Complaint Heeded

God must know that I was aching for a Shakespeare...although it's only poor Hamlet. I would rather move into the newness of a play I haven't read. However, tut tut...twill not happen.
I will only briefly include what happens, although I assure you I know...I've read this play more than once before, and seen the Kate-Winslet-as-Ophelia version of it more than once, recently it was shown in Olin.

First of all, a discourse about unfolding onesself: How does one in this day and age truly unfold onesself. Make yourselves known all ye people of the earth! Singing was described to me once as peeling the layers of an onion. The amount of focus involved, the amount of skill and time, and in the end, you achieve a level of "here I am, this is me." It's part of the thing I love about singing...performing. However, isn't writing too a means of performing? Life is a stage, and we are it's players. It is a performance, and it is real. Reality and fantasy combine, and everyone is being watched. I got away from this way of thinking when I was told that when I cantor (sing) at Church, it ought not to be a performance but rather prayer through song. The thing is, it is all a performance, not in front of the congregation, but in front of GOD. Here I will get a bit spiritual, but shouldn't we unfold ourselves to one another...and in doing so unfold ourselves to God? Excuse me from twisting Shakespeare's words to meet my needs, but it came to my mind and I could not bore it out until I had it written.

"No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is that time."
-Marcellus of Hamlet on Dawn (the moment the cock crew) because the ghost disappeared.
I am a fan of fantasy stories, so anything to do with witches and fairies and ghosts is interesting to me, but this is on the intimacy of Dawn. I think part of why Dawn is intimate is because I so rarely see it. I am a college student, my bedtime is around 2 am, and my waketime is never earlier than it has to be. Also, this reminds me of a quote from King Crimson's Lizard. "The reapers name their harvest 'dawn' " Perhaps the cock is the reaper, and he harvests dawn by crowing.

"A little more than kin, and less than kind."
-Hamlet on Family
Hamlet is a terribly sad character. His father died, he dislikes his uncle quite alot. He doesn't get the love and affection he needs from his uncle. I am so lucky to have a loving family.

"Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not forever with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust.
Thou know'st 'tis common, all that lives must die
Passing though nature to eternity."
-The Queen on Grief in response to Hamlet's cynical nature.
The Queen is right, "all that lives must die" but also, it is wrong to just forget certain things, like, for Hamlet, the love of his father. Hamlet has been grieving for quite some time...and she's trying to get him back into the swing of life. However, I think it's very important to let grief run it's course. It's not right to tell a grieving person that everything is ok, that tis common, and not to grieve because sometime people have to. I myself have had little direct feelings of grief. I truly believe that everyone upon their death meets with God, and can enter the kingdom of Heaven if they so choose, once they apologize for their sins. Hamlet, doesn't believe this because his father died suddenly and had no time for 'reconciliation', and not only that, but he is probably angry with God, as many grievers can be.

"The funeral baked meats did coldly furthish forth the marriage tables."
-Hamlet, on his mothers marriage to soon.
I just like this idea.
Discuss love and revenge: Hamlet and his father, the ghost...

Discourse on Hamlet and madness
I am not certain whether Hamlet is truly mad or not. I know that he says he's just pretending...but what if he did go mad? What if the Ghost and Horatio and the sentenals at the beginning are only in Hamlet's imagination, the story is being told from his mad perspective. He did crazy things, and he knows he did them, but from his perspective, he was only pretending. By the end, is he really mad? I would be, if I slay my true love, and her father, out of revenge. Is revenge in itself a kind of madness? What is sanity? Is it sane to plot to kill someone because a ghost told you to?

"My liege, and madam, to expostulate
What majesty should be, what duty is,
Why day is day, night night, and time is time.
Were nothing but to wast night, day and time
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief. Your noble son is mad."
-Polonious in silly contradiciton of himself on Brevity.
Polonious is my favorite character, mostly because of his name, and another song lyric, from the same band, King Crimson, the entire line is sung "Go Polonious or kneel, the reapers name their harvest "Dawn", Go, the tarnished deviled spoons will rust beneath our corn..." And as a small child I imagined Polonious, from the song, to be a wizard and Neil (not knowing it was kneel) was his sidekick, so I've always thought of Polonious as a wizard...it was not until years later in High School that I learned he was poor Ophelias rather shifty father. He contradicts himself here...he rambles about day, night and time, and then makes his point finally..."your noble son is mad" Polonious thinks it's because of the letter that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia, because Polonious told Ophelia to reject Hamlet's love, which of course drove him mad.

"Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love."
-Polonious reading Hamlet's letter to Ophelia to the Queen
This is a bit sweet. I am a romantic and I believe firmly in passion and craziness to love. The last time I read this for a class, I was told that this could actually be like a secret message from the Hamlet within the mad Hamlet to Ophelia. "Don't worry...I know things are crazy, and will get worse, but I love you still."