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Hamlet, Hamlet, Hamlet. I have to admit, I was worried about reading another one of Shakespeare's works. I read Romeo and Juliet in ninth grade, and I read Twelfth Night in 10th grade.  I remember thinking that I understood Romeo and Juliet in ninth grade, but after reading barley one act of Hamlet, I have realized that I did not understand it as well as I could have. The same goes for Twelfth Night. There are so many different meanings behind one word in Hamlet,  I do not even want to think of how many different uses of a word Shakespeare used in Romeo and Juliet. If ninth grade me read Hamlet like we are reading it in class, my freshman mind would have been blown. I do not think there is another book that captures the  "it is all how you interpret it" concept. If you read one word a different  way than another reader, then  you could have a completely different interpretation and take away something else from that passage. For example, one reader can read the King's speech to Hamlet in Act 1 Scene 2 as message from a concerned fatherly figure or a person in a political situation who wants to keep an eye on the heir to the thrown. Personally, I interpreted the King's speech as the second scenario I listed. It all depends on the reader and how they look at the character.
   Reading aloud in class most definitely helps me understand Shakespeare more than I would have been able to understand it myself. Watching the videos in class also helps me further understand the play. I also find it interesting to watch how the director decided to portray the characters.  For example, the version we watched in class portrayed Ophelia as already having a sexual relationship with Hamlet. Kate Winslet looks worried and nervous as her father scolds her because she has already opened her "treasure" to Hamlet. I am intrigued to see how Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship pans out in the future. Hamlet seems a little to preoccupied with his dead father to even pay any attention to Ophelia.
  Okay, I have to talk about that scene that we watched in class on Friday. We had yet to read the part we watched on Friday, so I had to pay close attention to make sure that I knew what was going on. The word "interesting" does not even to begin to capture the essence of that scene. The effects were strange and everything was extremely dramatized. But hey, I guess I would be yelling and stressed out if I saw my father as a ghost and he told me that he was murdered by my uncle. That is the major element that I took out of that scene. Poor Hamlet had to see his father'a ghost only to find out that the man who is now king is a murderer. Not only is he a murderer, he is a murderer who married his mother. That is a lot to take in after Hamlet has been grieving for only two months. Hopefully positive things will happen to Hamlet. However, since his father'a ghost is most likely a bad omen, it does not look like things are going to get better any time soon. We shall see what poor Hamlet has to endure in the future!