Hamlet

Restaging “The Mousetrap”

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, we learn of the unfolding spectacle within a young man’s family through his thoughts, doubts and hesitations that eventually precipitate acts of both premeditated and sudden revenge. Although it’d be unfair to pigeonhole the Prince of Denmark as an indecisive man of melancholy, he certainly does spend most of his time wrestling with the truth behind the alleged events that have taken place within Elsinore’s walls. Through all his sulking, Hamlet remains a calculating individual, despite eccentric tactics that would appear otherwise. It seems likely that a man’s behavior, marked by a clear decision to act as if he is crazy (while abusing the people around him and giving free expression to antisocial thoughts), would be hard to assess regarding the indistinct point at which he stops pretending to be crazy and starts actually being crazy.
However, what makes this emotional turmoil most interesting with regard ...