Sunday, September 23, 2012

Can one desire too much of a good thing?


What do you MEAN, I might have gone slightly overboard?

7 comments:

Sisyphus said...

Yum! They make a nice neat square, so it seems like you have just the right amount.

Bardiac said...

Too neat and tidy, you clearly need N+1!

Fie upon this quiet life! said...

My question is: which do you like best and recommend?

Fretful Porpentine said...

Fie -- Ah, crap, I think I might have to write an entire new post in response to that question! I guess the short version would be: I really like the new-ish one with David Tennant. It's fast and fun and irreverent, and I think he's probably the closest to my own mental image of Hamlet (who is dark-haired, kinda sharp-featured, and a GIANT NERD). But, like most of my generation of Shakespeareans, I really imprinted on the Branagh. Which I also love, apart from the total WTF-ery of the ghost scenes and the last few minutes. And they work so well together in the classroom: I like being able to pair up different versions of the soliloquies to bring out the contrasts between Branagh's cool, controlled Hamlet and Tennant's barely-holding-it-together one.

See, that is my problem. Two Hamlets are clearly more than twice as good as one Hamlet. It's like Hamlet squared. So somehow, I got the idea that nine Hamlets would be eighty-one times as good.

Fie upon this quiet life! said...

LOL. I had a student once write a paper about how she wanted Hamlet to be her boyfriend. That wasn't YOU was it? ;) Just kidding. I get what you mean, though. I like Branagh's Hamlet pretty well, except the "to be" speech. It bugs me. I mean, I get it. But I find it annoying. I haven't seen Tennant's version yet. I'll have to see about locating a copy.

Fretful Porpentine said...

Fie -- Nah, I would much rather have Hamlet be my college drinking buddy, as he is much nicer to Horatio than Ophelia. I want Berowne or Benedick to be my boyfriend.

Susan said...

Fie -- Hamlet as boyfriend sounds like a *very* bad idea. Just ask Ophelia. But the whole poster is great!