Not a good day. Not at all. I bought a used book yesterday, or at least I thought I had. It was a book called The Heart of Hamlet, the Play Shakespeare Wrote by Bernard Grebanier. It was highly recommended and debated on the Shaksper mailing list. As I understand it, Grebanier asserts that Hamlet is at no time during the play insane and that his only delay is in "catching the conscience of the king." This is what I have gathered from others, so I'm not entirely sure if that's precisely Mr. Grebanier's position, but what I've heard sounds similar to the feeling I have about the play. I decided I'd see if I could buy a copy.

It was hard to find. Amazon had a couple of used copies to offer for close to $200. I passed. After searching several used book dealers with no luck, I finally found a copy on usedbookscentral.com for $11.99 (!!!). I rounded up the parental unit and, more importantly, her credit card and bought the thing faster than you could say Honorificabilitudinitatibus. I remained in a state of elation for the rest of the evening and most of this morning when my giddy state was interrupted by an email from the dealer explaining that the book was not available, after all.

ARRRRRGH!!
After I pasted the shattered peices of my world back together, I decided to look on the bright side: This allows me more time to better define my own interpretation of the play. I was content with this thought for all of about five minutes when I realized that any interpretation I, myself, could come up with for Hamlet would do me no good whatsoever, because it would not be an informed interpreation. And with that I turned into a miserable puddle of self-pitying goo.

The way I see it, in order to understand Shakespeare, you need to understand the times he lived in. I would have to know a lot more about Elizabethan culture than I do now to come up with something that could legitimately answer the questions I have about Hamlet. Best I can explain it is a person's culture and customs is going to have an impact on their actions, if you follow me. Also, I would need to be able to identify misconceptions about the play that have woven themselves into the way Hamlet is played and perceived today. For instance, it was only after the Restoration that Hamlet began to be portrayed as melancholy and indecisive. Each generation seems to have it's own little gimmick that "solves" Hamlet. Freud? Good grief.

Seeing as how I'm not going to become an expert on Elizabethan life or the history of English theater any time soon. . . Sigh. Oh, well. I'll just have to wait and keep an eye out for that book to turn up at a reasonable price. If worse comes to worse, I'll get an interlibrary loan. God forbid I should actually go to the library and read books for free.

I'd like to read a book on Hamlet that takes into consideration how it's been manipulated over the years. I'm not certain, but from what I'd heard, Grebanier's book seemed to do this. I'd like the opportunity to read it and pass judgement for myself.

On a related note, I recently bought a book called Shakespeare's Lives.

Alls I need now is a pocket protector and some scotch tape. . .