| Hamlet | 
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| No matter how many times you read
or study Hamlet, it is not enough. Each reading will bring
out new ideas, reveal new subtleties, add fresh perspectives. If
you have read it before, don't think that you can escape the necessity
of reading it again. This is the most important assignment of the
semester--the work that encapsulates most of the major ideas we have
developed over the span of the class. Read this play carefully,
and consider reading it more than once. Be sure to review the study
pages for key issues we will discuss.
Film versions:
First--most movie versions edit and modify the text to an appalling degree. The most obvious example of this is the version of Hamlet that stars Mel Gibson--which leaves out whole swaths of dialog and character, including the one key line that is (if you ask me) the most important in the play (see the study pages for more information on that). My advice: don't rent this version! I have just seen the newest interpretation, which modernizes the play by switching it to a Wall Street setting. I think it safe to say that this version wouldn't be the best one for clarifying your understanding of Shakespeare's play. It's an interesting treatment, but again it ends up leaving a lot out and distorting a lot of elements that don't work with the modernized setting. You can always try the Academy Award-winning version starring Sir Laurence Olivier. I'm not particularly fond of this film, though many people find it quite moving. It also cuts and rearranges text, but in a more literate way than happens with Gibson's Hamlet. To get a complete text version, you should rent the film directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh. The production values are excellent, and the cast is first rate. However, recognize that any performance of the play is also, by necessity, an interpretation of the play. I have some issues with choices that Branagh made in his approach to certain scenes and characters. In short, don't be seduced into thinking that Branagh's interpretation is the only way the text can be read. My favorite version of the play stars Derek Jacobi as Hamlet (the same actor who plays Claudius in Branagh's version). Jacobi doesn't look like my idea of Hamlet, but his line readings seem to me to capture more of the nuances of the text than Branagh can manage. The production values on this production are pretty cheesy in comparison to the other versions, however; it was done for the BBC's video collection of the complete works of Shakespeare, and the made-for-video effects are sometimes a bit lame. I will arrange to have this version and the Branagh version played on the college video network. Here's a goofy link for you, if you're interested (it's fun at times): it has the complete text of Hamlet on one side of the screen, labeled "Shakespeare for Scholars" and a summary/synopsis on the other side, labeled "Shakespeare for Everyone Else." You'll want to turn off the annoying music if you have a sound card and speakers. You can find this site at: http://www.enteract.com/~spiel/hamlet.html .
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Study pages:
Hamlet and the anatomy of reason By indirections find directions out
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If you find the play difficult, you may wish to supplement
(not replace) your reading by watching one of the many movie versions of the
play. I won't discourage you from doing this, but I have some
warnings.