Who Am I?

One of the things that make Hamlet such an interesting character is how his story is so ambiguous. Is he acting or is he really insane? Well, that's a little to big for this blog post. That's why I will focus on another ambiguous detail about Hamlet: his lack of backstory. In the first act we have a bunch of events that had recently happened thrown at our faces and it takes a while to really get what is going on. It's kind of interesting how the fist act is basically a retelling of what had happened in the past. However, how much this actually shows us is really minimal. We are only told that the king has been murdered and her wife married his brother. This leaves all of Hamlet's life all the way up to his awkward teen years in the air. The number of possible interpretations are endless and each one changes the theme of the play completely. This creates a huge responsibility on who is the lucky guy chosen to be Hamlet.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe writes about this in his essay. Wilhelm Meister, chosen to act Hamlet, shows his interpretation of Hamlet as a young man who's life was a dream until his uncle took it all away from him. This is an interesting interpretation as it explains why Hamlet has this random hatred towards his uncle in the beginning, but I personally find this very unlikely. I seriously doubt that one can just spontaneously hate everyone. The hatred he has towards his mother is way to strong to have originated in one afternoon. He has serious personal issues that date further back than a couple of weeks ago. There has to be a reason behind Hamlet fascination with talking to himself and his fear of acting. As shown, I don't really agree with this idea, but I have to accept that it is just an opinion. People differ in opinion about everything. If you don't believe me, read the comments in any Youtube video.

Nevertheless, I can't help but admire this fellow. Being an actor myself, I am intrigued by how he would pull off this Hamlet and how it would change the meaning of the play. Figuring out just who is Hamlet is for one is a huge feat and Wilhelm has been able to do so. He knows what he has to do, and knowing is half the battle.