Alcala 1958

Hamlet— Campus Idol By ROBERT C. WAL SH , Ph. D. Engli sh Dep ar tm en t Col le ge fo r Men O VER the centurie sthe cha rac ter of Hamle t has been sub jec ted to cou ntl essan aly sisand inter preta ­ tion ;the pla y ha s beenpre sen ted in cos tum ing of the Mi dd le Ag es, in the doublet and ho se of Shake spe are 's own da y, in the pic tur esq ueatt ire of Vic tor iantimes, 1 in mode rndre ss wit hou t scene ry.It appe ars lhat the sub ject ha s be en thorou ghl y cov ­ ere d. let- , . s artment lege 0 i s t r l t te tle l sis a • ; e te ing le , s are's , es ue ian tim , 1 t scenery. rs t j g ly - l t i l i ts lo, i i g i ity.

In the univer sity of Sha kespea re's da y Hamle t woul d ha ve been regard ed as a typ ica l Ren aiss ance figur e, aki n in some res pec ts to Leon ardo da Vi nc i and Mic hel­ an ge lo,the emp has is oninte llec tua l acum en, str iki ng ind ivid ual ity and impres sive ver­ sa til ity . In the univer sity of tod ay Ham let would be an "all -aro und"man , a you th of attra c­ tiv e soc ial asse ts, of profou nd mi nd , of ph ysi cal prow ess. In a mod ern Am eri can un ive rsi tyhe can be vis ualize das an ido l of the campus , pers ona lly popular , a philo­ sop hy maj or, a studen t dire ctor of the drama ticgrou p, the cap tain and star of the fenc in gteam. It ma y be arg ued that the fo re go ing con cep tion sca rce ly fit s the Ham let of Sha kes pea re's pla y, the bro odi ng, cy ni ca l youn gprin ce of sta ge tra diti on, the mo ros e man in black so much out of har mo nywith all the colo r and sple ndo r of the cou rt about him. Bu t thi s is the Ham let away from hi s col leg e and his frie nd s, torn firs t bet we en gri ef for his fath er's dea th and rev ulsion ag ain sthis moth er's hasty rem arr iag e; the n late r con fus edand dist ract edby the unw el­ come task of rev eng eimp ose dupon him by the sp iri tof his fath er. This is the Ham let for ced to remain in Els ino re by the sus pic iou sClaudiu s, wh o is sit re's e ance e, i l- sis on t l acumen, ality sive • sit l " , - l , , ical s . ica i rsity li d , l y , - , t tic , i f the ing t . g ing tion l l re's , ing, l g ition, e ny r rt . l e , e ' l st ' rriage; ed e l- e t f . l i i iou C i s, re

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And yet , su ch is the ma gni tud e of Sha kespea re'scre ati vepow er, the pos sib ili­ ties seem inf in ite , the fac ets sti ll to be exp lore dwit hou t app are ntend . One asp ect of Ham let on ly lig ht ly tou che d upo n here ­ tofore is the Pr inceof Denmar kas a coll ege student, ost ens ibly "o n lea ve of abs enc e" from the Unive rsi tyof Wi ttenbe rg. Sin ce Shake spe arecon stantly del ine ate d his cha rac ter sin the refl ecti on of hi s own era , Hamle t is her e pr inc ipally con sid ere d as a 17t h-c ent urystu de nt, 2 with som e add i­ tional comme nton hi s 20t h-c ent urypote n­ tia lity . 1 Th e so-c alled GI prod ucti onof Maur ice Evan s, on tour in both Euro pean and Japan ese "theat res" of the last World War, was costum ed like a Stra uss oper a, the gent lemen in 19th- centu ry mili tary uni form , the lad ies in hoop skirts . 2 The orig inal Ham let was a pseud o-hist orical figu re, first men tioned in a major way by Sax o Grammaticus, a Dan ish histo rian of the 13th centu ry. t de re's c tive , sibili- i ite, t explored t t t . of Hamlet o ly • i ce i ly e" rsity berg. s are tl ted ters o , l t i i al ered t ury tudent,2 i- t ury • l . T l ction f i s, rn t s , l e , i . 2 ~ e i l l as rical e, i ti , i ,

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