Perhaps this isn't as interesting as a youtube parody video, but I found the read particularly interesting. It's a famous article that was published in 1817 by William Hazlitt, giving an in-depth character analysis of Hamlet himself. Highly recommended if you haven't read it before...Check it out here.
1 comment:
Wow. Another Hazlitt fan.
You can probably tell that I'm a fan of Hazlitt from the fact that there's a quote from him on this blog page--and there's a link to anther online version of this essay in the Links section of our Yahoo group.
Since Hazlitt's point is (partly) that we respond to Hamlet because we see ourselves in his position, it's not to surprising that he gave some time to developing a psychological theory--before the word "psychology" was used--that rejected the idea that we passively receive influences from objects and people around us. He believed in a larger role for imagination and "sympathy"--that is, we unconsciously understand others through projecting ourselves into their position.
This also suggested to him that we ought to read Shakespeare rather than see his plays acted onstage--that, and the fact that he saw so many productions that didn't meet his standards.
By the way, I think that's a self-portrait. He's one of the few important writers I can think of who was also a gifted artist.
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