار اول خوندن به نظرم این ترجمه‌ی بهتریه

Re-read 9/9/18. Still probably the best thing ever written.

Last New Year's Eve, I was the designated driver for my group of friends. After ringing in the new year with lots of champagne (for them, not for me), I dutifully and responsibly drove them all home, making multiple stops all over town. By 1:30am, I had dropped off the last person and was a block away from my own home when another vehicle veered into my lane and blinded me with extremely bright lights. I swerved... and hit a vehicle parked on the street that I didn't even see until it was all over. My car was totaled, the car I hit was totaled, I had a broken hand and foot from the airbag and the impact of the collision, and the drunk MFer without a designated driver that caused the entire thing drove off in his not-wrecked white Honda Pilot with a smiley face bumper sticker. One block from my house, damn it.

I was pissed. This street is not a through-street; 95% of travelers on this street live in this neighborhood. Once I became mobile again, I became obsessed with finding this asshole. I drove around the neighborhood every chance I could looking for that SUV. I had fantasies of finally locating him and smashing up the Honda Pilot with my rental car. Then, when he came outside his home to investigate, I would demolish his hand and foot with a baseball bat and then take off. Truth be told, that was the first fantasy scenario. The more I obsessed about it, the grander the revenge fantasy became. Torches, snakes, and poison were all part of the revenge plot at some point.

A few weeks later, I saw it. White Honda Pilot with a smiley face bumper sticker was sitting in the driveway of a home a few streets away from mine. I pulled over on the side of the road and sat there for a very long time rehashing my revenge plots and figuring out the minute details. Then I started my car and drove home.

Because revenge is complicated. If I had gone through with the plot, I could have hurt myself. I could have hurt someone else. I would have most definitely received an even larger increase in my car insurance than I was already getting. God wouldn't have been happy with me because of the whole "Vengeance is mine" thing. I couldn't bring myself to do it. There could only be one result of my action or my inaction -- an accident that already happened and increased my car insurance rates.

And that's Hamlet in a nutshell. Shakespeare quite brilliantly turned the revenge play upside down. Hamlet, the young man seeking revenge, can't bring himself to do it. Hamlet knew that it was expected for him to seek revenge for an honor code violation, but he also knew that religion opposes revenge and could place his soul in jeopardy if he were to carry it out. So, he convinced himself that the ghost of his father might not be real and that he needed more proof. When he got his proof, he talked himself out of his revenge plot when he had the perfect opportunity because he convinced himself that killing a murderer while the murderer is praying would result in sending the murderer to heaven. He obsessively and continuously overthinks everything, even the fact that he overthinks everything. He doesn't know what to do because he realizes everyone is a liar and everyone is hiding something, and he hates that, but he does the same thing in order to figure out what's going on. He was driving around the neighborhood looking for a white Honda Pilot for the entire play.

In the graveyard scene, though, Hamlet finally gets it. There could only be one outcome whether he took his revenge or not, and that outcome was eventual death. Regardless of what we do or don't do, death is coming for all of us. One day we will be nothing but a skull without a tongue with which we can tell our stories. We all need excellent and loyal people for friends who can be our tongues when we are no longer able to speak for ourselves. Long live the Horatios of the world.

Hamlet is about the complexities of the human personality: the internal ups and downs, the thoughts that go through our heads when we're trying to sleep at night, the constant struggle to figure out what we are supposed to be doing. It isn't about a conflict between multiple people; it is about the conflicts we experience within ourselves. No wonder this is thought of as the best thing ever written. It is about putting on one face for the world and another for our alone time. It is about finding out that people you trust aren't that trustworthy. It is about that search for the white Honda Pilot that ends up with your lying in bed at night wondering if you're doing the right thing. After all these years, Hamlet is still relatable. Hamlet is all of us on any given day. And maybe even every day.

“All that is amiable and excellent in nature is combined in Hamlet, with the exception of one quality. He is a man living in meditation, called upon to act by every motive human and divine, but the great object of his life is defeated by continually resolving to do, yet doing nothing but resolve.”
Lecture XII, STC.

As much as I admire Coleridge and with the boldness of having read Hamlet only once and therefore being aware I haven’t even managed to scratch the surface of the Paragon of Tragedies, I dare to antagonize the poet and proclaim that I resist the idea of linking Hamlet’s moral idealism to reprehensible inaction.
The Prince of Denmark’s obsession is to think, not to act, and in spite of having been dethroned by his duplicitous uncle, he seems to count with the favor of the common people. But Hamlet can’t help being haunted by the sickness of life and he retreats into the abyss of his inwardness. He is plagued by endless questions that paralyze him in meditation: “What a piece of work is a man!... And yet to me what is this quintessence of dust?”.
In the opening scene of Act I, a melancholic dejection has already taken hold of The Prince and, whether in self-preservation or in fear of foul reality, he engages in deluded gibberish easily attributable to a man whose reason has abandoned him.
And yet his inquisitive soliloquies are infused with the elucidating sharpness of a genius, someone with great intellectual capacity who taunts with puns and riddles that contain receding depths and layers and layers of meaning in them.

“The widow being oppressed, the orphan wronged,
The taste of hunger, or a tyrant’s reign,
And thousand more calamities besides,
To grunt and sweat under this weary life,
When that he may his full quietus make,
With a bare bodkin, who would this endure,
But for a hope of something after death?”

Spontaneous philosopher or irredeemably insane?
The world of Hamlet is phantasmagorical, in constant disruption with the burdens of the past, the betrayals of the present and the falsehood of the future. Everybody around him seems to have hidden agendas. He observes, he ponders, he pretends not to see the King’s debasing lust and murderous greed, Polonius’ machiavellian maneuvers, the Queen’s disgusting shallowness, Ophelia’s gullible innocence. Yet his keen eyes discern it all…but at what cost?

“Great wit to madness nearly is allied"

The afflictions of life require greatness of spirit and Hamlet meets his fate fully aware that logic, reason and justice are not enough to disentangle the quandaries of existence. In the course of the action though, a transformation has taken place in him, the doubtful Prince has grown in wisdom and is ready to submit to providence without repudiating the world. The welfare of the Kingdom, the sense of honor, the corroding lust or ambition, all dissolve in the spectacle of beholding the spirit of man blossoming and most triumphant… in defeat.

I loooooved the plot of this book. Hamlet was amazing and sassy and I loved reading about him. It was just very hard to read because, obviously, it's shakespeare. Had I read this book without spark notes and my teacher, I would NOT have understood it.

"Para definir la locura, ¿no tendría uno que estar loco?"

Una maravilla! No puedo explicar lo mucho que me gusto este libro. Quedé enamorada de la escritura. Era una delicia leerlo.
A Shakespeare le encantaba el drama eso queda reflejado en cada libro suyo. Pero tenía un don para la escritura que pocos tienen.

Leyendo en mi tablet quedó con un monton de citas marcadas. La verdad una obra de arte!
Incluso me gustó mucho mas que Romeo & Julieta.


"Hamlet refleja la incapacidad de actuar ante el dilema moral entre venganza y perdón"

"La lección de la locura: ajusta el pensamiento y el recuerdo"

"La culpa no sabe fingir su recelo y al fin se traiciona queriendo esconderlo".

One of the most beautiful lines ever written:

Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.

It’s a cliché, I know, but Hamlet's Soliloquy in Act III Scene I is also a favourite:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.—Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.