Despite everyone in my AP Lit class hating on Shakespeare, I loved this play. Definitely my favorite Shakespeare play I have read.

The thing you need to remember about Shakespeare is he's a poet. That's truly what he is. It's how he personally referred to himself. He didn't write any novels. Calling Hamlet a novel is ridiculous and will get you b-slapped by myself or my teacher. You can't just sit down and read Hamlet to appreciate it. You need to imagine the actors. You need to watch the film versions (because one does not suffice, considering they are all rather different). Most importantly, you need to see it on stage. That's what Hamlet was written for. It was written so that people could come and sit in the local theatre and watch people tell stories on the stage. That is the purpose to the plays Shakespeare wrote.

You see, we had a discussion in class about whether or not Ophelia is a weak character. Everyone in my class kept calling her a weak female who just did what her father told. If you read the words, yeah you could interpret her that way. But Shakespeare just wrote those lines. How it's performed is truly dependent on the actress (well actor in Shakespearean times). I guess I was able to view it that way, since the stage is my second home.

I just have a lot of feelings about this play and Shakespeare in general.