Hamlet: Screenplay, Introduction And Film Diary by Kenneth Branagh

Hamlet: Screenplay, Introduction And Film Diary Reviews

• 
  Marvin

  Written for the
  Celebrity Death Match Review Tournament
  
  Act I, Scene I
  
  Hamlet enters.
  
  HAMLET: OK, Where's that ghost everyone told me about?
  
  Jane Eyre enters.
  
  HAMLET: Wait a minute. Who are you?
  
  JANE" My name is Jane Eyre and I'm looking for Master Rochester.
  
  HAMLET: I think you walked in on the wrong...You know...You're kind of cute for a British chick.
  
  JANE: You're not bad yourself. Do you own a manor?
  
  HAMLETS: (laughs) No, I own a castle.
  
  JANE: Did I ask for Rochester...Who's Rochester? You don't by any chance have a princess locked in the tower?
  
  HAMLET: No. I have a fiancee but she's scheduled to go crazy and kill herself in a few acts.
  
  JANE: Perfect.
  
  They kiss and Hamlet goes off to find someone to marry them and to reserve a room on a Baltic Sea Cruise.
  
  Enter Claudius.
  
  CLAUDIUS: Stop, I cannot allow this. It is a travesty! Besides, how the heck is Manny going to score this on the Death Match. There's no loser!
  
  JANE: I don't know about that, dear Claudius. Y0u read the play right?
  
  CLAUDIUS: Well, duh.
  
  JANE: So what happens?
  
  CLAUDIUS: Hamlet dies, I die, Everybody dies.
  
  JANE: And me?
  
  CLAUDIUS. You don't die. In fact, you're not even supposed to be here.
  
  JANE: Exactly. So all I have to do is hide and wait, preferably not behind a curtain, and I survive, inherit a castle and move on to the next round.
  
  CLAUDIUS: Brilliant! And will this seductive little ploy be your strategy in the final?
  
  JANE: Depends. Who will be my rival?
  
  Enters Winnie-the-pooh.
  
  POOH: AW! Honey!
  
  JANE: oh God, No!
  
  Jane exits left stage pursued by a bear.
  
  Verdict:
  
  Hamlet vs Jane Eyre: Jane Eyre Wins
  
  Jane Eyre vs. Winnie-the-Pooh: To be continued.
  
  
• 
  Jay Schutt

  I used an audio version for this play.
  A full cast brought the story to life aided by the use of sound affects.
  It didn't wow me like I thought it would.
• 
  Paul Bryant

  roll up, roll up
  
  CELEBRITY DEATH MATCH
  
  JANE EYRE VS HAMLET
  
  
  JANE EYRE (dressed in full armour, with beard, and speaking in a ridiculous gruff voice)
  
  Now, Wamlet, hear:
  'Tis given out that, sleeping in my worchard,
  A serpent stung me; so the whole wombat of Denmark
  Is by a forged process of my death
  Wankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
  The serpent that did sting thy father's life
  Now wears his cwown.
  
  [The Governessator is toying with the credulous Prince.]
  
  HAMLET
  O my prophetic soul! My uncle!
  
  JANE EYRE :
  Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
  With witchcraft of his wit, with woeful wifts,--
  O wicked wit and wilts, won to his whameful wust
  The will of my most weeming-wirtuous queen
  
  (JANE begins to giggle)
  
  O Wamlet, what a walling-off was where!
  
  (HAMLET is looking bewildered, dismayed – is this how spirits talk?)
  
  Closer, boy!
  
  (HAMLET draws nearer)
  
  But yet closer!
  
  (As HAMLET steps closer to his father's GHOST, Jane draws back her basket-hilted mortuary sword, whirls it through the air, and with a mild thwip!! and a spray of bright blood Hamlet's head leaves his body in a graceful parabola, like the final lemming from a clifftop. No need for Acts Two, Three, Four or Five now. )
  
  JANE (dripping, taking off the helmet and fake beard) : It's getting too fucking easy.
  
  
• 
  Cheryl

  This is a Favorite, read multiple times with an emphasis on the psychological aspects of the author's intuitive understanding of what it means to be human. As Kenneth Branagh has said:
  
  "It has everything-intrigue, romance, politics, violence, revenge, jealousy, wit. It plays itself out on such a grand scale."
  
  The book was ordered from SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY, Paris and includes an introduction to Shakespeare's life and the Elizabethan theatre, an introduction to Hamlet, an essay by Paul Prescott on performance options on both stage and screen, and a commentary.
  
  I was interested primarily in suggestions for further reading after enjoying the text. Here are a few of the last century commentaries to consider. Cedric Watts's "Harvester New Critical Introduction" (1988) that considers the reasons the play breeds 'earth-tremors and landslides of ideology.'
  
  Michael Hattaway's in the Critics Debate Series (1987), while Paul Cantor's 'wide-angled approach' in the Landmarks of World Literature Series (1989) helps us to see the play in the 'boundless reaches of the intertextuality of world literature'.
  
  These works celebrate the play's superiority over other similar works for over three hundred years. But other opinions find Hamlet's emotions about his parents excessive and disproportionate. G. W. Knight's essay in The Wheel of Fire (1930) judged Hamlet a villain.
  
  This is a work that continues to hold a mirror up to human nature in all its complexity, strike emotional chords with readers engaged with the character's angst, and find new relevance with age.
• 
  Bethany White

  This has always been a favorite of mine. I understand that people may either love or hate Shakespeare, however I am unable to comprehend the latter. Shakespeare's characters provide a deep psychology for the audience to grab on to. Although one may not neccessarily agree with a specific character's motives or ideals, he or she is absolutely able to now argue the character's mind set; you are in their mind and understand how they see the world. This is a literary vacation in my opinion; to be able to enter into another world and see things through their eyes. It is captivating and I only hope that I may learn how to fully replicate such an art form; to let one's talent speak for itself.
• 
  Kelex

  Formerly a member of the Royal Shakespearean Company, actor/director Kenneth Branagh confesses that he has been intrigued and in some ways obsessed by Hamlet from early on in his life, early teens and before.
  
  That intense devotion-bordering-on-obsession serves this book well, as well as it's movie counterpart. Both the introduction and the film diary give excellent insights into not just how the movie was made, but the play itself, and how things that we don't notice--for example, what a good statesman Polonius is, because he treats Hamlet well and with respect even after Hamlet disgraces Ophelia ("To a nunnery, go" and during the entire play-within-a-play)--help to create that character in more dimensions than simply the Kingmaker.
  
  As you read the text of the play--and that is exactly what this is, the "eternity version" of Hamlet, pieced together from several quartos and one surviving copy--there are notations from Branagh, stage directions and hints for the reader of what the passage is saying. Several soliloquies have been shifted in this edition to make it flow better for filming, and I think they are actual improvements on the places they are found in the text.
  
  However, the shifting of passages does not dull the understanding of the play a whit; even though this is made as a companion book to an excellent film, it stands alone quite well as an "everyman's" treatise on how Hamlet the play and Hamlet the man can influence one person's life.
• 
  Lydia Nolan

  Such a remarkable bildungsroman: a book of development. The young Hamlet, who has to grow up when his father is suspiciously killed, and his uncle suddenly marries his mother. Hamlet is forced to decide whether or not he will honor his father's ghost who tells him that his own brother has killed him to marry his wife--Hamlet's mother. The story goes on to tell how Hamlet's decision creates the complications and final resolve, but it is amazing how Shakespeare (again) is a master at the psychological reasoning that goes on in one. Besides the book, which is wonderful, the original especially, the movie with Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet is the best I think.
• 
  Lucy

  Even though Branagh's film was pretty complete (with respect to the play), there are some differences, which are documented here. I rather love him, and this is a pretty neat book, with (always good) great shots from the filming and the film.
• 
  Annabelle

  'Twas okay
• 
  Lexy

  I thought that this book was okay
• 
  Jen Chough

  This was the first work of Shakespeare's I'd ever read and is still my second favorite (Henry V being the first). No need to mention all the familiar, insightful quotes from this most famous of plays; it is a brilliant work of art. And no, I do not adhere to the Oedipal interpretation of Hamlet and his mother's relationship. I don't see much difference between his relationship with his mom as I do with even modern men, especially coming from an ethnic culture. It's always hard, being an only child furthermore, to see the attentions of your mother go elsewhere, particularly to a man who is NOT your father...and especially to a man who possibly killed your father to usurp his throne and queen. I wouldn't be a chipper fellow if I suspected that either.
  
  At the very least, this one's got ghosts, political intrigue, insanity-induced suicide, duels, and by the end of it, a bloodbath of 9 dead people total. Not bad for an old play. Hell, Laertes' whole family is wiped out. On the other end, it is as fine of an analysis on the human psyche as anything Freud or Jung ever wrote. Besides, this inspired the awesomely awesome Tom Stoppard play based on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, which I highly recommend. It is absurd and fun. If Shakespeare isn't your thing, watch or read The Reduced Shakespeare Company's take on all things Bardian. Even if you haven't read a single work, you will be familiar with it by the end...and possibly have laughed your ass off in the process.
• 
  Michelle

  Update: So it has been about 2 weeks since I saw this on stage. I still can't decide whether I hated it more or less after watching it all live. The play was...mediocre. I was told that I would be seeing a traditional Shakespearean play and yet what I got was some nonsense interpretation. If a theatrical institution receives millions upon millions of donations a year I expect more historically accurate costumes and actual props. The acting was fabulous, but the casting made little sense. Horatio and Hamlet were both played by actors similar in age to Polonius. While in one scene they were all wearing Victorian era clothing, a few were wearing modern business suits in the next. In one scene they were using modern handguns as weapons and then in the next scene they pick up medieval swords. What. I think I was most confused at the end when the soldiers came in to carry Hamlet's body away and they were all dressed in modern military uniforms. Nothing made sense. Surprisingly though, it made me appreciate the play in its written form much more.
  
  
  Let's pretend I didn't just spend 2 whole months reading this. I hope I never have to read Shakespeare ever again. The plot was good, but plays are meant to be watched, not read. (In my opinion). Can't wait to go see this live at the Stratford festival in May. Turns out I'm going to be the only girl going on the trip...
• 
  Ivonne Rovira

  Hamlet, of course, is always amazing; however, for those who will be viewing the play rather than reading it, Kenneth Branagh's is the one. (The David Tennant film is tepid; the Ethan Hawke one is unbearable.)
• 
  Alexis

  Maybe I'm biased as someone who has lived in Denmark and walked the grounds supposedly known to be Hamlet's castle, but I believe this to be the greatest published work of Shakespeare. An engrossing plot, fabulous characters, a truly beautifully written tragedy.
• 
  Darklove

  Love Shakespeare.
  Hamlet is amazing! Sad that all die in the end. Not fair. Because Hamlet deserved to life. Even he wanted to revenge.
• 
  Belinda Vlasbaard

  4,5 stars- English hardcover
  
  Review follows later.
• 
  Christopher

  Not as in depth as I had hoped. This film means so much to me and I was hoping this book would deepen my appreciation of it. Sadly, it's pretty superficial.
• 
  Matthew Simmons

  Quite simply the greatest play ever written, in my opinion. While Branagh's film adaptation isn't my favorite, it's still very good and I generally love his take on the Bard.
• 
  Robby Bassler

  Hamlet acts much like his late father in that he believes that women have little bearing over their own decisions, due to their submissive nature, and thus should not be punished; however, when they do make decisions, they are generally evil and deceptive.
  The ghost talks about Gertrude’s incestuous actions as being her own choice. He states that she was seemingly innocent. Despite the established guilt of Gertrude, the ghost refuses for Hamlet to cause her any suffering. The brother, however, who had an almost equal role as far as betrayal and incest are concerned, is punished by death. This is because the man is the one who makes the decisions and the woman should be loyal to the man. When the woman is not loyal to the man, as in Gertrude’s case, the woman is guilty but not punishable. The ghost also describes the actions of Gertrude as deceptive to her angelic appearance. She is portrayed as nearly as evil as the brother.
  Hamlet takes his father’s account to a whole new level when he loses trust and respect for all women. Just because of his mother’s actions, he begins to treat Ophelia poorly and no longer knows what to do with his feelings for her. He confronts her in a state of madness, not to talk to her, but merely shake her, demonstrating his loss of control. Once he has completely lost grip on reality and emotions, he knows of nothing to do but forbid her to marry anyone else and attempt to make her go to a nunnery.
  With the earlier blatant disregard for sexual rules by Hamlet’s new incestuous parents, Hamlet turns to using sexuality as a method of attack. Sexuality has lost all meaning to Hamlet because it was disgraced so deeply with the marriage. Hamlet then takes shots at Ophelia and his mother using sexuality. Ophelia is attacked by Hamlet’s references to sexuality during the play. Gertrude is attacked by Hamlet’s references to the sexuality of her and Claudius. This continues to show a trend in the disrespect acquired for the submissive women in the work as a whole.
  
  3Ciii
  Ophelia acts as not only a portrayal of the submissive women of the time period, but also a tragic heroine in the play’s plot. With each time Ophelia is seen on stage, her character is plummeting towards a cruel fate.
  Ophelia has a role submissive to her father, brother, and Hamlet. Her brother initially orders her not to pursue Hamlet’s attraction. Her father then agrees with him and makes her promise not to submit to Hamlet’s attempts at wooing her, even if he thinks they are false. She blindly follows their instructions as Hamlet tries to get it into her head that she likes him. Ophelia wants to make him happy too because of her submissive behavior. Never once in the course of the play do any of the characters ask at what she wants.
  This brings us to the tragedy of Ophelia’s character. Her family is not necessarily royalty but she is not poor. She is happy with her brother and father and all is well. Then her character experiences the complicated emotions of Hamlet’s love and begins her downfall. Through numerous bad suggestions as to approaching his emotions, she becomes more tangled in a net of mixed signals that bring her down and put her under Hamlet’s control. Often referring to Hamlet as her lord, she blindly follows anything that he says and continues the downfall due to Hamlet’s verbally abusive nature. Hamlet strikes the last blow to Ophelia’s character with the murder of her father.
  Ophelia is left in a state of confusion and anguish because both figures of power in her life were now dead or the cause of death. Insanity overcomes Ophelia’s character and the reader can see her loss to even form thoughts that make sense to anyone but her. She completes her downfall by committing the ultimate sin and drowning herself in the river.
  
  
  Hamlet Book Short Answer Questions
  
  Act I
  
  1) Shakespeare builds suspense for the entrance of the ghost by making the two night watchmen take a very startled and apprehensive tone towards each other. He also uses the dark and cold setting to foreshadow gloomy and mysterious events. The political events include the possible attack of the Danes by Norway and also the discussion of the great military stance of the late king.
  2) Hamlet is so unwilling to trust the ghost because the guards imprint the idea that the ghost may be an evil spirit; however, he feels that even if the ghost is an evil spirit that he would rather fall victim than continue living with no control. The ghost instructs him to kill the new king but spare his incestuous wife. Hamlet must take no harsh actions against her because she will suffer later on. Hamlet does not immediately obey the ghost’s orders because he wants proof of Claudius’s guilt.
  3) Hamlet and Horatio are really good friends at the beginning of the play because they continue a previously held close relationship. As Hamlet feigns insanity, Horatio is one of the few who remains truly loyal to Hamlet and attempts to help him throughout the play. Horatio also tells of the story of Hamlet after the royal family is found dead.
  4) Claudius appears sly, deceptive, and ultimately evil. He talks of bringing green opportunity during a time of mourning. He brushes off his brother’s death as if it were a stranger. He seems to care of nothing but his power over the kingdom. The dialogue between him and Hamlet give an extremely fake aura to his words and cause the reader to distrust him. His lack of remorse and marrying his brother’s widow so swiftly are the only real signs of guilt. The rest remains hidden until later.
  5) Hamlet contemplates the thought of suicide showing that he is not in the right state of mind. He reemphasizes his grief over his dead father. He also curses his uncle for marrying his mother so hastily.
  6) The advice Polonius offers to Laertes is heartfelt but not necessarily trustworthy because Polonius is an idiot. He speaks of things that he believes will truly help his sons character; however the advice he gives merely shows Laertes how to blend into the crowd. He also tells him to listen often but rarely speak and rarely give actions to your thoughts. These suggestions may be Polonius’s way of giving parallel to Laertes’ speech to Ophelia by saying that they are not of too high a class in society and to remember his place. The advice appears very self-deluded like he is and is good advice if you want to live life with out any controversy, but is ultimately proven as bad advice through the fate of the submissive Ophelia and Polonius.
  7) He tells her to follow her brother’s directions and play dumb to Hamlet’s “feelings” for her. I don’t believe that Polonius believes that it is possible for Hamlet to have feelings for her at this stage in the play because he thinks that she is just as plain as him. He is ultimately concerned about image and doesn’t want her to ‘make a fool of them both’.
  
  
  Act II
  
  1) Polonius often looses track of the point he was trying to make from what he was saying. This portrays him as a foolish yet comical character. He sends spies after his sons personal life yet turns around and acts like he knows his daughters.
  2) When he gives Ophelia advice, the reader is left struggling for themselves to think whether Hamlet actually is in love with her or not. Polonius tells Ophelia that Hamlet must be madly in love with her from her lack of confrontation and that his love must be the cause of his distress. Then the reader hears that he thinks Hamlet is in the mood he is in because of Ophelia and Polonius loses credibility because the reader knows of Hamlet’s true situation.
  3) This shows that he goes about serious matters in a comical way in order to try to spare his appearance. He does not want the King to take offense to his words. This plan backfires on him as the King demand that he gets down to business and makes his point clear. This show an extremely absurd side to Polonius’s personality.
  4) Polonius is not always supposed to be foolish and unintelligent although he sure acts it. He devises a plan to confront Hamlet as he walks throughout the lobby that might be considered somewhat intelligent. I personally do not believe he is capable of anything good or wise but merely the doorstep for the royals to wipe their feet on.
  5) Hamlet says that Polonius’s comments are pregnant saying that they have many hidden meanings. He also alludes to the fact that he is only faking insanity in addition to the actual intelligence that he uses in his comments. Hamlet disguises this because he does not want the royal family to discover that he is in anyway sane because then they may start questioning his actions.
  6) Hamlet suggests the lack of intelligence in Polonius. He does this by saying that the baby is still in its newborn clothes. Rosencrantz merely goes on to say that an old man is twice the child. He obviously does not get the crack at Polonius saying something about his own intelligence as well.
  7) The speech represents the full blown desire to avenge his father’s death. Even when Hamlet’s desire is full-blown, however, he still wants to prove the guilt of the new king before any actions are taken against him. His state of mind is also beginning to take on some of the insanity that he is faking. He is also testing the players to make sure they are good enough to test Claudius with. Hamlet orders The Murder of Gonzago to be performed to try to draw Claudius’s guilt to the surface.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Act III
  
  1) Hamlet is once again contemplating suicide. This time he makes it more general in that he says other people would do it too if it weren’t forbidden in the bible. He is also almost trying to convince himself that his action would be justified if he actually tried to off himself. The internal argument of the pros and cons of death is not resolved because Ophelia interrupts his train of thought.
  2) Gertrude is extremely guilty although I do not believe she was aware of Claudius’s actions. Her hasty incest was crime enough to doom her soul. This is the message portrayed through Hamlet and much descriptive language throughout the play. Hamlet accuses her of offending his true father by marrying off too quickly. I fully agree with Hamlet’s stance on the fact that his mother offended his dad by marrying off too soon and so incestuously. Are sympathy diminishes for Gertrude because she favors her new, sleazy husband over the welfare of her own son. She also allows him to go off to be killed without interfering.
  3) The ghost cannot be seen by Gertrude. Gertrude then thinks that the ghost is a figment of Hamlet’s crazy imagination. She cannot hear the ghost either. The ghost asks Hamlet to talk to her for him and Hamlet tries to convince her of his existence. When Hamlet cannot convince her that the ghost exists he blames it on Claudius and becomes angrier.
  4) We learn that a dumb show is a silent show to portray the characters actions more efficiently to the audience. He also makes comments suggesting that this were to take the place of a prologue. The other comments that Hamlet makes are merely comments on the acting techniques of the actors. We learn that they have a very dramatic sort of acting technique. They also serve to advance the story by giving the opinion of the audience and helping get insight into the actors’ techniques.
  5) Hamlet’s behavior towards Ophelia is just as bitter as the actors that he commented on were. He often makes offensive comments to her and just plain treats her poorly. His reasoning behind this is because of the lack of respect that he has for his incestuous mother. This downgraded his respect for all women and invokes the nunnery speech.
  
  
  Act IV
  
  1) I believe that she truly believes that her son is sane. If she wanted to protect him she would have given Claudius no information at all. She does not even object to her son being hauled away to England and getting executed. She also thinks that the ghost is completely made up and that Hamlet’s mind is tearing itself apart. At this point in time, Hamlet’s insanity act has actually started to play a role in his actual sanity.
  2) The murder of Polonius by her lord is what causes Ophelia’s insanity. She says “how should I true love know” to suggest that she thought she knew Hamlet but obviously didn’t since he murdered her father. This shows the affect of not only her father dying but that it was her almost lover that committed the crime. She reinforces it when she says “tomorrow is saint valentine’s day” to show the future of her love that now dies off with her father’s death.
  3) There are a lot of comparisons in the nonsensical dialogue following the insanity of Hamlet and Ophelia. Both respond to seemingly easy questions with complex and often unrelated answers. The main difference between the reality of Ophelia’s and the possible portrayal of Hamlet’s insanities is the fact that Hamlet was only insane enough to contemplate suicide while Ophelia didn’t think twice. This really shows the importance of suicide in the values of people at the time. Ophelia’s death is shockingly tragic but people can see shame in it while Hamlet’s death is taken and passed along to future generations.
  4) Laertes is strong and heroic in the quest to avenge his father’s death. He does not back down going as far to say that he would kill Hamlet in a church. Laertes just knows that revenge must be done and is not worried about the means. Hamlet takes a different approach when he waits to kill Claudius. This shows his strategy and planning involved in his revenge. Although this appears less heroic, it is actually more extreme.
  
  Act V
  
  1) The appearance of the comical grave digging in this scene is not really to be comical but more to send a sense of shock to the audience. It shows the extreme contrast and makes the reader see how truly tragic the play’s plot structure actually is. I believe it is a very important level in the action sequence of the plot. Taking it out may make it more structured but would take away from the meaning and impact.
  2) Fortinbras cannot be cut in the play because he is the one that takes the meaning from the play and applies it to real life. For example, when it says that he is fighting not for the land, but for the name, this parallels all the characters getting revenge to real life events. He causes the reader to wonder are certain principles worth the loss of happiness, life, and destiny. Without Fortinbras the morals of the play would be a lot more hidden.
  
• 
  romy kalmanovich

  hamlet revolves around the notions of deep revenge and psychological problems
  to be or not to be to live or not to live ?
  basically explaining and discussing how miserable human life is,and how self death would be preferable, would it not be for the fearful uncertainty of what comes after death .
  
  
  Hamlet draait om de noties van diepe wraak en psychologische problemen, zijn of niet zijn om te leven of niet te leven?
  in wezen uitleggen en bespreken hoe ellendig menselijk leven is, en hoe zelfmoord de voorkeur zou hebben, zou het niet de angstaanjagende onzekerheid zijn van wat er na de dood komt.
• 
  Meera Iyer

  I can sentimentalize with Hamlet’s madness...the only difference is I want to kms instead of someone else.
  
  Also side note: the only thing that got me through this play were the No Fear Shakespeare summaries. If it weren’t for them I definitely wouldn’t have understood the purpose of piece.
• 
  Mari

  I found this book very interesting, because I liked Hamlet tenacity in killing his father’s murderer.
  I didn’t find it so difficult to read, and I also loved the fact that Shakespeare underlined the differences of people’s behaviour, and how this can change💀🗡🤴
• 
  LG

  Like many who watched Branagh’s Henry V in 1989, I became totally entranced, even though I hadn’t read Shakespeare’s play. I finally did for a FutureLearn course last year and enjoyed talking about it online with my fellow Bard-nerds. So I’ll crib some of my comments from the course for this review:
  
  This royal portrait is definitely a patriotic one, especially as edited by Branagh in this edition, but I think there’s more to the play than that. It’s a thoughtful exploration of power and responsibility. Characters such as Pistol, the Boy, and Fluellen allow us to critique Harry the man, who seems to transform into Henry the king so easily, to the point that he approves of his old friend Bardolph’s execution without so much as an aside. Shakespeare’s interest was always to humanize his characters: heroes, villains, and everyone in between. So Michael Williams, a low-born soldier at Agincourt, gives the common man a voice in a scene where an absolute ruler has to justify his expectation of unquestioning obedience. Williams ponders and argues, and thinks little of a fellow soldier who seems to be just parroting the party line – not knowing the fellow soldier is the author of the party line, surveying his men incognito. Brilliant dramatic irony there.
  
  The idea I find interesting is this: wearing the crown is as much a duty for the ruler as service to the Crown is for their subjects. Shakespeare explores this idea by highlighting performance and role-playing, two more of his abiding interests. This is why the Chorus constantly reminds us we are watching a play, and we have to imagine the “wooden O” of the Globe Theatre as if it were “the vasty fields of France” and each actor as if he were a thousand men. Today we’re even further removed from Henry’s medieval times, and yet we still struggle for power in the daily skirmishes of our lives. When we lose those power struggles, we have to perform imposed duties, play expected roles, read our scripted lines. Shakespeare’s point is, we all have to do that. Always. Even when we win.
  
  Of course, duty or no duty, no one wants to lose. So how does one win? The play also answers this question: whoever speaks best wins. If I had to choose only one thing to teach about the play, this would probably be it. Henry V is a master of language, whether snubbing a gift of Parisian tennis balls or debating ethics with a disgruntled soldier or rallying his anxious army with his “band of brothers” speech. Having associated with nobles and lowlifes alike, Harry always knows his audience, whether at court or in the battlefield – so he always knows how to speak their language. But is he using this power for good? As always with Shakespeare, it depends how the role is played.
  
  Language is such a force in this play that there is even a scene written completely in French – as if Shakespearean English isn’t difficult enough for students! Being a very English king, Henry is not a master of French; and being a soldier, not a lover, he has no clue how to win over Katherine, the Princess of France, in a scene that I’m sure inspired many a modern romcom. Yet all Henry had to do was use English to persuade, motivate, inspire his men to win all of France for him. That’s the power of language – the power, specifically, of English.
• 
  Alicia Samson

  I enjoyed reading "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare, because it was different than most stories you would read today. In "Hamlet" the prince of Denmark, Young Hamlet struggles to handle the changes in his life. His father, the late king Hamlet, dies. Shortly after his mother remarries his uncle instead of him taking the throne. Hamlet's anger towards his mother and uncle grew after his father came to him in a ghost form and told him he was murdered by his new step dad. Hamlet promises to revenge his death but stalls when he finds out it was Claudius, the new king and his mother's new husband. Many complications come up during Hamlet's mission to revenge his father, but he doesn't give up. Hamlet's love, Ophelia, ends up dying. Ophelia's death angers her brother, Laertes. Laertes and Claudius create two plans to kill Hamlet. Plan A is to have then duel and Laertes will have poison on his sword. Plan B is to have Hamlet drink from a poisoned cup. The ending surprised me. Gertrude drinks from the cup and dies. Hamlet and Laertes both get stabbed by the sword and get poisoned. Before Hamlet dies he poisons Claudius and tells Horatio his last wishes.
  
  Hamlet's character experiences many different emotions in this play. Hamlet wasn't done mourning his father when his anger towards his mother's new marriage set in.
  
  "Hamlet" takes place in the 16th century in the Danish castle of Elsinore. The setting is important because it's where Hamlet stirs up trouble in his mission to revenge his father's death. The time period is significant because laws such as treason play a big complication in Hamlet's plan.
  
  The biggest theme I noticed in Hamlet was revenge. There was so many people eager for revenge it caused a lot of problems for the king and the kingdom.
  
  I would recommend "Hamlet" to high school students and adults. There are a couple of violent parts in the play. Males and females would both like this poem.
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  Stephen Franks

  My favourite WS work and one which should be seen rather than read.
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  João Nuno

  Hamlet é uma obra intemporal e fundadora da literatura universal. Na releitura da mesma, após 20 anos de intervalo, as impressões são ainda mais vivas: o lugar do outro como impossibilidade, a fragilidade da natureza humana, a perversão da condição humana, a aleatoriedade das coisas perecíveis, a subjectividade do juízo e as questões do poder, do amor e da morte. Toda a existência é dissecada em diálogos assombrosos. O mote da acção é o assassinato do pai de Hamlet pelo tio. E é este acontecimento traumático não superado o cerne de todo drama: loucura ou saudável interpretação da realidade?... Por paradoxal que pareça, Hamlet ensina que a não aceitação de si e dos outros, a impossibilidade de moldar o ser numa forma perfeita leva a uma espiral infernal...Existe uma substância inverosímil em cada um que leva ao conflito interno e à ideia que o mundo não conspira a favor de ninguém na construção da felicidade terrena...A incerteza do ser leva Hamlet a deambular pelo acaso da vida até à cruel certeza da morte, que nivela todos os seres...Múltiplas interpretações da obra já foram feitas ...E estas impressões nada valem...Seria o fantasma real ou não?...Seria loucura ou vingança fria e programada?...É bom não ter certezas, só dúvidas...Porque nelas reside o lugar de incomunicabilidade, que a todos nós é reservado neste mundo fortemente absurdo...
  
  
  
  
  
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  Stephanie

  Hamlet by William Shakespeare:
  I thought that the story was rather ponderous. I echoed Hamlet's sentiment that he should do something instead of whining about his misery, but then he keeps up a ponderous scharade in front of his uncle and exhibits more and more crazy ebhavior instead of avenging his father. Young Hamlet just keeps causing trouble for everyone, and the misogyny directed at Ophelia, who never stands up for herself, is depressing. Overall, a ponderous and depressing story with much angst rather than action. The mental insights, such as the reasnoing behind Gertrude's hasty marriage and Ophelia's breakdown due to her place in a patriarchal society, are stimulating to read about.