Is it possible that I had only read the first 4 scenes and Hamlet already became one of my favorite male characters ever? YES!
Why?
He’s constantly wearing black and monologuing about how literally everything is hard and making everything more dramatic then it is, is so ME!?

And this is considered a tragedy (which in some ways it is) but I found it so funny (probably because I have a dark soul) and I will definitely reread this at any given moment of peace.

I absolutely loved this play, and I’m so happy that now I can say that I have read Shakespeare!

I’m a cultured woman now y’all.

We need more characters who are as unhinged as Hamlet. That man has never thought about a single word that’s left his mouth.

The genius in Shakespeare is that the text is so full of poetry and ambiguity that it can be interpreted (and often with reason) is diametrically opposed ways. TS Elliott thought it was a hack job whereas Coleridge saw it as a play about melancholy and inaction, Freud says Oedipus and AC Bradley sees a hero awakening to his fate. Somewhere in there, one must read the text for oneself and revel in its beauty and violence.

I watched both the 1948 film version by Laurence Olivier (2h46) and the 1996 version by Kenneth Branagh (4h) and found that they were both fascinating. Olivier brings out the more Freudian interpretation and Branagh the more Bradley-influenced one. I preferred the Branagh version for its relative adherence to the text with a few minor exceptions: he moved the "Angels and ministers of grace defend us" soliloquy from the middle of Act I sc IV to the beginning of Act I sc V, and also the "Tis now the witching time of night" speech at the end of Act III sc ii to near the end of III.iii when Hamlet is contemplating the murder of the praying Claudius and he removed Claudius' speech in IV.v after "O Gertrude, Gertrude!" entirely. I am in agreement that the first two changes keep the action moving and also the poetic narrative in place. I am more puzzled by the removal of Claudius' speech though because he speaks of Ophélia's madness and the arrival of Laertes. Given the hasty scene that follows, the final lines of that speech,
"Like to a murd'ring piece in many places
Gives me a superfluous death." IV.v. 95-95

This is an interesting forebodoing. But then the film was already 4h hours long...

Hamlet is a sort of porte-manteau: he carries in him all of our own insecurities: should I believe the Ghost? Is my mother who I think she is? Should this new reality push me to suicide? How can it be just for 20000 men to die for an eggshell? He hesitates during Claudius' prayer not wanting to send him to heaven and yet as he exits, the king admits that he wasn't really praying:

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
"Words without thoughts never to heaven go." III.iii 97-98

so it is all pointless. It takes him, as Bradley points out, four acts to move into action, but it is now too late to arrest the inexorable forward march of fate. Hamlet is also a mise-en-abime, a picture within a picture within a picture as Branagh beautifully portrays Hamlet before a mirror (behind which hide Polonius and Claudius) for the "to be or not to be" speech. And this is truly what makes it such powerful literature, such unforgettable theatre. I feel that sometimes Hamlet is trying to resist the pull of fate and in this passage, he reminds me of Michael Corleone in Godfather II (was Coppola inspired by Shakespeare in his screenwriting? Was Puzo?):

The time is out of joint. O cursèd spite,
That ever I was born to set it right!" I.v 188-189

I am having a hard time writing this review because, as over four centuries have passed since it was penned, most likely in 1600-01, so much has been written about Shakespeare and Hamlet that I feel that what I am writing must sound contrived or rebaked. One thing that did strike me in any case was the sardonic sense of humor that Hamlet has, right up until the end. He displays such a range of emotions and emotional states that it makes him feel so very real.

What makes this so incredibly real is the staging. Having Hamlet expounding on existence (yeah, the one you know by heart) walking into the room with Ophelia (oh, but why did you let Claudius and your idiot father Polonius talk you into this), Hamlet exploding into a rage, “To a nunnery, go!” and then storming off. I think Branagh’s filming of this with mirrors was exquisite. It is theater right on the precipice of reality.

Reading Hamlet is something most only do because they have to in high school. I would say that it speaks only superficially to teenagers because of the Elizabethan language and culture. It is, however, an extraordinary read as an adult full of intrigue and, for the modern reader, déjà vus of a sort because so many phrases we take for granted are found in it. Enjoy!

Fino's Reviews of Shakespeare and Shakespearean Criticism
Comedies
The Comedy of Errors (1592-1593
The Taming of the Shrew (1593-1594)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594-1595)
Love's Labour's Lost (1594-1595)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-1596)
The Merchant of Venice (1596-1597)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599)
As You Like It (1599-1600)
Twelfth Night (1599-1600)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1600-1601)
All's Well That Ends Well (1602-1603)
Measure for Measure (1604-1605)
Cymbeline (1609-1610)
A Winter's Tale (1610-1611)
The Tempest (1611-1612)
Two Noble Kinsmen (1612-1613)

Histories
Henry VI Part I (1589-1590)
Henry VI Part II (1590-1591)
Henry VI Part III (1590-1591)
Richard III (1593-1594)
Richard II (1595-1596)
King John (1596-1597)
Edward III (1596-1597)
Henry IV Part I (1597-1598)
Henry IV Part II (1597-1598)
Henry V (1598-1599)
Henry VIII (1612-1612)

Tragedies
Titus Andronicus (1592-1593)
Romeo and Juliet (1594-1595)
Julius Caesar (1599-1600)
Hamlet (1600-1601)
Troilus and Cressida (1601-1602)
Othello (1604-1605)
King Lear (1605-1606)
Macbeth (1605-1606)
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606-1607)
Coriolanus (1607-1608)
Timon of Athens (1607-1608)
Pericles (1608-1609)

Shakespearean Criticism
The Wheel of Fire by Wilson Knight
A Natural Perspective by Northrop Frye
Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber
Shakespeare's Roman Plays and Their Background by M W MacCallum
Shakespearean Criticism 1919-1935 compiled by Anne Ridler
Shakespearean Tragedy by A.C. Bradley
Shakespeare's Sexual Comedy by Hugh M. Richmond
Shakespeare: The Comedies by R.P. Draper
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt
1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro

Collections of Shakespeare
Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece and Other Poems
Shakespeare's Sonnets and a Lover's Complaint
The Complete Oxford Shakespeare

Engrossing, witty at times and intelligent. I have reread it many times and will do so again.
It has to be my favourite of all Shakespeare’s plays.

‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so’

Mierząc się z tekstem kultury tego kalibru oszczędzę sobie tradycyjnej formuły moich notatek (plusy, minusy, itp) i powiem dość krótko – dobrze było nadrobić dzieło stojące u podstaw kultury w szerokim rozumieniu, dotrzeć do źródeł po tysiąckroć przytaczanych cytatów, a przy tym realnie wciągnąć się w historię i cieszyć językowym bogactwem.

متردد في قراءة هاملت..ستندم اذن!ا
كلنا نكره الاختيارات..و نجاهد احيانا لنلقي بها على غيرنا
نختار هذا اللون..ام ذاك؛ننام ام نعمل ..نقرأ هاملت و لا نؤجلها؟
ننتقم ام نسامح ؟
و الاهم☀ نسلك هذا الطريق المضيء..ام ذاك الطريق المعتم؟
نكون او لا نكون؟

ا"غاية ما دافعت به عن اب و ملك عزيز نكب أشد النكبات..هو ان اهذي هذيان الحالم. .مع ان شاغل الانتقام ملأ نفسي
..جبان انا"؟؟
حسنا و من منا لم تطن في أذنه هذه الكلمات..لمرات و مرات و نحن نلوم أنفسنا على تخاذلنا
عن أخذ حقوقنا..او حقوق من نحب
للاسف سيظل هاملت هو انا و انت و كل من يمتلك بذرة الخير و العدل في نفسه
و بحلول سن الثلاثين سيختار كل منا
هل سيكون؟و هؤلاء محظوظون
او لا يكون ؟..
و ساعتها سيضع نفسه على وضع الطيار الآلى الشهير "عايش و مش عايش "..حتى يقضي الله في أمره..و حينها لن يلح عليه سؤال هاملت ...و لن يكون مطالبا باتخاذ اي قرار


ا"سيظل فني خالدا ..ما دامت هناك عيون ترى و اذان تسمع "صدقت شكسبير بالفعل..قد تخيفنا اللغة الثقيلة. ..قد تصدنا مبادىء قديمة..و لكنه سيجذبنا هو
شاب نبيل ؛قلبه كبير قست عليه الحياة فثار عليها. .تشكك في الفضيلة..يأس من الناس
لكنه ظل مطالبا بالثار ممن قتل والده..احقاقا للعدل الذي ظل يؤمن به..و الفضيلة التي يطمح إليها و لو رغما عنه