The plan to meet with colleagues once a month to discuss the Bard’s works has survived into a second meeting. In April, a few of us English teachers met at a coffee shop to discuss Romeo & Juliet– its language and characters.

Now, in May, we met to chat about Shakespeare’s greatest play, our favourite: Hamlet. What follows is a glimpse of our discussion…

What makes Hamlet the greatest play?

• The depth of this play has provided us with rich discussion and debate year-round, in a way that no other play ever will — religion, existentialism and Freud hundreds of years too early.
• The talk about theatre and acting throughout, analyzing the fiction and the reality of the performance.
• As Richard Monette (former artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival) once said, “There is only one good reason for becoming an actor, and that is to aspire to play the role of Hamlet…”

Is Hamlet mad?

• Hamlet obviously has a lot going on in his life and he is struggling to hold things together, but his madness is primarily an act. Still, how trustworthy of a narrator is he?

Did Hamlet and Ophelia truly love each other?

• Ophelia ends the relationship under the direction of her father and her brother, not as an act of her own will.
• Whether or not he lashes out at Ophelia because he is hurt, the evidence suggests that he did indeed love Ophelia.

Is Hamlet a likeable character?

• Ay, here’s the rub. One’s feelings for or against this title character will direct much interpretation of the entire play…
• Hamlet is witty and funny.
• Is he also a self-centered, self-serving, disloyal, remorseless, uncaring, dangerous woman-hater?

Did Rosencrantz and Guildenstern get what they deserved?

• These two ‘friends’ were summoned by the King and Queen — they had no choice but to do as directed.
• Do they genuinely care for Hamlet’s well-being? Is it possible that ‘the king’s remembrances’, ‘rewards’, and ‘making love to their employment’ suggest payment for their trouble?
• Regardless, their execution is too cruel.

What is Shakespeare’s message about revenge?

• Hamlet’s attempts at gaining revenge cause no end of trouble. Laertes too gets the worst of his own vengeance. Is the Bard suggesting that seeking revenge is folly?
• Only Fortinbras succeeds in avenging his father’s death, by ascending to the Danish throne, though he acquiesced in his attempts at seeking it out.

Some further points that struck us:

• Horatio almost killed himself to show loyalty to Hamlet
• Gertrude was unable to see the Ghost, though the soldiers saw it
• Fortinbras did come victorious from Poland — so was he in Denmark for a fight?
• Hamlet’s words to Laertes prior to the duel were in response to the Queen’s request