Hamlet's Footsteps

Reading “Hamlet” has surprised me in various ways. I thought that this was going to be a play that I would read for my AP-Lit class, and after closing the book I would be done with it. I was wrong. A play about a Prince trying to murder his Uncle seemed so distant to me that I started to find it frustrating and unrelatable. What I didn’t realize is the message that hides behind the story, which we can all relate to: procrastination.

Unfortunately, since I can remember I have been a person who gets stressed very easily, and it certainly isn’t a characteristic of mine, which I enjoy. After reading the article “ Viewpoint: Why do we procrastinate so much” it made me even more stressed than what I already was. Alter reading it, I reflected upon the times that I have procrastinated, and I am not proud to say it, but there have been many times in which I have made this despicable action. I also started to think about the times that I haven’t done this, and how nice it feels. So it made me question: why do I still keep on doing it?

In life there are always going to be things that we enjoy more than others, and some we can actually hate. When I am intelligent enough to make the move in which I do first the ones that I hate and leave the ones that I love for last, I feel great. Once I finish homework that I do no enjoy doing, it’s a load off of my back. But when it’s the other way around, it’s the worst because the fun is over and the boring stuff begins. This relates to what Hamlet did because he “experienced the horror of crippling indecision and compulsive delaying tactics” like the “95%” of us do as well. His decision of killing his uncle wasn’t an easy one that is why it took him such a long time. Just like when we have to do a hard task, we leave it until the end when destiny is the one that pushes us to do it. As I have gotten older more responsibilities have come to me and more decisions I have to make, regarding the order in which I do them because at the end of the day I must have finished them all. That is when I have to stop and think what is best for me to do: I shouldn’t follow Hamlet’s footsteps. 

"Reading" Hamlet

"Hamlet", a major historical work has touched the productions of thousands of people that use their own stlye and voices to perform it. Shakespear only wrote the lines of the play, but never described how the actors were supposed to act, how the sceneary should look like etc. He gave producers, actors, readers, and directors the freedom to create Hamlet using their own stlye. That is why we have the privledge of finding so many versions of Hamlet, such as Hamlets interpretation of the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center.

After seeing many versions of Hamlet, such as the Canadian funny interpretation, or the serious 2010 film of Hamlet, the one I have liked best is the interpretation of the prisioners because it made me think about my thinking towards Hamlet. I had always read Hamlet with a mind of ridiculizing the plot because I found myself detached from this situation. I found the situation fictional because thankfully I have never had to pass through something like that. But after listening to the podcast I realized how not everyone thought about Hamlet the way that I did. How Hamlet can be just more than a play for some people. In the case of the prisioners it was an escape from the dehumanized treatment the prisioners would receive in jail, Hamlet made them feel human. A shocking moment in the podcast for me was when Danny Waller spoke about his experience in acting Hamlet. He had killed a man, William Prye, which he regreted it later, and interpreted what the ghost said as if it was William speaking to him. He was the body on stage, and he was the voice. This made me realize how this work of art, like all art touches peoples hearts in different ways. It makes some people, as myself believe that this story about a man who doesn't decide if he should kill his uncle to avenge his father is something frusturating, while others who have done it now reflect upon it, and realize that they should have pondered more on their actions.

There was a prisioner that thought the same way that I did. He also felt that Hamlet should stop hesitating and kill Claudius. I connected Hamlets situation with one that occured to my grandmother a long time ago. Her brother was kidnapped and killed by the M-19, a gorilla group that was going around in Colombia. She still says it today, that if she could avenge her brothers death she would. But I believe that she doesn't understand what avenging her brothers death includes. This means she would have to kill these men, and although she might feel a great passion for doing it, she should listen to what these prisioners have to say. Although killing someone may sound easy, doing it is a whole different story. Her decision of killing those men, would most likelly haunt her for her whole life, just as William Prye haunts the prisioner.

I never thought that Hamlet would make me reflect about death, and revenge. As stated before, I thought it was something so detatched from my life that I read it without reflecting on what Hamlet was feeling. Thankfully, after listening to what the prisioners have to say I look at Hamlet with an other mind, a more realist point of view. This version of Hamlet, taught me how revenge isn't something easy and that just because I feel detached from the plot, others relate more to the characters than to themselves. I believe that Hamlet wasn't just a play for the prisioners, it was a therapy that made them reflect on their decision making.

Ending of Procrastinanting

   In T.S Elliot’s poem, “A Love Song”, and Shakespeare’s famous “Hamlet”, although very distinct works, come to have a common thread. J. Alfred Prufrock, the protagonist of the poem, “A Love Song” has a terrible problem, he has an obsession for a lover that he doesn’t “dare” to invite. Prince Hamlet encounters this same problem because he always wants to kill King Claudius but is never brave enough to do so. They both wonder too much about there actions and end up doing nothing. Prufrock even lingers upon “daring to eat a peach” meaning that even the things that most of us do unconsciously he wonders over and over again. Whenever he was going to act, he would ask himself if it “would have been worth it” and leaves it for the next day. He says that there is “time” for him to act, but as the poem starts progressing Prufrock starts “growing old” and time starts to run out. For Hamlet a similar situation rises, which is that Claudius is abusing more of his power making Hamlet's job harder because Claudius is wanting to send him away. Both Prufrock and Hamlet start encountering themselves with obstacles making their goals harder. The difference is that Prufrock never gets his wakeup call that he should act. Nevertheless, Hamlet does, by seeing the actor in the play avenging his father while he wasn’t doing anything. Hamlet, after seeing this scene says “O, vengeance, what an ass am I” meaning that he realized that he was a coward for not taking charge against Claudius. Although Hamlet at the end does accomplish his goal, and Prufrock doesn’t, they both die. In the poem Prufrock says "I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be" meaning that he realized that his outcome wasn't going to be the same as Hamlet's of reaching his goal. Maybe if they hadn’t procrastinated for so long their actions, their endings would have been different. Prufrock would might of married this woman, instead of fearing mankind, and Hamlet would of gotten his revenge without suffering a painful death.