I woke up thinking about Hamlet. [Thank you for the epiphany, Bill.]

And then it started like a guuilty thing
Upon a fearful summons.

– Hamlet. Act 1. Scene 1. (Shakespeare)

I never read Shakespeare. At least I never read them all. I read Julius Caesar a couple times. And Romeo & Juliet. But there’s this stack of stuff I’ve been meaning to read. The stack’s pretty tall. And individually leatherbound.

Among my possessions stored in various places is a collection of hardbound booklets, one for every play Shakespeare wrote. The Collection was released between 1902-1906. I inherited them from my mama’s mama.

Once upon a few hours ago I tried to fall asleep at 8pm. Tired, weary, I drifted off within seconds. Left deep within, I dreamt of Hamlet. Fascinating because I never read the story nor have seen a movie about it. I just remember he went mad with vengeance over the murder of his father.

Vengeance. I’ve been forced to deal with the thought a little more.

A friend told me I was still bitter. I went to argue but then I realized she was right, but not for what she was arguing.

I dreamt of Hamlet, not with the time period clothing – which I couldn’t recall – or for any particular scene in the play – for which I haven’t yet found myself in position to recall. But I worked through the books of blues story line, reconsidering choices as a means of vengeance. The second verse to my dream started off with a praxis of whether or not there are “fixed” and “relative” moments in time (thank you, David Tennant & Russell T. Davies). Then the vengeance and paired moments started to duel in my head til I woke up 22 minutes later to an epiphany.

Sitting straight up and giddy, these elements poured over the baseline to my books of blues, shading in the dark corners and filling in the gaps. Those books finally have the deeper questions, and the touch of soul I was looking for…Which means my editor’s gonna have to be on hold…well, no, he can edit what’s there. They need a cleansing.

But my thirst to know more about Hamlet got me to roll out of bed. I started to see if I could find a copy then it dawned on me – David Tennant spent 2008 playing Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company – w/ Patrick Stewart. (Thank you, PBS.)

Here’s a clip of Tennant doing Hamlet’s Soliloquy for the move-ish adaptation for the RSC:

And as I went to go get the book out of storage I remembered: my booklet of Hamlet was next on my list to read. It’s sitting on my stack of books. Wow, this year has flown by.

Though the pieces are starting to fit together during the time

A little more than kin, and less than kind.

-Hamlet. ACT I Scene 2.

photo credits: 1) niiceshout & 2) Hytok and others. Both via Flickr

Last updated by Finn at August 9, 2020.