LonkstheWriter Takes On Hamlet!

Lonks has 6 days left to reach her goal—but will this Shakespearian masterpiece slow her down?—Sparkitors

Book #65: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Author: William Shakespeare

Reason for Reading: Well, my research paper on it was worth 10% of my grade in Honors British Literature. I think that’s a pretty good reason.

Quote: “This above all—to thine own self be true;/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou canst not then be false to any man”

Copyright Date: 1623 (I know that was before copyrights, but…)

Length: Varies, Usually around 400 pages

Genre: Play—Tragedy

Rating (out of 10 stars): There is no number worthy of Hamlet.

Summary: Hamlet’s father dies mysteriously and his Uncle Claudius takes over the throne of Denmark and marries Hamlet’s mom. Upon a visit from his father’s ghost, Hamlet discovers that Claudius murdered the late king. Hamlet goes on a quest to avenge his father’s death.

Review: I was excited about reading Hamlet. I mean, it's often considered one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time, but that wasn’t why I was looking forward to reading it—it was because the enthusiasm of my Brit Lit teacher was contagious. When a 40-year-old male teacher fan-girls about a 400-year-old piece of literature while going through the syllabus, it gets you pretty pumped. My teacher is obsessed with Hamlet, and I honestly believe that I wouldn’t have liked Hamlet nearly as much as it weren’t for him.

There isn’t really much to say on Hamlet. If you haven’t already, you will probably be forced to read it eventually. I just hope you have an awesome teacher to bring you through it.

Recommendation: If you are planning on reading it on your own, don’t. I’ve never understood why we read plays in English classes. They were written to be watched, not read. So why do we read them? I would recommend renting one of the several movie adaptations of Hamlet, or, even better, go see it at your local Shakespeare Theater. In my lit class, we watched bits and pieces several versions of the play, and my favorites were the David Tennet version and the Kenneth Branaugh version. I found the Tennet version to be the most enjoyable and the Branaugh version the most accurate to the play (it’s like four hours long). However, whatever way you choose to enjoy Hamlet, it just matters that you do!

Did you love Hamlet? We gotta admit, we never really got that into Shakespeare. Is that a sacrilegious thing for a Sparkitor to say?

Related post: One Year, 100 Books!