How was Shakespeare meant to be interpreted.

[cesar]

So reading the script I realized something kind of obvious, that we're reading a play. But we're reading it carefully word by word and studying it. I wonder how Shakespeare would have wanted people to look at his work, because he wrote it as a play. In a play you don't stop and read every line; you act it out. You barely have time for the dialogue to sink in and have them mean something else. So I was wandering how Shakespeare would have wanted his work to be seen and studied. Read or acted? I also thought that it might be a good idea to watch the movie/play of hamlet, maybe that would give us a new perspective on how the whole story.

[sageda]

Yeah, it was meant to be acted out. We don't know the Old English that everyone was probably familiar with in the past so that's why we have to read it line by line. But I don't think it really matters what Shakespeare meant or wanted it to come off as. I think it's about the experience of the reader and the material. After being published, it no longer really is your book. Some people might find meaning in your work that you never intended but that's fine. It's about the reader.

But yeah, I think we should watch the movie or play just to see how the emotions are played out. It's a little hard to imagine it on paper.

[sarahlee4]

I think whenever there is a play or a story, its more understanding when you physically see it. When you read the play or story, you cant really all of the times feel all the emotions unless you fully understand the script. In this case, the script is really hard to understand, so I think seeing this play acted would be better.

[stormy44]

I agree with you Cesar! I find it sort of pointless dissecting every single line of the play. Scripts are meant to be read by actors only. I'm sure Shakespeare put some words or phrases in the soliloquies just so they can flow better. If I were Shakespeare and people put too much emphasis on every word I used, I would feel awkward... Plays are meant to entertain us. When we study them too much, they no longer are as interesting as the playwright intended them to be.

[minchoi0923]

Yeah, I also think that when studying a play, it's better to understand it by acting it out rather than just analyzing each line. I mean, it is important to know all those symbolism and metaphors but Plays are meant to be read out loud not read carefully. Also, Shakespeare wrote a play and play is used as a source of entertainment. People were able to connect to the play and feel the pain or happiness that the main character is going through; this is the whole purpose of play: for people to connect and be entertained. So I think the best way to study Hamlet is like you said Cesar, watching a movie or trying to think of it in modern way, like how Leonardo Dicaprio's Romeo and Juliet did.

[minjaeyang]

I think Shakespeare wanted people to act out Hamlet instead of having people read his script. He obviously took a lot of time writing dialogues and choosing good words that would sound like good spoken dialogues. He also instructed which character says what line. This means he wanted characters to act out his play.

[sujeonggg]

I agree with you. Since it is a play, I think the lines/dialogues are meant to be acted out by actors, not to be read every single words. So I believe Shakespeare might have wanted it to be acted out. But as we are studying it in class, I also think it would be better to understand his languages if we can watch the play/video with the script in front of us, so that it would be far better to analyze it with better understanding.

[jessicak016]

I also think that Shakespeare would have wanted this play to be acted out by actors and actresses rather than be analyzed and read carefully by people. Shakespeare wrote this play in order for someone to perform it on the stage, so that people would find entertainment in it.
It seems very similar to poems. Some writers of the poems might have wanted the readers to just read them rather than think about the deep meanings behind those lines.

[anica]

I agree with everyone in that Shakespeare's motive in writing Hamlet wasn't only to be interpreted by students, but to act out.

[michellelee]

I agree that Shakespeare wanted the play to be acted out and it is difficult to understand the play's meaning and tone just by reading from the written version. It would be easier for me to understand the emotions and descriptions that Shakespeare tried to put into the play by watching from a movie or play.

[joon]

Hamlet is a play, so Shakespeare most likely wanted people to watch his play. He probably didn't know that people were going to read and dissect his play word by word in order to understand it. Instead, he probably wanted people to understand the play by watching actors act out the emotions and put more life into his story. That way, it is more connectable and understandable by us, allowing us to appreciate the play way more than painstakingly reading word after word.

[juliekim]

I think he wanted it to be acted out more than read, but he would've liked either one anyways because just the fact that people are studying your work would make you feel good about yourself. I don't think he even thought about it in his lifetime because he didn't know how famous his works were going to become in the future. I'm guessing he probably wasn't those kinds of people who try to come up with stuff that would be popular. But if I were him, I'd prefer my works to be acted out (if they were plays). It brings more life into the work.

[franicaza95]

Well honestly whenever i heard people talk about shakespeare i always imagined them as plays. Meaning something that should be watched. I think that even if you learn more about an authors background, you still can never really know what he/she is trying to express in a story or phrase they write. Most likely if they would want other people to understand bettrr abiut them then why not write din understandle english.

[Alam10kkfs]

As everyone mentioned that Hamlet is a play. And I would like to watch this once more time in class. I remember watching this in ms.Hampton's speech class two years ago and we had to act it out, well I honestly think that it was hard. Some say that it's pointless to analyze it line by line but I think it's interesting to analyze it but like I just said, I would like to watch it again

[hannahs]

I don't think he really thought of that when he wrote the play. No one writes something and says to themselves people are going to be studying this when I die.. or do they? I'm not sure but since it is a play I assume that he meant for people to act out and other people to watch the play. Sometimes, people can understand something better when they see it acted out rather than reading it since they can feel the emotion and the interactions between characters better.