Feb. 15th, 2020

capri0mni: A black Skull & Crossbones with the Online Disability Pride Flag as a background (Default)
There has been a half-complete version of post under a "Private" filter (my eyes only) here since 9 December, 2018, just waiting for me to get the energy and mental focus to write an essay outlining all the textual evidence in Act 4, scene 1 (Ophelia's "madness" scene). But at this point, I don't think the required energy for that will ever come -- at least, not for the long essay format.

So I'm just going to post my conspiracy theory Thesis Statement here:

Ophelia did not commit suicide -- she was murdered. By Queen Gertrude (probably).


And I can't help but wonder how this play would be taught and performed if this interpretation were the standard one.

Here's a bit of a presentation by Shakespearean actor and scholar, Ben Crystal, on his interpretation of the "To be, or not to be?" soliloquy, and how he no longer thinks Hamlet was suicidal at that point in the play, either (though he was, earlier on): Ben Crystal talks about Original Pronunciation, 20 July 2017 (it's at a point about 40 minutes in to the whole thing).

So what if suicide is not a recurring theme of the play? How does that change things?

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capri0mni: A black Skull & Crossbones with the Online Disability Pride Flag as a background (Default)
Ann

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