Like most of us we read Hamlet in school. You may discover that reading it every three to four years new meaning comes out of it. Sometimes you read into it, depending on what's happening in your own life. It does not read the same. The text does not change but the subtext is fluid. In that sense it is the most disconcerting work ever penned. You will get years of enjoyment.

And after you have the plot worked out well, you should read it through one time just to appreciate the pure poetry of the language. It’s so good.

Michael Sieger I will, I thoroughly loved this book

It is also important to understand what was going on in his day and age with history. Klavan, a Protestant, and Knowles, a Catholic, touched on the religious difference between Catholics and Protestants and how that is in the play. These authors like Shakespeare do not write their works in a vacuum. What was going on in England at that time had a profound impact on their works. Henry VIII beheading people like Thomas More and bishop John Fisher simply because, as he says in A Man for All Seasons, he will have no opposition. England is ruled with an iron fist by one monarch to another and for over a century they do not have peace because of the constant civil wars. Shakespeare lived during the reign of Elizabeth I and under her just calling yourself a Catholic was an offense that got you hung drawn and quartered or expelled from the country. Whether Shakespeare was a Catholic or not still does not change the fact of what was going on in England at the time that he lived and his works are a product not only of his sheer talent but of what was going on in England at that time. Just a bit of trivia here, the constant civil wars in England was why George Washington's family fled England and that is why he was vehemently opposed to political parties. His family in England was caught in these wars and he wanted to have none of it here.

Bernard S, I completely agree. That was an excellent bit of information and I do think looking at the context changes everything.

Ps.103:1-4 Ps.103:1-4 I’m a democrat and I am happy that Prageru is talking about books.

Luis de Camões 🇵🇹

It was sheer beauty in words! I also love ❤️ this from “The Merchant of Venice”: The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: ‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself...”

By contrast, handmaid's tale was the worst book we had to read in HS. You could always tell which books were recommended to us by activism the English teachers and which ones were good on their own merits by how much we lied about having read the bloody things...

Thug Life Bear Absolute garbage, but I liked it better than the tv show. Anyone who actually understands men and women would realize such a scenario would have very different worst case outcomes. One I thought of, was that men who ACTUALLY care about the survival of the species wouldn’t entrust it to self destructive feminist fanatics. Never mind ethics, it’s just not practical To try to force a feminazi who would literally rather go extinct then to carry a baby. AT WORST they might forcibly anesthetize then extract and steal her eggs; Then let her go. Have a WILLING woman carry them as a surrogate. That makes SO much more sense.

@@thuglifebear5256 I'm in 12th grade and my 11th and 12th grade teachers have been feminists so you see a lot of feminists books (not saying they were bad), but you can see the activism. Women at Point Zero - a book on being a prostitute The Stranger - independent men who didnt agree with the chance and was killed for it Medea - women kills husband and children because she didnt get the life she wanted And the poems are extremely feminists by Carol Ann Duffy and Adrienne Rich

F*ck you had a great reading list.

They are both BRILLIANT 🌟

MtlCstr that is also the motto of my old school, Cranbrook

I am not sure but probably he is a father too.

I recommend the Kenneth Branaugh's version as he directs and stars in it, and he does almost the complete text. If you want a shorter abridged version, watch the version Mel Gibson starred in.

@@civlwrbuf thanks!

David Tennant did a solid version with Patrick Stewart as Claudius and Kevin Klein did a great minimalist production. Frankly, the play is so good, it's kinda tough to do a bad production if you don't go too far outside the box.

@@ronaldfrechette2045 I forgot about that version, though I have seen some clips. I was impressed by what I saw. There is also the Campbell Scoot film, I think he did it for Lifetime.. His take was unique in that it was with an american cast in an american setting.

It is the most complicated work in english, but if you take your time to understand each line and the references it is derived from it will blow you mind. Beware: everything that is stage related will pale in comparison after reading Hamlet. Many playwrights take one point of the human condition and examines it very well, but Shakespeare does the big one. TRUTH, BELIEF, SELF UNDERSTANDING, MORALITY AND JUSTICE and much more. All in four hour. Today we could produce a 12 hour miniseries and not come close to the level Shakespeare did. Mindblowing.

Who gets to be the ghost?

Emsnews Supkis Dennis as The ghost, Michael as Hamlet, Ben as Horatio and Andrew as Laertes

@@emsnewssupkis6453 All of them, hopefully. May they all suffer the same fate.

@@nickkurtz512 Who gets to crossdress as Orphelia?

@@emsnewssupkis6453 They got Isabel Brown

what was the name of the version you watched? i'd be really interested in watching it!

@@boiboi7717 it was called hamlet but i dont remember whether it was a british or american production

Weirdly enough The Lion King is a reimagining of Hamlet

Shakespeare's plays are the most intriguing plays ever written. Why wouldn't you want to see them. It would be crazy not watch.

@@boiboi7717 If it was four hours long it would be the one by Kenneth Branagh. It's the only unabridged film version.

My man 👊

Welcome aboard! You will find much knowledge and wisdom here.

Anthony Gomes I’m not wearing my reading glasses...is that Samantha B. trying to censor me? No, I meant what I said. I don’t appreciate your leftist attitude. I can say whatever I want. Don’t tell me what I can and cannot demean, bro. Let’s all learn to appreciate a difference of opinion, but don’t tell me what I can and cannot say. Mmmk, Polonius? Smh

Anthony Gomes 🙄 I didn’t say I was better. Listen, it’s too late! It’s too late for you to try to claim the high ground, Anakin.

Anthony Gomes no. I’m sorry, Anthony. Do you wanna talk about the book now?

codascot You certainly share Hamlet’s skill for sarcasm.

Elisha as Lady Macbeth, the boys as the witches.

😖that was an odd play.

No thanks.

You mean "The Scottish Play." It's not to be named by actors while on stage or anywhere in a theater... But the implications in that one are good to consider.

TwistTimHansel HOW is Macbeth more bad luck than Titus Andronicus?

ClassyCactus Dr. Peterson needs to get well first.

Jonathan ...but after that he can share his experience in Russia

Why not Jordan Peterson as Hamlet? Come to that, an imaginative producer could recast the whole play into modern US politics. Just don't mess with the words.

David Cockayne Good Lord, he could do even better than Gibson at the dark pathos. He needs to dye his hair black again for it, however. Try to make him seem younger. Aww, too bad no one recorded ‘him’ saying it via that infamous simulator last summer, although it wouldn’t have been as good as the real thing.

That would be great! Hope he gets well soon.

On this I actually completely agree with you. I will be teaching German soon, so no Shakespeare, but the same thing applies to Goethe for example. I am all for actually performing these plays and watching them being performed, because that is (in most cases) how they were designed to be experienced.

Seeing Shakespeare done well makes him live. Reading him is dull. They are plays not books.

Even if she once would have followed it, she's woke now. All critical thought has left the building she'd just wail "racism" Or "Shakespeare was a man!!!" And fall to the floor weeping. Someone out a blanket over her.

That Asimov Guide is one of the most treasured books in my family 😊

@Arthur Devain: The Nicol Williamson version was all the rage when I was in high school. Has it been eclipsed in critical regard (?)

@meandale: Props. Hope it's gone well for you . . .

@Jon Roads: I'm not sure. I'm against intellectual discussion of Dostoevsky. It's like WW2 vets who refuse to discuss their experiences. What is there really to say (?)

@Jon Roads: Maddeningly ironic, isn't it (?) -- a "liberal" education . . .

Funny you should mention that - I am a feminist and my head DID almost explode the first time I read Taming of the Shrew. I don't personally care for it as a comedy, but it was really interesting to study the different interpretations of the play; some people view it as a misogynistic rant, others read it as a feminist satire. And the framing device is fascinating.

Lyin’ Dogface Pony Soldier he’s gonna be the guest, knowles is the host

I hope you're talking about the skull.

He was the skull, as you can see as you watch the video

@@juan-tonsoup1792 lolyes

I thought that was based more on Macbeth?