Hamlet uzmysłowiony

Hamlet uzmysłowiony nie jest ścisłą analizą tekstu, nie jest też stricte pracą z zakresu filmoznawstwa, ale raczej projektem z pogranicza orientacji badawczych, który uwzględnia różnicę pomiędzy reprezentacjami zmysłów w dwóch wymiarach funkcjonowania Hamleta w kulturze, z dodatkowym istotnym rozróżnieniem – wpływem różnicy płci poszczególnych postaci dramatu na reprezentacje doświadczeń angażujących zmysły. Rezultatem badawczym jest takie spojrzenie (by posłużyć się określeniem o zabarwieniu wizualnym) na uzmysłowiony dramat Szekspira, które potencjalnie może zaznaczyć się na polu badań nad Hamletem jako praca łącząca perspektywę genderowo-feministyczną z elementami antropologii kulturowej. Badania, które podejmują problematykę reprezentacji zmysłów na poziomie tekstu oraz na ekranie filmowym, to próba połączenia dwóch wymiarów funkcjonowania Hamleta, mianowicie w kulturze wczesnej nowożytności (tekst) oraz w kulturze współczesnej (film).

Sensing (Sensuous) „Hamlet” aims at making a comparison between the textual version of the play written by William Shakespeare and its cinematic renditions, namely: Franco Zeffirelli’s (1990), Kenneth Branagh’s (1996) and Michael Almereyda’s (2000). The book is divided into introduction, five chapters: “Cultural architecture of the senses”; “Remains of sensual life of the people from the past”, “The senses in early modern theatre, philosophy and medicine”; “The tragedy of Hamlet as the tragedy of the senses”; “The senses on screen: new sensuality of Hamlet”, and conclusions. I pose a pivotal question whyHamlet is sensuous and how one should sense it. I assume that both literature and film might be treated as territories that convey meanings of human sensory perception. I trace these meanings and cultural values that are hidden behind them by analyzing selected Hamlet(s), scene by scene. My investigation is grounded in sensory studies, new theoretical terrain which renders any sensory analysis possible. The senses are understood as cultural formations undergoing changes in time. The evolution of cultural interpretation of the senses is thus inevitable. Such cultural texts as Hamlet-the drama or Hamlet-the film are regarded as sources of knowledge, also about the senses. Although sensory experiences are volatile and passing, they remain in form of literary or cinematic representations. It is noteworthy that in my analysis I purposely exploited the method that complies with gendering of the senses. The construction of male and female ways of sensing as well as a division into the senses associated either with women (touch, smell and taste) or men (sight and hearing) contributed to creating a gender-oriented examination of the senses in early modern and contemporary times. Cultural imagining of the senses is feasible due to the existence of various Hamlets, being in constant dialogue with each other, that is to say, in intertextual relations. The sensory code of Hamlet is a complex composition that still bothers our minds (and senses). The title is a word play that pertains to a twofold nature of the drama: Hamlet is a play to be sensed (grasped, also with the help of our senses) and simultaneously Hamlet is sensuous – abundant in sensory imagery, a key to decipher the mystery of Hamlet’s popularity and its mesmerizing qualities.