A longish time ago we talked about the idea of doing book discussion threads, or was it Shakespeare threads. One of those. Inspired by Pamela Gay’s urgings to make the world better and do something, let’s get to it.
Let’s start at the top, with Hamlet.
We’ll talk until no one has anything left to say.
I’ll start.
Biggest thing: it’s not [just, or primarily] about A Guy Who Can’t Make Up His Mind. That’s become the boring soundbite about it, and it is very damn boring. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about a million things, and that one is more incidental than most of them.
It’s about everything. I think I mentioned when we were talking about Shakespeare before that I once developed a fascination with Hamlet, and spent several months reading/watching/listening to it and related things (the rest of the plays, other playwrights, Elizabethan writers in general, secondary stuff). That’s partly because it’s about everything.
Such as
Love
Betrayal
Time, and the erosion of love over time
Grief and loss, obviously
Revenge
Sex
Family, romance, friendship
Death
Epistemology
Truth
Appearances, and deception (or “seeming” as Shakespeare liked to call it). “A man may smile, and smile, and be a villain.”
Acting
Lies, deceit, trickery
Thinking
Words
—
Your turn.