Shakespeare Journal

Hamlet’s Idea

In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, is in conflict with himself after a strange visit from the other world. When Hamlet came in contact with a ghost, it told him that he was Hamlet’s dead father and informed him that he was poisoned by Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, by sticking poison in the king’s ear while he napped. At first, he doesn’t really know if the ghost is telling the truth about Claudius killing his father, the king, or if the ghost is a demon trying to get Hamlet to do something wicked, and go to hell. Throughout the whole play, Hamlet is at war with himself, whether to kill Claudius for killing his father, or not. Hamlet and his friends come up with an idea to reenact his father’s death in a play that they made sure Claudius will be watching, and see if Claudius has any uneasiness towards the idea, since that’s the way they think he killed Hamlet’s father. When they do the reenactment of the king’s death, Claudius gets nervous, suspiciously shuts down the whole play, and leaves. That clarifies to Hamlet that Claudius did in fact kill his father, and he can now kill Claudius without going to hell. This family is a definite representation of a fully dysfunctional family. Hamlet, his dead father, his uncle and then his mother are a good example of how not to act. His mother marries his uncle who killed his dad and this creates a lot of problems in Hamlet’s life. William Shakespeare is an expert at weaving a plot to keep his audience interested and wanting to find out what’s going to happen. In this case, who knew a ghost would come around and fill people in on how he died. In classic Shakespeare fashion, even though Hamlet learned the truth from the ghost, he was unable to solve the Claudius problem because everyone ends up dying in the process. So, in the end, Hamlet did avenge his father’s death, but he died in the process along with everyone else.

Life’s a Stage

After reading and watching Shakespeare for a semester, I have concluded that I am sure glad that my life is so boring. Amid the business of working, going to school, running around with friends and being part of a family, I am so thankful my life has only a few elements of Shakespeare’s stories. Even at its worst moments, my family life has never included visits from a ghost, dead relatives from mysterious causes, or romping in the forest with fairies. The characters in Shakespeare’s plays also have very creative and sometimes disastrous solutions to their problems. Hamlet stages a play to confirm his father’s killer. Juliet takes a potion to pretend she’s dead. Cassio is accused by Iago that he’s cheating with Othello’s wife, Desdemona. This last event is definitely still happening in the world today, but luckily it’s not part of my life. Much Ado About Nothing could be made into a modern soap opera very easily with just a few language changes. Apparently, some of the same things have been happening for centuries since all the things Shakespeare writes about are still happening today.

So, in conclusion, when I am tempted to be unhappy with my life, I need to remember and reflect about all the problems and events that happen every day to Shakespeare’s characters as they cruise through their lives and stop my whining.

A Twist in My Story

Romeo and Juliet’s love was so strong they would rather be dead then to be without each other. What if the story didn’t have to end with them killing themselves, because they thought each other was dead. We’re rewinding this back to right after Juliet was found dead and buried in the Capulet tomb…

The Friar had sent a letter a few hours before to Romeo, telling him all about Juliet’s new plans to run away. The plan Juliet and the Friar made were that she would drink a potion that puts her in an almost dead like sleep, by the looks of her she would appear dead. Her family would bury her where they bury all the high, royal relatives in a tomb room. That very night is where Romeo and the Friar would meet up after dark, wait for Juliet to awaken, and run away together and live happily ever after.

The Friar sent his letter to the town Romeo was staying in at the time, and of course the letter barely missed him. Romeo had found out about Juliet’s death from a close friend of his, who thought Juliet was actually dead. Before he left though, he picked up some poison that could kill the strongest of men in seconds, and shoved it in his pocket. Romeo jumped on his horse and rushed to town, to the tombs where she was placed, just missing the priest that was delivering the letter that explained everything. By the time Romeo got there, shadows began to cast over the tombs, and night began to fall upon him. His heart was racing, pumping out of the depths of his chest. He budged the large, heavy, stone door open with a metal bar, and squeezed himself into the crack of the door. His eyes raced around the room, gazing at all the corpses sitting on boulders, draped in sheer cloths. Tracing over each sheer cloth, his eyes caught Juliet’s corpse. By the deep red, fresh flowers, Romeo knew it was her. Slowly and swiftly he moved the sheer from her head gazing at his beloved wife.

“O my love, my wife! Death, that hath sucked the honey from thy breath, hath had no power yet upon the beauty you hold. I feel as though it has not yet conquer’d your soul. Death’s pale flag is not advanced there, for your beauty’s ensign yet is still crimson in those lips and cheeks.” Juliet’s skin was still glowing with life.

Meanwhile outside, the Friar saw the door cracked a little,

“Oh good, I see he’s read the letter. Guess the boys’ a little impatient. Now that is much like Romeo afterall.” He waddled to the door and pried the gap open some more, with the metal bar he found lying on the ground. “Something doesn’t quite seem right, tonight.” The light from his lantern fluttered off the walls of the tomb, as he swiftly made his way through the Capulet’s tomb towards Juliet’s sleeping body.

Romeo touched Juliet’s face and went in for one last kiss, “Here, here will I remain with worms that are thy chamber maids. Oh, here will I set up my everlasting rest, and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last. arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, O you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death.” Romeo gave her one last kiss, then pulled some poison he’d been carrying out of his pocket.

“Romeo… thou looks of poisons in hand?” Friar came around the corner as Romeo was pulling it out of his pocket.

“O Friar! My fair wife’s death hath made me weak! There is no reason for me to be on this earth anymore, without the love of my Juliet, I am nothing.”

“And when she wakes up, do you suppose she will be just as weak to see thee poisoned on the floor?”, pleaded the Friar.

“Have you gone but mad, Friar? My lady is dead.”

“There, there she is only in a sleep, Romeo. She shall wake up in but minutes now. Hast thou not read my letter after all? It explains everything, friend. She should drink a potion I made myself, that puts her in a deep, dead sleep, but by the looks of her, she is but dead. Her family buried her at dawn, when night fell the letter said to meet me at dusk. We shall now wait for Juliet to awaken, and both you lovers will run away to a safe place.”, the Friar explained.

Romeo heaved a sigh of relief and settled down with the Friar to wait for his Juliet to awaken from her sleep. And, of course, after Romeo and Juliet reappear to their families, everyone learns to get along and they all live happily ever after. This small change could be the difference in a tragic play and a Disney hit movie.

Compare and Contrast

William Shakespeare's, Romeo & Juliet VS. Modern Romeo and Juliet

Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet; a tale of two star-crossed lovers, bound enemies, who fell in love at first sight. Their journey begins as they met at the Capulet’s party, Romeo came back to her home and told her he loved her, and asked for her hand. The next day they go to the chapel and get married, the same day, right after that Romeo accidentally kills Juliet’s cousin. Since he killed Juliet’s cousin he has to run, but before that he sneaked into her house that night and had their honeymoon, then the very next morning he had to leave her. Juliet, to avoid marrying the man her dad has picked out for her, goes to the priest, gets a potion and plans to fake her death. She takes the potion, falls into a deathlike state, has a funeral and is put in the family tomb. In the meanwhile, the priest sent a letter to Romeo telling him of this plan but the messenger never finds him. Romeo hears of Juliet’s death from a friend and rushes back, finds Juliet in the tomb, kills himself with poison and dies. Juliet wakes up, sees Romeo dead and then kills herself. The two feuding families, in their grief, end the feud and learn to get along.

So, this is the original Shakespeare story. In the traditional version of the play, it is set in old Verona, Italy. Everyone is in period costumes and speaks Shakespearean English. Romeo is quite handsome, Juliet is beautiful and the Capulet's and Montague's do some really skilled sword fighting. The scenery, costumes, language, and everything take the viewer back to the Renaissance times and you enjoy the story as it was written. However, Hollywood put a new spin on the story. Now Romeo and Juliet still live in Verona, but it is in the current times. Instead of horseback, the characters travel in fast cars. Instead of swords and fancy dueling, there are street fights and guns. Romeo is still quite handsome, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Juliet is still beautiful but they are dressed in modern clothing and live in modern houses. The interesting thing about this version of Romeo and Juliet is that the characters all still speak in Shakespearean English. It seems kind of out of place to hear street gangs speaking as Shakespeare, but by the end of the movie, the viewer adjusts and the beautiful language of Shakespeare seems quite normal. The contrast of the modern scenery and activities together with the original Shakespearean language is quite interesting. Personally, I like the original version best with the old scenery and pretty costumes.

Love at First Sight?

It appears that during Shakespeare’s time there was a universal belief in love at first sight. People like to believe in something as romantic as this and Shakespeare used this theme in some of his plays. Romeo and Juliet, of course, are the classic example. They see each other across a crowded room and even though they know they are supposed to be sworn enemies because of their families, they fall in love, get married, and so forth. Another less known example would be Claudio and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing. Though they don’t seem to treat each other really well on a long term basis, they apparently fell madly in love with each other when they first met.

Though they don’t seem to fall in love at first sight, there are a few Shakespearean characters that persist through many difficulties to attain the object of their affection. Portia, for example, from The Merchant of Venice, is trapped into finding her true love by asking her suitors to choose between three boxes, or caskets, to determine which suitor was fit for the lovely Portia. However, it turns out her true love, Bassanio, picks the right casket and things turn out well. Of course, no play is that easy, and Bassanio has other details to deal with before his happy ending.

Love is a recurring theme, however, in most of Shakespeare’s plays. In Much Ado About Nothing, everyone is in love with someone and it is a kind of fruit basket turnover before everyone ends up with the right person. Someone is also in love even in the more serious and tragic plays. In Henry V, love isn’t so much a factor as a political alliance. Catherine is married off to Henry to help with England/France relations and since she doesn’t speak much English, it probably took awhile for them to get to know each other. Another poor girl that was used to help with political relations was Elizabeth, in Richard III, who was married off to Richmond to unite the warring houses of Lancaster and York.

One love that came to a bad end was poor Hamlet and Ophelia. She seems to be a lovely girl, singing happily, dancing around with flowers and in love with Hamlet. Her family and Hamlet’s family, however, don’t like the idea and Hamlet even announces that he doesn’t love her. She eventually goes mad and drowns in the river. Too late, Hamlet admits that he really does love her, but it’s too late anyway, because he dies soon after. This play was a tragedy from beginning to end and love does not conquer all in this instance.

So, whether it is love at first sight, star-crossed lovers, or a marriage to keep countries or families from fighting, Shakespeare uses love in many of his plays as a major theme. Some of these lovers are famous and remembered by everyone, and others fade off into the background and are forgotten, but love is definitely something Shakespeare liked to talk about.

Hamlet and The Lion King

What if you took an old Shakespeare play and gave everyone different names, maybe even turned everyone into wild animals from Africa. Hamlet is Simba, the one and only son of a high king. Hamlet’s father, who speaks to him as a ghost, after he dies, is just like Mufasa in The Lion King. Claudius his uncle, who portrays a “take charge” image until Hamlet is old enough and can take charge himself is Scar, who is Mufasa’s brother and Simba’s uncle. After the king mysteriously dies, Claudius tries to get Hamlet to go away, like in The Lion King after Scar killed Mufasa, he puts the blame on Simba and tells him to run far away. Both William Shakespeare’s Hamlet play, and Disney’s The Lion King, are similar in many ways, and you can not help but realize this watching one after another.