The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0075  Sunday, 26 February 2006

[1] 	From: 	M Yawney <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
	Date: 	Monday, 20 Feb 2006 09:05:35 -0800 (PST)
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 17.0063 Re-reading Hamlet

[2] 	From: 	Joseph Egert <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
	Date: 	Monday, 20 Feb 2006 23:09:10 +0000
	Subj: 	RE: SHK 17.0063 Re-reading Hamlet


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		M Yawney <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
Date: 		Monday, 20 Feb 2006 09:05:35 -0800 (PST)
Subject: 17.0063 Re-reading Hamlet
Comment: 	Re: SHK 17.0063 Re-reading Hamlet

Jim Blackie <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >wrote:

 >What is going on? Are we now re-inventing these
 >plays as we go along?
 >Are we doomed to re-interpret the original text to
 >align with our newest
 >obsessions with hidden agendas and conspiracy
 >theories? Have we suddenly
 >all become very clever in our new-found
 >21st-century, penetrating
 >understanding? Or are we perhaps guilty of the same
 >hubris and
 >self-delusion that gave us the discovery of pyramids
 >on Mars?

What is "going on" is the same process that Shakespeare himself took 
part in.

Authors are taking old stories, twisting them, adapting them, altering 
them to fit with their own interests and obsessions and to suit the 
peculiarities of the media they are working in and the tastes of their 
audience.

This was neither "hubris" nor "self-delusion" when Shakespeare did it, 
and it is not now when today's playwrights and screenwriters adapt old 
stories. This is simply a process that has been going on since the 
ancient Greeks and will continue. Nothing is wrong with that.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Joseph Egert <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
Date: 		Monday, 20 Feb 2006 23:09:10 +0000
Subject: 17.0063 Re-reading Hamlet
Comment: 	RE: SHK 17.0063 Re-reading Hamlet

Jim Blackie protests: "can't we just let the plays speak for themselves?"

They do, Jim, only with forked tongue to more than one audience.

Joe Egert

_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook, 
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>

DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the 
opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the 
editor assumes no responsibility for them.