I am grateful for Orchard Classics for publishing the abridged version of Shakespeare’s plays. This was an easy read, rendered all the more delightful because I finished it while ensuring that my children have their breakfast on a lazy, yet tumultuous weekend morning.

It is said that Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s easiest plays to tackle because it doesn’t overwhelm the mind with concurrently developing plots and subplots. Yup, it was just so nice on the mind to follow Hamlet’s journey without having to keep track of fairies and witches and whathaveyou. Just him being obsessed with avenging his father’s death after the latter had appeared as a spirit and revealed the name of his murderer.

Turned out his dad’s killer was Hamlet’s uncle, so while it was intriguing to read of Hamlet pretending to go insane and biding his time to trap his uncle, Claudius, I couldn’t help but feel sad that he gave up pursuing his love for his childhood bosom buddy, Ophelia in the process. To what extent does the means justify the end? This kind of moral dilemma boggles my mind. Would I have made the same choice if I were Hamlet?

I knew prior to reading this that it is a tragedy, but nonetheless, I couldn’t help but feel sad when I came to the part of Ophelia killing herself as a result of Hamlet mistakenly killing her father. Polonius. Even though I’m just reading the abridged version, I suspect the Elizabethan audiences who watched Hamlet back then won’t have much headspace to digest Ophelia’s death and express regret over the missed love opportunity. Instead, they were presented with a rousing scene of Laertes (Ophelia’s brother) and Hamlet engaged in a bloody death duel. It seems that one of the baser impulses of us Homo sapiens is to watch people die. Centuries from the showing of Hamlet, modern audiences flock to watch Monsters the Menendez Brothers on Netflix.

Anyway, I want to dream a bigger life. I managed to score free tickets to Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night Dream produced by the Singapore Repertory Theatre. Someday, I would like to watch Hamlet and participate in New York’s version of Shakespeare in the Park. Let’s see if I can manifest this dream into reality!

Do you like Hamlet?