Dating Hamlet

Lisa Fiedler (author)

HarperCollins, USA: 2002; 190pp

ISBN: 0007161867

Genres: literature, romance fiction, drama

Issues:  abuse, corruption, family, friendship, identity, leadership, relationships 

A retelling of the famous play from the perspective of Ophelia.

The Danish court is troubled by rapid and uncomfortable changes. In a short space of time a great and well-respected king has unexpectedly died, his grieving widow has married her brother-in-law, and the heir to the kingdom, Hamlet, is suffering from depression.

Older advisors such as Polonius are striving to establish their place in the new political pecking order, competing with newcomers such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, peers of the prince. In the midst of this, the intelligent Ophelia, seeing all and using her considerable wits to support her grieving prince, is Hamlet's greatest source of comfort. When the ghost of Hamlet's father brings hints of murder and treason, Ophelia is determined to help her beloved achieve his great revenge.

Fiedler has created a powerful retelling, sufficiently accurate to the original plot to introduce newcomers to Shakespeare's great play without too much confusion. The innovation is that Fiedler portrays Ophelia as Hamlet's equal in every way - a true kindred spirit, sharing a meeting of minds. Together they plan Hamlet's madness, the traps ‘to catch the conscience of a king'.

While she certainly plays with plot, characters and relationships, borrowing the potion that produces a death-like sleep from Romeo and Juliet to produce a different ending, Fiedler respects the Bard's work and this novel should encourage readers to attempt the ‘real thing'. Unlike other authors who have attempted similar referential works, Fiedler also achieves an appropriate register - the language is both formal and playful; not blank verse but of the period.

Believable, entertaining and providing some food for thought about events ‘off stage' and ‘between scenes', 'Dating Hamlet' is a very clever piece of writing.