The Hamlet Project

During Shakespeare’s time, the Danes had a brutal reputation.
They were violent savages, rugged marauders
Responsible for the falling down of London bridge, my fair ladies.
Hamlet was a man out of line with his thug-ish culture
The one standing apart from the frat house antics of his family. Context
Can be everything.
Re-reading David Ball’s Backwards and Forwards, I was struck deeply
By this notion. It’s hard for us to see
This old stereotype. Claudius is such an expert politician.He almost sounds
Contemporary and there are a dozen refinements within this Danish court
But there are flashes – moments when one could see the brutality peeking through,
I think this is one of them.
If the play were set now, perhaps the play would be set in Al-qaeda headquarters
Or a Taliban court. We’d watch the people we think of as inhuman
Cycle through so many human machinations
Headed by one of the most human characters ever written.
We’d watch him struggle against the world he’s from
Until finally it all unravels in the savagery we expected in the first place.
We do sometimes honor our customs best in the breach.