Former Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice came to BYU to speak at the forum, and I had the extreme privilege of sitting in the Marriott Center and listening to her speak. She spoke on a wide variety of topics, including a Question and Answer session. I found that I had Hamlet on the brain when almost everything she said made me think of our beloved off-kilter prince.
Dr. Rice mentioned that the biggest threat to any country is itself. In Hamlet, there is "something rotten in the state of Denmark," something so rotten it culminated in the death of Hamlet and half the cast. When a country or a family is constantly battling itself, then it becomes easier for other threats to become a serious danger. In Hamlet, there is the threat coming from Fortinbras on the outside of Denmark. Denmark itself is in a rough spot with the death of a beloved king, the crowning and wedding of a new king who is not the old king's son, and now Hamlet is going a little emo. There is definitely some cause to worry when there is "something rotten in the state of Denmark" while there is something rotten brewing abroad as well. Where do you focus your attentions?
Education has the power to change your life. It changes where you are, what opportunities are placed before you, where you are going, how you act, how you speak. It changes everything. Enter our example from the play. Hamlet was sad enough over his father dying and mother remarrying. Then he got himself an education from his dead father's ghost, and everything changed. He went from sad to bonkers and mad for revenge. He stayed at Elsinore and changed how he was acting (he started acting like a mad man), and how he was speaking (he started raving like a mad man- but with some method behind it).
Dr. Rice also mentioned that am education can affect your family for generations to come, using her grandfather's Presbyterian education as an example. Since her grandfather became a minister, her whole family has been highly educated and Presbyterian. Hamlet got educated, and it definitely affected his family when they all got killed off. It even killed off some of the family friends. Now there are no future generations to influence with his education.
Aggrievement and entitlement bring only grief to yourself, and irritation to others. They also rob you of your ability to control your life and your actions, becoming a reactor instead. Hamlet fell to a point where he reacted to everything instead of making rational choices. He started becoming more violent and more demanding of those around him. Fortinbras wanted to get back the land that his father had lost. The land wasn't worth anything, but it was for honor. Seems ridiculous to me.
While deciding on a career choice back in college, Dr. Rice went and talked to a municipal government official to see if that was something she would be interested in doing. She said that he was the single most boring man that she had ever met. I couldn't help but think of Polonius. That man has some funny lines, but he's ridiculous, stuffed up, and excessively irritating. When I think of him, I can't keep from snickering at the mental image of some fat pig shoved inside some black judge robes, with one of those ridiculous white wigs that lawyers used to wear. Like I said, ridiculous.
One of the last points that Dr. Rice made was that the very essence of human nature is to integrate knowledge of what is and faith in what might be. Hamlet got caught up in the knowledge of what was happening right in front of him at that exact moment. He forgot to look ahead, to look around. He lost faith in human nature, in his friends (except Horatio), and in family ties. Because of his inability to to integrate and his obsessive attitude on revenge, Hamlet and company came to a very untimely and tragic end. It's really very sad.
I don't know if all of this is accurate analysis, but it's what went through my head as I was listening to Dr. Rice. It was an interesting study to make.
