cover image DATING HAMLET: Ophelia's Story

DATING HAMLET: Ophelia's Story

Lisa Fiedler, . . Holt, $16.95 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-8050-7054-5

Fiedler (Lucky Me) keeps the framework of Shakespeare's classic play intact, but in this fun, feminist retelling, Ophelia narrates. Hamlet's uncle still murders his father, the king, and marries his mother, and Hamlet is called upon by his father's ghost to avenge him. Here, however, it is Ophelia who first tells Hamlet of his father's ghost (she observes Horatio's encounter with the King's apparition from a hiding place). And when Hamlet sets out to prove his uncle's guilt, feigning madness and staging a play that mimics the murder, Ophelia helps him; together they compose the letter, "proving" his madness (addressed to "beautified Ophelia"), incorporating here, as in other scenes, Shakespeare's original language. Fiedler also intermittently offers insight into several of Shakespeare's double entendres (e.g., when Hamlet, acting mad, asks Ophelia whether she is "honest"—virtuous as well as truthful). The author adds a scene in which the two consummate their love, and also lays the groundwork for Ophelia's mad speech about flowers in Act IV, Scene V of the original play. Fiedler takes other liberties: chief among them, Ophelia only fakes her death, calling suicide "a cowardly act"; and also fashions a servant/confidante and new lineage for Ophelia (here her true father is a grave-digger). Those familiar with the original Hamlet will most appreciate Fiedler's imaginative approach, as she pays homage to the Bard with clever cribbing and her own twist on Shakespearean language. Ages 12-up. (Nov.)