Aesthetic Delivery of Hamlet

Who knew that Hamlet, after 400 years of theorizing and pulling it apart, could still be so fascinating? Maybe it was the fact that today we had the greatest guest lecturer of all time!! With his wavy brown hair and a pair of silver rimmed spectacles he melted hearts. His smile was also to die for! He wore a collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up exposing his muscular forearms. It was slightly wrinkled suggesting his relaxed nature despite his position. He wore khaki coloured pants, but these were not your normal slacks, they were baggier and had a few more pockets than what might be acceptable. His shoes were marvellous works of worn in brown leather with a flat fronted toe. They had definately seen better days, but they proved he was not pretentious. And, the crème de la crème, he had the most gorgeous, sweet, boy next door, English accent. I think I heard every woman in that room sigh when he started speaking. And despite my unavailability I did note the lack of something on the third finger of his left hand.

Vanity aside, he also proved to be highly entertaining and intelligent. For the first time this semester we discussed the performance aspects of the play. The lecturer, who I will leave unnamed to stave off stocker types, pointed out several instances in the play where Hamlet addresses the audience directly acknowledging that he is simply performing in a play. Shakespeare uses meta-theatre throughout the entire play to confuse and toy with the audience. There are players within the play performing for the king, and Hamlet himself seems to be doing some acting as his “madness” is questionable. This style of playing leaves audience members feeling that their questions were never answered. By the end of the play they are even more confused as to who or what the ghost was, whether Hamlet was really mad or not, and if he ever really did make a decision about his life, and the life of his step-father the king.

The lecture gave me a much better perspective on Hamlet then I had from my own reading. One notable feature in the play is Hamlet’s semi-nihilistic ideas. Hamlet reveals his belief that he is the creator of his own suffering, and that he is also the creator of his own joy. In his words we see an expression of life as meaningless, having no clear path of good or evil: “For there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” This line stuck with me because I have seen how popular it is to believe this in our contemporary world. Surely Shakespeare is timeless. Though Hamlet offers much more for a reader, or viewer, including clever humour, tragic moments, insanity, analysis of relationships, religion, and so forth, it was the nihilism which really caught my attention. It is a truly tragic way of living and looking at life.