Word: hamlets
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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There are no complex characters in Miller's Hamlet. From beginning to end, the Prince is simply a thoroughgoing lunatic whose madness is real, and not a weapon used to confuse his enemies. This creature, as played by Hugh Thomas, is not Prince Hamlet, not was meant to be, in the normal sense. He is one-dimensional in the extreme. Luckily, Thomas is a fine actor who carries off the part rather well, making himself believable, even though his character is out of place in the context of the play. At some points, though, he loses credibility, especially...
...master politician, filled with cunning and unshakable. Thus, he shows no emotion during the players' performance, since he is (Miller thinks) too crafty to fall for a simple trick like that. This may be consistent with Miller's idea, but not with Shakespeare's, for it gives Hamlet no ground for believing that Claudius has done the murder. It makes Guildenstern's lines "The king ... is in his retirement marvelous distempered..." seem absurd, for we have just seen the king perfectly unmoved. Again, in the final scene, Miller creates a contradiction when he has Claudius invite Hamlet to kill...
...complex, not easily explicable. There are conflicts in the play which Shakespeare never resolves. Miller has included the part of Claudius who kills his brother, but has ignored the part which cries "O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven..." He has ignored the textual justifications for Hamlet's behavior, and tried to superimpose an interpretation of his own which is totally unaccounted for in the internal evidence. In short, he has done violence to Hamlet, murder most foul...
Despite all this, Miller's Hamlet is interesting, because it is inventive. The acting is good, and the production, though it offends, never bores. Hamlet is undoubtedly the funniest thing Miller has done since Beyond the Fringe...
...because he is any more liberal, but simply because he knows his true constituency better, because he will not embarrass them with obstinacy on minor issues, and because he will have their support, and not, like Claudius, have to skulk about his own domain in fear of some treacherous Hamlet in his own camp...