Hamlet: Eastenders for the 1600s

Shakespeare I believe is made a little difficult for most to access because of all the complex academic discourse built up around his work. I remember in school that more focus was place on the way Shakespeare switched from prose to poetry, use of certain words, similes, metaphors, etc, with some focus on the themes of his plays. This completely bored the the pants off me and my fellow teenage classmates, who were usually more interested in the actual story. We were enthralled by the goriness of Macbeth, and the comeuppance that awaited the eponymous villain, whilst in S5, the girls were caught up in the romance of Romeo and Juliet, which might have been helped by our teacher putting on the Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes version for us to watch! That and she also pointed out and explained some of the filthy jokes, to some of my schoolmates glee.

I didn't think much of The Merchant of Venice, which we covered in S3, but then, every genius has a turkey now and then!

Hamlet is the first Shakespearean play I've picked up purely to enjoy without having to study it for something and just be able to enjoy as a story. I somehow get the impression that's what Shakespeare was after himself - the story as pure entertainment for the masses, with the added benefit of being able to drop in a filthy joke or twenty, and the opportunity to poke fun at the establishment and the inanity of humanity. The other half I think has mentioned at some point that Shakespeare wrote as a populist. This was probably driven home more for the non-literati like myself in The Shakespeare Code in series 3 of new Doctor Who. I think that this has made me interested in having another look at Shakespeare. Of course, the fact that the now ex - Doctor David Tennant took on the role of Hamlet in 2008, (after ascertaining that there would definitely be no full series of Doctor Who in 2009) also gave me a push. I can't help but wonder if this has happened to others who might otherwise have not looked at Shakespeare at all. Hamlet was the obvious choice to begin with.

Apart from being thrown at times by the language used, which I put down to the 400 year gap between Hamlet being written and me reading it, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I overcame language difficulties with the commentary at the back of my copy and annoying the English Lit graduate I'm betrothed to. I also wanted to read it before watching the Tennant in action in the Boxing Day broadcast of his Hamlet so I would be able to follow it. Of course, I am yet to watch the video as the other half has put it somewhere and not told me (subtle hint).

I was struck by how much the plot resembled the storyline of a contemporary soap, though not many soaps these days focus on the Danish Royal Family, so we can take that as a minor aberration!

Pretty much what we have is this: a ghost is scaring the Palace guards, and is recognised as the recently departed king of Denmark. His son, the prince Hamlet is alerted to this and ends up having a wee chat with the ghost. He finds out that his father was murdered by his uncle, Claudius, who has since gone on to take the crown and married Hamlet's mother Gertrude to boot. Hamlet is already a little peeved at his mother remarrying his uncle, and only a few months after his father's death, so becomes incensed at the murder and swears revenge.

However, it takes Hamlet a long time to actually get around to this. In the meantime, things go a tad pear-shaped. Hamlet pretends he's mad, loses the girl he loves, Gertrude, and then gives his loving uncle a hint that he knows what's happened by getting a troupe of travelling players to essentially re-enact the murder. The end result is that Claudius arranges for Hamlet to be taken to England to be 'dealt' with. Hamlet lets his mother know what has been going on, upbraids her for marrying the murderer of her late husband, then accidentally kills Polonius, Ophelia's father, who conveniently hid behind the tapestry in the Queen's room to eavesdrop.

Things speed up after this. Ophelia goes decidedly barking mad after Hamlet is sent off to England (under the auspices of banishment, etc for Polonius' death). Laertes, Ophelia's brother, and son of Polonius, comes home from France screaming for blood at his father's demise, only to be made more desperate for revenge when he sees Ophelia's insanity and her subsequent death (quite a few cark it in this). Hamlet, in the meantime has thwarted his own demise as plotted by Claudius, and been captured by pirates on his way back from England. The pirates realise they have much to gain by treating Hamlet well as he is a prince, so he gets home. Claudius finds out after getting a letter from Hamlet, and plots for Laertes to kill Hamlet in a duel with the use of a poisoned sword. Claudius also helpfully provides some poisoned wine as a back up. And you can guess where this is going....

So the duel takes place. And it goes wrong. The queen drinks the poisoned wine meant for Hamlet, and both Laertes and Hamlet end up stabbing each other with the poisoned sword in a scuffle. The queen dies. Laertes realised he's been used, that Claudius is a git and forgives Hamlet. Then he dies. Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword, and makes him drink the poisoned wine for good measure. Then Claudius dies. Hamlet is very much on his own last legs at this point, and has just been handed the crown of Denmark. He names the prince of Norway as his successor. Then the hero of the piece kicks the bucket.

Not a touch like Corrie or Eastenders at all really!