Hamlet Made Simple and Other Essays
David P. Gontar, 2013
New English Review Press
428 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780985439491
Summary
Hamlet Made Simple and Other Essays is a collection of twenty essays on different aspects of Shakespeare's art. What makes it unique is that it is neither a conventional academic work, nor an exercise in popularization, nor just another authorship biography. Rather it seeks to bring all these discourses together in one jargon-free text which addresses the concerns of both scholars and general readers.
What is at the heart of this book is learning to have the patience and courage to ask again the fundamental questions, and go to Shakespeare himself for guidance. In the real world we find that children often raise the best issues, and adults are led astray by their own rashness and presumptions. For example, a child might ask, Why is not Prince Hamlet made King of Denmark after the death of his father? In their haste, teachers may dismiss such queries instead of using them as threads to be followed into the fabric of the play.
There are no wrong questions. Nothing is taboo. When we are young and immature we suppose that "I am right and everyone else is off base." If we gain a little wisdom we realize that everyone is right. That's what makes life so fascinating. Successful teachers learn to build bridges from every student response to the theme of the lesson. We all make a contribution.
Hamlet Made Simple exposes the student to Shakespeare's words without dictating answers based on sophistication and ideology. Instead, it demonstrates in chapter after chapter that you and I are liable to error, and that even prominent professors of English may be most in need of instruction.
The purpose of Hamlet Made Simple is to so present the challenges of Shakespeare's works that the reader is impelled to view them and re-view them, following performance with study. In that way our understanding and appreciation deepen. If we are lucky, we discover that Shakespeare is not writing about strange individuals with funny names like "Shylock" and "Doll Tearsheet." He is writing about us. Out of the corner of our eyes we note something in this or that character that reminds us just a little bit of ourselves, and, even if we never realize that we are reading about ourselves, we change, we grow.
That is the magic of Shakespeare, the kindest of teachers. Distracting us with the beauty of his art, he works upon our souls, and makes us new. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1945
• Where—State of New York, USA
• Education—Ph. D., Tulane University; J.D.,
Loyala Law School.
• Currently—lives in Inner Mongolia, China
David P. Gontar was born in New York State in 1945. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy from Tulane University in New Orleans, and a J.D. from Loyola Law School. He has four grown children.
David served as Assitant Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Southern University from 1975 to 1982. Thereafter he was engaged in the practice of law in New Orleans, Louisiana and southern California. He is currently Adjunct Professor of English and Philosophy at Inner Mongolia University in China.
In 2010, he was the English editor of China's application to UNESCO for World Heritage Status of the Xanadu site in Inner Mongolia, granted by UNESCO in June of 2012.
David's writings have appeared in Southwestern Journal of Philosophy, Tulane Studies in Philosophy, Plantation Society in the Americas, Loyola Law Review and New English Review. He has monthly publications online at New English Review, including essays on Shakespeare, as well as poetry, aphorisms, parables, stories, and a platonic dialogue.
He hopes to be remembered as the fellow who once observed, "You can't push a wedding cake with a hat pin." (From the author.)
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Discussion Questions
1. Which do you think is the more significant character, Romeo or Juliet—and why?
2. Is Lucrece in any way responsible for what happens to her?
3. Why do Posthumous Leonatus and Collatine boast about their wives?
4. What is the prognosis for the marriages of Benedick and Beatrice, Portia and Bassanio, Olivia and Sebastian, Lysimachus and Marina & Leontes and Hermione?
5. Why does Brutus kill Caesar?
6. Why does King Harry banish Falstaff?
7. Why can't Hamlet kill Claudius?
8. Why at the outset of Hamlet is the Prince not the King of Denmark?
9. Can a case be made that Macbeth is not ambitious?
10. What is the best interpretation of the Oedipus myth? How does it stand in relation to other myths such as Phaeton, Prometheus, Bellerophon, and Daedalus and Icarus?
11. How does Prince Hal find his way to Eastcheap? What is his connection with Poins?
12. Does Shylock get a fair trial?
13. What are Shakespeare's religious views?
14. Do Kings Henry IV, V and VI have anything in common?
15. Why does King Henry V invade France?
16. Is Measure for Measure a comedy? How so?
17. If you were to set completely aside all biographical information, and confine yourself to the works of Shakespeare and nothing else, what kind of person would you think the author to have been?
18. Does Prospero have anything in common with Caliban?
(Questions provided courtesy of the author.)