A/EN/Review

Hamlet from William Shakespeare

In every field of art there are pieces that will not stand the test of time and pieces that will become true jewels guarded by local culture and celebrated by the other all around the world. William Shakespeare is author responsible for many works belonging to the latter group. In this review I will not talk about Rome and Juliet though. Let´s spend some time discussing the other well-known tragedy: Hamlet.

The story that unfolds through the drama is notorious. Hamlet´s father, king of Denmark, is murdered by Claudius, Hamlet´s uncle, who not only usurpated throne in this filthy way, but also seduced old king´s wife, who consequently became so to speak unfaithful. Old king Hamlet shows himself to castle guardians who will let noble men know – Horatio first, and then Hamlet – as a ghost and that´s how our main protagonist finds out. Since ghost´s testimony seems unreliable and may be an illusion, trap by the devil, he asks actors to play a drama that accurately portraits what happened according to ghost´s statement. As the reaction by Claudius is more than convincing, the guilt is proven, which stirs chain of tragic events leading to many deaths including poor Hamlet himself.

I´ve read this classic work two times. For the first time when I was about 21 years old and that was book, I believe, translated by Martin Hilský. I reread the whole masterpiece just a week ago, this time in translation of František Nevrla, in my 27. I guess I must have changed a lot during these six years. I remembered Hamlet as sort of boring and overacted, or should I rather formulate it as pathetic, drama (drama in true meaning of this word). And I hated pathos. It was something I should read rather than want to read. As a part of canon. Another thing are memories of those english lessons when we had to learn famous „to be or not to be“ monologue, which was thus learnt mechanically, without feeling. Nobody really knows what is actually the meaning of this part from these english lessons.

But six years has passed and something has changed for sure. I am more mature (relatively speaking, my dear friends would argue) I have read a lot, but what is the most important thing: my maturity has led me to wise decision to attend certain subject at my university. It´s called „Shakespeare´s systematics of virtue“, which is dedicated to interpretation of bard´s plays and I am really honoured to be listener of professor Petr Osolsobě´s lectures. First interpreted play was none other than Hamlet (the remaining being The Merchant of Venice and All´s Well That Ends Well).

These lectures really helped me to see the true depth of Shakespeare´s work and to understand what was William influenced by, namely religious and philosophocal aspects. The main point of interpretation was philosophy of virtue as formulated by Aristoteles in his book Nicomachean Ethics. Briefly explained, virtue is habit acquired by practising one, habit to act well, from moral point of view. And this main idea is embodied in whole drama. Hamlet is a hero, who is meant to act, to do what is right, but he hesitates, he´s in doubt. He doesn´t have the virtue, the glue between an intention and result. He also stands in the opposition to Claudius and his pseudo-friends Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern, who have virtue only seemingly, but their acts are incoherent. And Hamlet in the end must find his braveness to avenge his poorly murdered father.

Well, with knowledge like this (and many other which I can´t write here due to scope of my article) I approached Hamlet once again, and I really enjoyed and indulged in this masterpiece. I was in awe how well is the drama written. It was deep, captivating and gradually dark and thrilling. I really felt the burden of Hamlet´s situation this time. I had goosebumbs face to face to all these deaths. There really, like really is heaviness in the story. The plot is also well constructed and anchored in locations. Introduction, that takes place around midnight at walls, is creepy and sinister with their short but beautifully written lines of persons. Remorses of Gertruda after Hamlet´s verbal hit are painful and real. Scene at the cemetery is decadent and existential. These words have power to move… Hamlet is rightfully admired as one of the best dramas that has ever been written. I finally see why. And for those who maybe have similar aversion rooted in their school years, caused by school duties, I encourage you to take a critical look at these feelings and give classics a chance! There is surely reason, why we have to learn about them!