Manga Shakespeare: Hamlet Illustrated by Emma Vieceli

I was predisposed to like Manga Shakespeare's Hamlet, but the execution of bringing this admittedly famous story to the world as a manga is deeply flawed by cutting out at least some of the words of the more famous parts of the play.

The story is well-illustrated, and begins with Bernardo, Francisco, Marcellius and Horatio witnessing the spirit of the Dead King of the Danes returning to the castle from his crypt. Though they implore him to speak as to why his spirit does not rest, the King's Ghost is silent. When Hamlet, the former King's son, returns to the Kingdom, his friend Horatio brings him this disquieting news, and Hamlet is impelled to investigate.

Following the King's Ghost when he appears, the Spirit tells him that he died of no natural causes, but was killed by his own brother, Claudius, the same man who is now King and is married to Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude. Hamlet promises his father's ghost revenge on the man who killed him, but the knowledge disquiets his mind and drives him crazy.

Still, the things he says gives the King and Queen reason to suspect Hamlet of holding some secret, but they suspect that it is love for Ophelia, Daughter of one of the King's Advisors, a man named Polonius. Polonius's son, Laertes, is about to leave on a trip out of the Kingdom as an ambassador, and he advises his sister to have nothing to do with Hamlet. Her father advises her not to have anything to do with him as well. But when the King and Queen tell Polonius that love for Ophelia may have caused Hamlet's madness, he agrees to engineer a meeting between the Prince and his daughter.

Meanwhile, Hamlet lays a trap for Claudius, having two actors do a play about a man killing his brother, a king, and then marrying his wife, a queen. They put on the play, and Claudius is overcome with emotion and remorse. But realizing that Hamlet may know his secret, he decides to have his nephew killed by sending him to England with sealed orders that call for his execution once he arrives there. Hamlet departs with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two courtiers who are spying on him for the King, but before he departs, kills Polonius when he realizes someone is spying on him in the Queen's chambers.

His departure and the death of her father drive Ophelia mad, and she is soon no better than Hamlet was. But Claudius's plans derail when Hamlet's ship is attacked by Pirates, who free Hamlet and take him back to Denmark. Unbeknownst to Claudius, Hamlet read the sealed orders and changed them to call for the death of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead.

Arriving back in Denmark, Hamlet learns Ophelia has died, hanging herself over a river with a noose of flowers. He shows up at her funeral, where Laertes, recently arrived back from his mission, has learned of her death, and been told by the King that Hamlet ultimately bears the blame for her death. Laertes attacks Hamlet at the funeral, but Hamlet says he loved Ophelia more than anyone. Laertes challenges Hamlet to a duel, and Hamlet agrees.

At the Duel, Laertes has poisoned his sword, and the King has poisoned a goblet for Hamlet to drink, which should ensure his death twice over. But Hamlet is better with his sword than anyone believes, and the Queen accidentally drinks the poisoned goblet intended for Hamlet. When Hamlet realizes that Claudius has poisoned his mother, he gives Laertes a mortal wound, recieving one himself, but forces Claudius to drink from the same goblet that killed the Queen. As everyone around him dies, Hamlet, too, dies in the arms of his friend, Horatio, saving him so that he may tell everyone what occurred.

The story, of course, is straight from Shakespeare. But as I read, I realized there was a great deal missing. For instance, Hamlet's famous speech that starts "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! In form, in moving, how express and admirable! In action, how like an angel! In apprehension, how like a God!" is compressed to a mere: "What a piece of work is man! In action, how like an angel! In apprehension, how like a God!"

This, to me, completely undercut the beauty of Shakespeare's prose. How can you convince people that Shakespeare is still readable when you cut out half the words? And I knew the lines that should have been there from other sources... including the play "Hair" and from Captain Picard quoting them at Q in "Star Trek: The Next Generation". This was the only spot in which I absolutely knew there were lines missing (ones after are missing, too), but that led me not to trust that the whole of the story was contained within the manga.

In that reading this may make readers seek out the play to read or watch, I must give it credit, but I find that the way the adaptor cut out lines apparently willy-nilly makes me consider this version of the play extremely damaged and not really a good resource, especially as no mention of this cutting is made anywhere in the volume. So, no, I wouldn't recommend this version of Shakespeare's play, and to those who have read it, I would suggest reading the real play so they can experience the beauty of Shakespeare's prose for themselves.