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A review by carlacbarroso
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
5.0
I'm currently doing a Shakespeare season and thought this might be a good play to start. I was a bit scared of reading it in English, since it's not my native language, but soon realized that reading it out loud helped me to understand it. And since I read it on my Kindle it was easy to look up the definition of some obscure word. I did have a Portuguese edition and used it to confirm I was understanding it, but overall I didn't needed the Portuguese translation that much.
This is a story about vengeance and, just like The Count of Monte Cristo, it rapidly affects as well those who had no business with it. Hamlet after being visited by his father's ghost starts a revenge against his uncle, the new king of Denmark and new husband to Hamlet's mother who used to be his sister in law (OMG the drama!), and feigns madness to hide his true intent. However, Claudius doesn't buy that since he believes "madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go."
More than the story, I do believe this play lives from its words and subjects it dwells on.
A friend said Hamlet speaks a lot and does nothing, I do agree with it but it's just amazing to read his soliloquy about suicide. I also loved Claudius confession, in which he realizes that "words without thoughts never to heaven go" and that he can't repent as long as he retains what has earned from his foul play ("may one be pardon'd and retain th'offence?")
I do recommend it. It can't be read lightly but it does enrich a person. It's easy to understand why there are still today so many adaptations. It's easy to relate, maybe not with the characters but with their feelings, thoughts and fears.
I am now a Shakespeare fan. Yep, I'm that easy. :)
~*~
Crítica em português aqui.
This is a story about vengeance and, just like The Count of Monte Cristo, it rapidly affects as well those who had no business with it. Hamlet after being visited by his father's ghost starts a revenge against his uncle, the new king of Denmark and new husband to Hamlet's mother who used to be his sister in law (OMG the drama!), and feigns madness to hide his true intent. However, Claudius doesn't buy that since he believes "madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go."
More than the story, I do believe this play lives from its words and subjects it dwells on.
A friend said Hamlet speaks a lot and does nothing, I do agree with it but it's just amazing to read his soliloquy about suicide. I also loved Claudius confession, in which he realizes that "words without thoughts never to heaven go" and that he can't repent as long as he retains what has earned from his foul play ("may one be pardon'd and retain th'offence?")
I do recommend it. It can't be read lightly but it does enrich a person. It's easy to understand why there are still today so many adaptations. It's easy to relate, maybe not with the characters but with their feelings, thoughts and fears.
I am now a Shakespeare fan. Yep, I'm that easy. :)
~*~
Crítica em português aqui.