Word: hamletã
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2001-2001
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...title is a line from Hamlet, and it didn’t even occur to me how perfect it was until the new addition of Horatio as Hamlet??s half-brother. It is perfect because no one is telling the truth in the play, except Hamlet and Ophelia. Everyone is presenting a counterfeit to everyone else...
...member of the freshman class, Jeremy R. Funke ’03, has attempted and achieved just that. His new play, A Counterfeit Presentment, challenges the traditional interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, Hamlet. Funke’s play is a blend of Hamlet??s original text (as well as Othello and King Lear) and his own semi-Elizabethan prose. Although it would seem like a tall order to even attempt to change Shakespeare’s masterpiece, the mixture of the old material and Funke’s new lines works well...
...version of the tragedy is at first a bit confusing due to the plot’s completely different point of view. A Counterfeit Presentment is more the story of Horatio, one of Hamlet??s advisors, than anyone else. The play begins with Horatio wanting not only to tell Hamlet??s tale, but also to confess his own sins. It is here that Funke has incorporated a historical element in to the plot; Horatio tells his story to Saxo the Grammarian, the first writer to enter the real “Amleth” into...
After the initial scene between Horatio and Saxo, the audience sees Horatio conspire with the Player. He pays the Player to dress up as the ghost of Hamlet??s dead father and convince him of the treachery of Claudius, the new king of Denmark. Thus, Horatio becomes the driving force behind Hamlet??s suspicion and actions. Horatio soon reveals that he is the bastard son of Gertrude, and is jealous of his half-brother’s position of power and favor in the family. His ultimate goal is to see Hamlet into the throne...
Indeed, the comic relief itself is another asset to A Counterfeit Presentment. Hamlet??s humorous scenes are made even better by the way that the actors present themselves. Expressions, costumes and mannerisms often elicit laughter from the audience and bring some levity to the tragic atmosphere. One especially entertaining scene involves Horatio and two sailors, who are the quintessential embodiments of pirates, even down to the traditional “Argh!” and piratical accent...