In 1848 the German poet Ferdinand Freiligrath wrote a poem in which he wrote that "Germany is Hamlet", referring to the famous Shakespearean play, which toured Germany within five years of Shakespeare's death. It seems that play never left.
Ever since his famous poem, scholars have debated back and forth, looking for and finding or not finding themselves within the text. Freiligrath's original poem describes Hamlet as being serious, and overly thoughtful, yet inactive. He thinks too much and does too little, which Freiligrath saw in Germany of the 19th century, though he later wrote, "To the German Shakespeare Society of Weimar, Representative of a People Whose Recent history has proved Once for all that "Germany is Not Hamlet." (Look for a future post where I take a look more closely at that poem)
Germans have a long history with this play. There are a couple of articles that I want to find and read. One about how this play was treated and presented in East and West Germany and what the differences tell us about Germany, another about the political reception of Hamlet in Germany throughout its history, and a third deals with a German version of the play called Der Bestrafte Brudermord (The Punished Fratracide).
I also found an interesting 1921 German silent film of Hamlet on YouTube, that I'd like to watch when I have some time. From what I've seen they have made at least one very unique directorial choice -- Hamlet is a girl! It would be interesting to explore that and discover what that changes about the play, and why this German director felt the need to make that change.
