Reviews: (by author)

Fiedler, Lisa. Dating Hamlet. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2002. $16.95. ISBN 0-8050-7054-0.

This book brings Shakespeare's Hamlet to life, following the first-person narrative of Ophelia, Hamlet's love interest. Ophelia's life starts out as simple- she is dating Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, and is loved by everyone at the royal court in Elsinore. This all changes when Hamlet's father, the King, is found dead. Hamlet returns from his stay at college to discover, via his father's ghost, that Hamlet's Uncle Claudius murdered the King. To add insult to injury, Claudius crowns himself King and marries Hamlet's mother. Together, Hamlet and Ophelia hatch a plot to expose Claudius as the murderer and to seek revenge. Along with her friend Anne, Ophelia must face and overcome the challenges of missing her mother, uncovering her true father's identity, acting insane, plotting murder, the supposed death of Hamlet, attempted rape, sexual harassment by King Claudius, and her own faked death. She does all of this and more, combining intelligence, wit, and courage in the effort to make things right. The plot mirrors that of the original play with the added plot of Ophelia orchestrating all events. Ophelia is written as a strong character, unlike her naive counterpart in Shakespeare, with non-period feminist qualities. She can read, write, swim, compose poetry, sing, dress in men's clothes, and study alchemy and herbalism with refreshing gusto.

Though some of the terminology in the book is not accurate for the Middle Ages, Fiedler writes the dialogue in Elizabethan, and stays true to Shakespeare's "Hamlet". This makes the book an excellent complementary read for any young adult studying Shakespeare. While Ophelia's wit and bravado are unlikely for a lady of the time period in which it is set, her inner strength and wisdom are inspirational. This book will appeal to all young adults, but especially to young adolescent females. Ophelia is believably complex, mixing her strengths, weaknesses, and the cultural biases against women during the Middle Ages to create a woman that readers will be able to identify with. The complex plot, here in prose, will also help readers who struggle with Elizabethan writing to better comprehend the action in Shakespeare's masterpiece.

Recommended reading level: Age 12-15 and beyond

Reviewed by Elizabeth Wade

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