Hamlet 1: The Story and the History

1 - the Story and the History

1- 故事内容：莎士比亚最全球化的一部戏剧​​

Hamlet is the greatest play in the world. It is a play which speaks to people across all times and across all ages …It is the world's greatest tragedy.

《哈姆莱特》是世界上最伟大的一部戏剧。它跨越时空，引发不同时期、不同年代人们的共鸣……它是世界上最了不起的悲剧。

Another distinctive feature of Hamlet… is that it is so cosmopolitan ... Hamlet is the only play which is set in Continental… which is set in continental Europe, not only is it set in Denmark … the action that takes place is narrated as having taken place in Norway or in England.

《哈姆莱特》还有一个显著特点，就是它涉及到了许多不同国家……这是莎士比亚唯一一部将故事背景设置在欧洲大陆的戏剧……主线故事发生在丹麦，但剧中也谈到了发生在挪威和英国的一些事件。

He alludes to Troy. He alludes to ancient Rome … he alludes to contemporary states”

还提到了特洛伊、古罗马……以及当时许多国家城邦。

the frame of reference …  in terms of history, in terms of literature, in terms of geography is extraordinarily wide.

其中有关历史、文学、地理的内容也是尤为广泛。

If Shakespeare is a global author, Hamlet is a global play.

如果说莎士比亚是一位全球性的作家，那么《哈姆莱特》就是一部全球性的戏剧。

Hi, I'm Paulina Kewes I'm a professor of English literature at the University of Oxford and I'm also a tutor and fellow in English at Jesus College Oxford.

嗨，我叫保利娜·柯斯，是牛津大学英国文学教授，也是牛津大学耶稣学院的助教和研究员。

In this episode, we’re speaking with Professor Paulina Kewes about Hamlet. Written around 1600 and based on an ancient Norse legend, Hamlet is still read, performed and enjoyed all around the world. Its iconic moments--the prince dressed in black holding a skull, or pondering the question of “To be or not to be”--these moments focus our attention inward on the troubled protagonist’s mind. But this play also takes us on one of Shakespeare’s most extraordinary journeys through time and space, traversing centuries of history and mythology and crossing the European continent.

从本集节目开始，我们将和保利娜·柯斯教授共同探讨《哈姆莱特》这部戏剧。《哈姆莱特》创作于1600年左右，取材于北欧传说。但即便在今天，全世界仍有很多人阅读，同时它也不断被搬上全球的舞台，深受人们喜爱。王子一身黑衣手拿骷髅头，或是思考“生存还是毁灭”这个问题的场景都是戏剧的标志性场面，这些场景把我们的注意力引向了烦恼苦闷的主人公的内心世界。戏剧还带领我们踏上了莎士比亚最不凡的旅程之一，我们跟随作者，挣脱时空的束缚，体验数百年历史进程，感受数百年神话传说，纵游翱翔在整个欧洲大陆。

I think we should consider Hamlet as Shakespeare's most global play. That is to say, a play which invites consideration of other periods, other times, other nations, other countries, other states.

我觉得我们完全可以把《哈姆莱特》看作是最具全球性的一部莎剧。也就是说，这部戏剧邀请我们对不同的时期，不同的年代，以及不同国家、区域、城邦进行思考。

This play tells the story of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark. Prince Hamlet is visited by a ghost claiming to be the spirit of his dead father. The ghost tells Hamlet that he was murdered by his brother Claudius, who has become the new king--and bypassed any claim of Hamlet’s to the throne. The ghost commands Hamlet to avenge his death. The play combines the drama of revenge tragedy with a profound exploration of psychology and politics. It asks questions not only about love, loyalty and family duty, but also about monarchy, despotism, succession, and power--issues that rocked England prior to Queen Elizabeth’s death in 1603, and that remain with us today as contemporary governments struggle to negotiate the transfer of rule.

戏剧的主角哈姆莱特是丹麦王子。一天夜里，王子见到了一个鬼魂，这个鬼魂声称是他刚刚去世的父亲的灵魂。鬼魂说，他其实是被自己的亲弟弟，也就是哈姆莱特的叔父克劳狄斯毒害而亡的。而在他死后，克劳狄斯竟然直接越过哈姆莱特，加冕成了丹麦的新国王。于是，鬼魂要求哈姆莱特为他报仇。这部戏剧将复仇悲剧的戏剧性与对心理和政治的探索相结合，不仅涉及了爱情、忠诚和家庭责任这些问题，也探讨了君主政体、专制统治、王位继承以及权力斗争等话题。这些问题，在伊丽莎白一世女王去世的1603年之前，就已经影响着英国的国家稳定了，不仅如此，即便是在当今社会，政府在政权交替过程中，也需要应对这一系列问题。

“it's only when you realize that those were the questions ... that people were trying to think through … as they were wondering about the future of the crown of England, that we will begin to appreciate how deeply Hamlet …  which is normally seen as simply a psychological drama, how deeply it has engaged with the problem and questions of its time. And it is that engagement with current problems that enables us to see how relevant it is”

“我们必须意识到，当时的英国人在考虑英国未来王位继承问题时，都会仔细思考这些问题。只有认识到这一点，我们才会明白《哈姆莱特》这部戏剧，其实是在深刻探讨当时的时代问题、时代难题，它并不仅仅只是像一般人们所认为的那样，只是一部探究心理的戏剧。也正是戏剧对当下问题的深刻探讨，才会引发了我们的共鸣。”

Hamlet’s real-world engagement starts with its setting: the castle of Elsinore in Denmark.

《哈姆莱特》的背景设置在一开始就将戏剧与现实连接了起来，故事发生在丹麦的厄耳锡诺城堡，这是一个真实存在的地点。

Shakespearean actors, including members of his own company, went as far as Denmark, as far as Elsmore … and they performed before the then king of Denmark, Frederick, the second in fifteen  eighty six at his castle in Ellsinore called Kronburg Castle.

莎士比亚的演员们，包括他剧团中的成员，就曾去过丹麦的厄耳锡诺……1586年，他们为当时的丹麦国王费迪南德二世演出，表演就是在国王的卡隆堡宫里进行的，卡隆堡就坐落于厄耳锡诺。

in fifteen eighty nine the court at [Elsinor] ... was visited by none other by the few but the future king of England … King James the sixth of Scotland … It was quite an extraordinary public occurrence … everybody in Europe will have heard that King James of Scotland traveled all the way to Denmark, as did, of course, Shakespeare.”

而在1589年，厄耳锡诺的宫廷迎来了一位客人，这位客人就是英国未来的国王——苏格兰的詹姆斯六世。詹姆斯六世的此次拜访在当时是一件相当轰动的新闻，消息传遍了整个欧洲，人人都知道苏格兰国王詹姆斯去了丹麦，而在这些人中，当然也有莎士比亚。

James became England’s new king in 1603--the same year that the first text of Hamlet was published. It’s important to know, however, that two distinctly different versions of the play were published later: one in 1604–5, and one in 1623. Our summary is based on the second version: the text of 1604–05.

1603年，詹姆斯加冕成为英国的新国王，同年，《哈姆莱特》第一版出版。不过我们需要注意的是，在这之后还出版过两个完全不同版本的《哈姆莱特》：一个是1604-05年版，一个是1623年版。我们今天探讨的主要是1604-1605年的这个版本。

At the start of the play, Denmark has its own new king. King Hamlet, Prince Hamlet’s father, has just died, and the country is uneasy. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”, as one of the characters proclaims. Sentinels keep watch day and night because Fortinbras, prince of the neighboring country of Norway, is preparing to invade Denmark. In the opening scene, Prince Hamlet’s friend Horatio is out on the battlements with the sentinels, and they see a ghost--a ghost that resembles the dead king.

戏剧开始时，丹麦已经有了一位新国王。哈姆莱特王子的父亲哈姆莱特国王刚刚去世不久，整个国家处于一片动荡不安中。剧中的一位角色曾评论说“丹麦国里恐怕有些不可告人的坏事。”当时，丹麦的守望者们不得不日夜守卫，站岗放哨，因为那时邻国挪威的福丁布拉斯王子正准备入侵丹麦。在开场的那幕戏中，哈姆莱特王子的朋友霍拉旭和守望者们在城堡前的露台见到了一个鬼魂，这个鬼魂看起来很像刚去世不久的哈姆莱特先王。

In the next scene, we meet the new king--King Hamlet’s brother, Claudius. Claudius invites the court to mourn his brother’s death but also to celebrate Claudius’s marriage to King Hamlet’s widow, Gertrude. Prince Hamlet stands out in this celebratory scene as the one person still in mourning for the old king. Gertrude asks Hamlet why he seems so distraught by something as common as a parent’s death. Hamlet answers: “‘Seems,’ madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems.’” He insists that his  mourning is not just the outward show of his black clothing, but something deeper and more real. . “I have that within which passes show, / These but the trappings and the suits of woe.” he says.

而紧接着，在之后的一场戏中，我们就见到了新王克劳狄斯，他是哈姆莱特国王的弟弟。此时，克劳狄斯邀请宫廷中的所有人一同哀悼先王，但接着他就又要大家一起来庆祝自己和先王的王后葛特露的新婚。哈姆莱特王子在这个欢乐的场景中显得格格不入，因为他是在场的人群中，唯一一个还在哀悼先王去世的人。王后葛特露问哈姆莱特为什么好像对家长去世这种很普通的事情如此忧愁哀伤。哈姆莱特回答说“‘ 好像’，母亲！不，是这样就是这样，我不知道什么‘好像’不‘好像’。”他坚持说自己的哀悼不仅是身着墨黑的孝服，而是内心更深刻、更真实的情绪。他说“它们不过是悲哀的装饰和衣服；可是我那郁结的心事却是无法表现出来的。”

Shakespeare may have written this play with his own sense of woe. In 1601, he lost his own father. And in 1596, he had lost his only son, Hamnet--a name that sounds strikingly similar to “Hamlet.” Some scholars speculate that these family tragedies may have shaped Shakespeare’s writing of this play. But Hamlet’s “woe” might not be only for his dead father. Claudius announces his support for Hamlet as Denmark’s next king. But this announcement only highlights the fact that Hamlet is not king already. He did not succeed to his father’s throne--and this, too, might be contributing to his melancholy. Certainly the question of succession caused deep anxiety in Shakespeare’s England. When Hamlet was written, England’s Queen Elizabeth was around sixty-seven years old, unmarried and childless, and with no clear heir to the throne.

莎士比亚在创作这部戏剧的时候，也许也带着自己的郁结心事。1601年，也就是《哈姆莱特》问世的三年前，莎士比亚的父亲去世了。而就在5年前，1596年，他唯一的儿子哈姆内特也夭折了。哈姆内特这个名字发音与“哈姆莱特”极其相似。一些学者认为这一系列的家庭悲剧对莎士比亚创作这部戏剧产生了影响。但是，哈姆莱特刚刚所提到的“郁结的心事”也许并不单单指父亲的去世。虽然，克劳狄斯宣布说哈姆莱特将继承他成为下一任丹麦国王，但这个声明只会让我们注意到一个事实，就是哈姆莱特现在并不是国王。他没能继承父亲的王位，而这也许也是导致他忧愁烦闷的又一个原因。同样，在莎士比亚时期的英国，人们也对王室继承的问题也感到忧虑恐慌。在莎士比亚创作《哈姆莱特》这部戏剧的时候，英国的伊丽莎白一世女王已经67岁左右了，她终生未婚，没有子嗣，也没有明确的王位继承人。

Shakespeare engages with … One of the most fundamental problems of his day, which is who would rule after Elizabeth”

莎士比亚探讨的是他那个时代最根本的问题之一，也就是：究竟谁才能继承伊丽莎白一世女王的王位呢？

Hamlet is deeply concerned about the process of regime change, about the politics of regime change, about the propriety of the royal succession, who should be king? What are the rules that govern the dissent of the crown? Should it be the eldest son? Should it perhaps be the brother? … Hamlet approaches this question in a very distinctive way。

哈姆莱特十分关心政权的更替过程，关心政权更替下的政治情况，关心王位继承的规范。他想知道究竟谁才有资格继承王位。他想知道如果对王位继承有异议，要依据怎样的规则来解决这个问题。有权继承王位的，究竟应该是先王的长子，还是先王的兄弟？然而哈姆莱特对这些问题的探索方式十分特殊。

Hamlet expresses some of his melancholy and anxiety alone onstage after the court disbands, crying, “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world!” He also expresses his anger and sense of betrayal at his mother’s rapid remarriage--we learn that she married Claudius within a month of the Old King’s death.  Next, Horatio arrives to tell Hamlet about the ghost. That night, the prince keeps watch hoping to see it too. Sure enough, the ghost appears. Hamlet says that the ghost has a “questionable shape” and is unsure whether it is “a spirit of health, or goblin damned.” There’s a reason why he isn’t sure exactly what the ghost is--and it has to do with the divided religious beliefs of Shakespeare’s time.

在宫廷中众人散场之后，哈姆莱特独自站在舞台上表达了他内心的忧愁和焦虑，他大声说到“人世间的一切在我看来是多么可厌、陈腐、乏味而无聊！”同时，他对于母亲这么快就再次结婚也感到十分愤怒，感觉母亲背叛了自己。我们从剧中了解到，先王去世还不到一个月，葛特露王后就与克劳狄斯成婚了。哈姆莱特说完那一大段台词后，他的好友霍拉旭上场，向他讲述了遇见鬼魂的事情。于是，那天夜里王子也来到了城堡的露台，希望能亲眼见一见那个鬼魂。果真，鬼魂再次出现。哈姆莱特说这个鬼魂的“形状是这样可疑”，他不确定这究竟是“一个善良的灵魂还是万恶的妖魔”，他之所以不确定这个鬼魂究竟是什么，是因为在莎士比亚那个年代，人们有着各不相同的宗教信仰。

“Across the Shakespeare canon, there are references to the fundamental skills within Western Christendom, the conflict between Protestants and Catholics …you can see that he's deeply engaged with the religious divisions and tensions of the period stemming from the Reformation.”

“纵览莎士比亚的作品，我们会发现，他的作品涉及了西方基督教世界的一些基本内容，探讨了清教徒和基督教徒之间的矛盾冲突……你们可以感受到他深入探讨了宗教之间的纷争和紧张关系，这一切的根源就是宗教改革。”

According to the old Catholic beliefs, the souls of the dead must go to a realm called Purgatory, to be purged of the remaining guilt for their earthly sins before they can enter heaven. But after the Reformation, England’s new Protestant Church rejected these Catholic beliefs. The ghost tells Hamlet that he is confined to a prison where his “foul crimes” must be “purged away,” which suggests that he has come from Catholic purgatory. But for a Protestant who did not believe in Purgatory, such an apparition could only be a demonic spirit.

根据传统基督教教义，所有逝者的灵魂都必须去到一个叫做“炼狱”的国度，他们要在那里清除自己在尘世中所犯罪恶而导致的罪孽，只有这样他们才能升入天堂。但是，在宗教改革之后，英国的新教教会反对这些基督教教义。鬼魂对哈姆莱特说，他现在被困于囚牢中，“等生前的过失被火焰净化以后，方才可以脱罪”，从这里我们可以推断出，这个鬼魂来的地方，就是基督教中所说的“炼狱”。可是，清教徒并不相信“炼狱”一说，因此，他们认为这种来自炼狱的鬼魂就是万恶的妖魔。

Hamlet fears the ghost might be a demon from hell. But the ghost says  “I am thy father’s spirit,” and tells Hamlet how he died: he says he was murdered by Claudius. He commands Hamlet to avenge his death, and Hamlet promises to “sweep to [his] revenge.” The mechanics of this revenge plot--the thrusts and counter-thrusts between Hamlet and Claudius--make up the external action of the play. But there’s also an internal action to the play: Hamlet’s reflections and meditations and questions about himself and his troubled world. He ends the first act lamenting, “The time is out of joint. O cursed spite / That ever I was born to set it right!”

哈姆莱特害怕这个鬼魂其实是来自地狱的恶魔，但鬼魂却对他说“我是你父亲的灵魂”，并向哈姆莱特讲述了自己是如何被谋害的，他说是克劳狄斯谋害了他，并要求哈姆莱特为他复仇。哈姆莱特答应要“飞去把仇人杀死”。于是，哈姆莱特和克劳狄斯之间的那种进攻与反击的复仇故事线就此展开，构成了戏剧的表面情节。这部戏剧也有一个内部情节，那就是哈姆莱特对于自我和苦闷内心世界的思考、反思和质疑。第一幕戏也正是在哈姆莱特这种哀怨叹息中落下帷幕的，王子在这幕戏结尾时说“这是一个颠倒混乱的时代，唉，倒霉的我却要负起重整乾坤的责任！”

The first thing Hamlet does in his new role as revenger is to put on what he calls “an antic disposition”--to act, that is, like a fool or a mad person. Claudius is worried, wondering what is causing Hamlet’s madness. He asks Hamlet’s friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to figure out what’s wrong. Hamlet is disgusted when he realizes that his friends have become Claudius’s spies. He’s happier to see another group of friends, a troop of actors, arrive at court. Hamlet asks them to recite part of a play about the fall of Troy, in which Pyrrhus kills King Priam in revenge for his father’s death.

作为复仇计划的第一步，哈姆莱特决定装出“一副疯疯癫癫的样子”，他会表现得像个傻子、疯子。克劳狄斯看到这样的情景十分担忧，他很想弄明白哈姆莱特究竟为什么会发疯，于是招来哈姆莱特的朋友罗森格兰兹和吉尔登斯吞，派他们去查明个中原因。当哈姆莱特后来发现他的这两位朋友变成了克劳狄斯的间谍时，十分气愤。相较于刚刚那两位所谓的“朋友”，王子更乐意见到另一群朋友，于是一群戏剧演员登场，来到了宫廷中。哈姆莱特让他们朗诵了一部戏剧中的一段剧词，那部戏剧讲述的是特洛伊城被攻陷的故事，而那段剧词说的就是皮洛斯为父报仇，杀死了普里阿摩斯国王的情节。

Hamlet is so moved by the actor’s passionate performance of Pyrrhus that he berates himself for not having similar passion for his father. But he soon realizes it isn’t simply passion that he needs but action. He needs to carry out the ghost’s demand for vengeance. But one thing that keeps Hamlet from acting is that he still isn’t sure what the ghost really is: is it the real spirit of his father or is it a demon trying to get him to damn himself by murdering an innocent man?

哈姆莱特被这位扮演皮洛斯的戏剧演员那激昂澎湃的演出深深打动了，他痛斥自己，因为他觉得自己对父亲竟然没有那般深厚的感情。不过很快，他也意识到，他需要的不仅仅是深厚的感情，他更需要行动起来。他必须将鬼魂要求的复仇付诸行动才行。但是让哈姆莱特犹豫不决的一点就是，他依旧不确定这个鬼魂的真实身份，他不确定这个鬼魂究竟真的是他父亲的灵魂，还是一个想让他谋杀一个无辜的人、并害自己下地狱的恶魔。

Hamlet himself isn't entirely sure whether he has been called to avenge his father by heaven or hell. In fact, he thinks it's both.

哈姆莱特自己也不能完全确定让他为复仇的究竟是善良的灵魂还是万恶的妖魔。实际上，他觉得复仇这件事其实善恶兼具。

Did Claudius really kill his father? Hamlet decides to use a fiction to uncover the truth. He’ll have the actors stage a play depicting a king’s murder and see if Claudius shows any signs of guilt. “The play’s the thing,” he declares, “Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.”

克劳狄斯真的谋杀了他的父亲吗？哈姆莱特决定虚构一个故事来验证事情的真假。他计划找一群演员演一部戏剧，讲述一位国王被谋害的故事。他想看看克劳狄斯看到这部戏剧后，是否会流露出愧疚的神情。他说“凭着这一部戏，我可以发掘国王内心的隐秘。”

But while Hamlet is planning one performance to unmask the king, the king is planning another performance to unmask Hamlet. Claudius’s chief advisor is a man named Polonius, who has two children close to Hamlet’s age: a son, Laertes, and a daughter, Ophelia. Hamlet had previously courted Ophelia and promised her his love. But Polonius, afraid that Hamlet’s promises were insincere, told Ophelia to reject him. Now, Polonius is afraid that this rejected love is what drove Hamlet mad. So he and Claudius stage an encounter between Hamlet and Ophelia so that they can watch in secret and observe Hamlet’s reaction. Hamlet enters, but before he speaks to Ophelia, he speaks to himself: “To be or not to be--that is the question.” These are some of the most famous lines in Shakespeare. We’ll explore this speech--and the radical questions it asks about life, death, and being--in our next two episodes.

但是，在哈姆莱特筹划用一次戏剧演出揭露国王真面目的时候，国王也在秘密筹划，想要揭穿哈姆莱特的隐秘心事。克劳狄斯有位御前大臣，名叫波洛涅斯，波洛涅斯有两个和哈姆莱特年纪相仿的孩子：一个是他的儿子雷欧提斯，一个是他的女儿奥菲利娅。之前，哈姆莱特就曾追求过奥菲利娅，并承诺会爱她。但是波洛涅斯担心哈姆莱特的承诺并非出自真心，于是他让奥菲利娅拒绝了哈姆莱特的追求。此刻，波洛涅斯担心是奥菲利娅的拒绝，才导致哈姆莱特发了疯。所以，他和克劳狄斯设计让哈姆莱特与奥菲利娅 “偶遇”，他们自己则躲在暗处，仔细观察哈姆莱特的反应。接着，哈姆莱特上场，但他在对奥菲利娅说话之前，一个人自己自言自语地说着“生存还是毁灭，这是一个值得思考的问题”那一大段台词。哈姆莱特的这段台词是莎士比亚最著名的一段台词。在接下来的两集节目中，我们将仔细探讨这段台词的意义，探讨这段台词所涉及的有关生存、死亡和存在等一系列激进的问题。

Hamlet ends the speech on a note of self-disgust: “conscience doth make cowards of us all,” he says. But then he directs his disgust towards Ophelia. He denies he ever loved her, and says “Get thee to a nunnery … Or if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.” This violent tirade causes Claudius to fear Hamlet even more.

在这段台词中，哈姆莱特主要表达的是对自我的厌恶，他说“重重的顾虑使我们全变成了懦夫”。但是，接下来他又把厌恶的情绪直接对准了奥菲利娅。他不承认自己曾爱过奥菲利娅，并对她说“进尼姑庵去吧！……或者要是你必须嫁人的话，就去嫁一个傻瓜吧，因为聪明人都明白你们会让他们变成怎样的怪物。”克劳狄斯听到这一大段激烈言辞后，更加害怕了。

That night, Hamlet stages his play, The Mousetrap. This short play climaxes with a king being murdered in just the way the ghost claims Claudius murdered him. When Claudius calls for light and leaves the theatre, Hamlet has the evidence he needs. He is now sure that Claudius killed his father and is ready for revenge.

那天夜里，哈姆莱特让演员们演出了他的那部短剧《捕鼠机》。剧中国王的死亡方式，与鬼魂所描述的克劳狄斯谋害先王的方式一模一样，《捕鼠机》的剧情也在此刻达到了高潮。看到这一幕，克劳狄斯大喊着快把火点起来，紧接着就离开了舞台，此时，哈姆莱特已经掌握了他所需要的证据，他已经可以确定克劳狄斯就是谋害自己父亲的凶手。复仇的帷幕就此拉开。

Claudius attempts to pray for forgiveness for his “brother’s murder.” While he is trying to pray, Hamlet enters. He raises his sword--and then hesitates. Hamlet realises that if he kills Claudius while he’s praying, Claudius’ soul will go to heaven. And that would be no revenge at all. Hamlet decides not to kill Claudius until he can send his soul to hell--a desire that can seem morally troubling in itself.

克劳狄斯试图通过祷告来洗刷谋害兄长的罪孽，而就在他做祷告时，哈姆莱特走了进来，但就在他举剑的那一刻，他犹豫了，因为他意识到，如果在克劳狄斯祷告时杀死他，就等于把他的灵魂送上天堂，这根本就不是复仇，而是以恩报怨。于是，他决定“要等一个更残酷的机会”，让克劳狄斯的灵魂“永坠地狱”，但是从道德上看，这个愿望本身似乎也令哈姆莱特备受困扰。

I'm trying to invite you to think of Hamlet not as an existential hero, but as someone who could be acted as a Machiavellian villain almost … I would really love to see a production of Hamlet or the evil vengeful nature of Hamlet and his lack of moral scruples actually comes across.

我希望大家不要把哈姆莱特看作是一位存在主义英雄，我们可以将他视作一位不择手段的反面人物……我其实很想看到一部对哈姆莱特的再创作，突出刻画他邪恶、渴望复仇的个性，展现出他抛开道德顾忌后的样子。

Hamlet thinks he gets his chance to damn Claudius just a few minutes later. His mother summons him to her chamber. Hamlet hears a noise behind a curtain and, thinking it’s Claudius, stabs through the curtain. But he has actually killed Polonius, who was spying on him again. Hamlet then berates his mother for forgetting his father and marrying Claudius.

这之后短短几分钟，哈姆莱特发现自己有了让克劳狄斯下地狱的机会。葛特露王后召哈姆莱特去自己的寝宫，在寝宫中，哈姆莱特听见帷幕后面有声音，他以为是克劳狄斯躲在那里，于是拔剑刺穿了帷幕，结果却发现刺死的竟然是波洛涅斯。原来，波洛涅斯当时正在帷幕后暗中观察自己的一举一动。紧接着，哈姆莱特严厉斥责自己的母亲竟然这么快就忘记了自己的丈夫，在丈夫去世没多久就与克劳狄斯结婚。

Hamlet accused accuses her essentially of being blind of lacking sense. Of being rotten to the core.

哈姆莱特斥责自己的母亲被蒙蔽了双眼，说她的知觉一定已经麻木了，已经堕落到了骨髓。

The ghost appears to remind Hamlet that his target is Claudius, not Gertrude. But targeting Claudius will be harder now because their roles have reversed. Until now, Hamlet has been hunting Claudius. But after Polonius’s murder, Claudius knows that Hamlet is after his life--and so he starts to hunt Hamlet. He sends Hamlet to England with secret orders for his execution.

此刻，那个鬼魂出现在哈姆莱特身边，提醒他复仇的目标是克劳狄斯，而不是王后葛特露。但是，要找克劳狄斯复仇会难很多，因为此刻他们两人的位置处境已经对调了。之前，一直是哈姆莱特在四处找机会想杀死克劳狄斯。而在波洛涅斯被杀后，克劳狄斯已经确定哈姆莱特是真的想要取他的性命，所以他反过来主动出击，将哈姆莱特送往英国，并秘密下令将他杀死。

After Hamlet departs for England, the play focuses on the people his actions have hurt. Ophelia goes mad with grief at her father’s death and drowns, in what is possibly suicide. Her enraged brother Laertes almost starts a rebellion against Claudius. This moment reminds us again of how the play addresses contemporary political concerns. In 1601, around when Shakespeare may have been writing or revising the play, the Earl of Essex led a short-lived rebellion against Queen Elizabeth.

哈姆莱特出发前往英国后，戏剧将重点转到了他之前的那些行为所伤害的人物身上。奥菲利娅对父亲的死而感到悲痛万分，变得疯疯癫癫，最后掉进水里淹死了，这其实很可能是自杀。奥菲利娅的哥哥雷欧提斯听到这个消息后悲愤不已，差一点就发动了一起针对克劳狄斯的叛变。这个剧情让我们联想到了戏剧所反映的一些重要政治问题。1601年，差不多就是莎士比亚创作或修改这部戏剧的时候，第二代埃塞克斯伯爵领导了一次针对伊丽莎白一世女王的叛变，但很快这次叛变被镇压了下去。

What Shakespeare does ... in Hamlet is to transmute some of the most pressing fundamental questions that exercise both him and his fellow English … Shakespeare invites the audience to think about the forms of transfer of power. Is it better if the monarch is elected? Is it better if he hereditary? Should the monarch have unlimited power or should have power be somehow checked, should be checked by the people, or should it be checked by the nobility? All these things come to the fore.”

莎士比亚在创作《哈姆莱特》的时候，把当时一些最紧迫的关键性问题融合到了自己的作品中，这些关键性问题一直困扰着他以及当时所有的英国国民……他邀请观众们一同思考权力的更迭转移，引导大家反思究竟是由人民大众选举君主更好呢，还是世袭王权更好？君主是应该享有无限的权利呢，还是要受到一定程度的监督？如果有监督，那么是该由人民大众进行监督呢，还是由贵族监督？这些都是这部戏剧重点探讨的内容。

Claudius calms Laertes’ anger and urges him to direct his revenge against Hamlet--who, they learn, is returning to Denmark. We next see Hamlet and Horatio in a graveyard where Ophelia’s grave is being dug. Here, Hamlet encounters the skull of his old friend, the court jester. “Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio.” he says. He’s disturbed by the thought that all humans, even heroes like Alexander the Great, are eventually reduced to bones like these.

克劳狄斯安抚了雷欧提斯的怒气，并且让他把仇恨的矛头转向了哈姆莱特。而且他们也已经了解到，哈姆莱特正在返回丹麦的路上。接下来的一幕，我们就看到哈姆莱特和霍拉旭出现在一个墓地中，除了他们俩以外，还有两个小丑在这里为奥菲利娅挖坟墓。也正是在这个墓地，哈姆莱特看到了他的老朋友郁利克的骷髅，郁利克曾是国王的小丑。哈姆莱特慨叹道：“哎，可怜的郁利克！霍拉旭，我认识他。”他之所以如此感慨，是因为此时他意识到所有人类，即便是亚历山大大帝那样的英雄人物，最终都将变成这样的累累白骨。

Hamlet tells Horatio everything that has happened since he left Denmark. On board the ship, Hamlet discovered that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were carrying letters directing the English to execute him. Hamlet substituted a new set of letters, directing the English to execute the two messengers instead. Hamlet describes this discovery as coming, in some way, from God’s intervention, telling Horatio, “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends.” An attack by pirates allowed Hamlet to escape the ship, and now, back in Denmark, Hamlet seems to place his trust in a guiding divinity again. When Laertes challenges him to a fencing match, Hamlet seems to sense his life is in danger but decides to accept the challenge anyway. He says “There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.”

接着哈姆莱特向霍拉旭讲述了自己离开丹麦之后遭遇的事情。他说在前往英国的船上时，他发现罗森格兰兹和吉尔登斯吞携带的公文竟然要求英国在他到英国后立即处死他。于是，哈姆莱特替换了公文，要求英国处死罗森格兰兹和吉尔登斯吞这两个传书的使者。哈姆莱特对霍拉旭表示，这个发现从某种程度上可以看作是是上帝的旨意，他说“我们的结果早已有一种冥冥中的力量把它布置好了”。而且，更巧的是，他们的船遭遇了海盗的袭击，哈姆莱特才有机会从船上逃脱。此时，哈姆莱特再次站在了丹麦的国土上，他似乎又一次把希望放在了神的旨意上。于是，当雷欧提斯提出和他比剑时，虽然他感觉自己可能会遭遇危险，但依旧决定接受雷欧提斯的挑战。他说：“一只麻雀的死生都是命运预先注定的。注定在今天，就不会是明天；不是明天，就是今天；逃过了今天，明天还是逃不了，随时准备着就是了。”

Hamlet is right to be uneasy. Claudius and Laertes have plotted to kill him during the match-- either with a poisoned rapier or a poisoned cup of wine. But their plot goes wrong. Gertrude unknowingly takes the poisoned cup. Claudius, unwilling to confess his plot, lets her drink. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned rapier. But in the fight they swap rapiers and Hamlet wounds Laertes too. As Laertes dies, he confesses the plot to Hamlet. Hamlet strikes Claudius with the poisoned rapier and forces the rest of the poisoned wine down his throat. Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes all die.

哈姆莱特会有那种不安感是对的，因为克劳狄斯和雷欧提斯就是计划借这次比剑杀死他，他们在剑上抹了毒药，同时还准备了一杯毒酒。但他们的计划在实施过程中出了差错，王后葛特露在不知情的情况下拿起了那杯毒酒，而克劳狄斯为了不让自己的阴谋败露，任由王后饮下了毒酒。接着，比剑开始，雷欧提斯用涂着毒药的剑刺伤了哈姆莱特。不过在比剑过程中，两人在争夺中都夺过了对方的剑，哈姆莱特也用那把毒剑刺伤了雷欧提斯。雷欧提斯在临死前向哈姆莱特坦白了自己和克劳狄斯策划的这次阴谋。听完这些，哈姆莱特用毒剑逼迫克劳狄斯把剩下的毒酒全都喝了下去。至此，克劳狄斯、葛特露和雷欧提斯全都死去了。

Knowing he will shortly die too, Hamlet makes a final request. The play opened with the Ghost telling Hamlet to “Remember me”; now, Hamlet instructs Horatio to “Tell his story.” A messenger arrives to tell them that Fortinbras’s army has invaded Denmark, and Hamlet says that he supports Fortinbras as the new king. But before he can finish telling Horatio what he should say to Fortinbras, the poison cuts him off. “The rest is silence,” Hamlet says, and dies.

但此时，哈姆莱特也意识到自己的生命马上就要走到尽头了，于是他说出了最后一个请求。在戏剧开始时，鬼魂要求哈姆莱特“记得我”；所以，哈姆莱特请求霍拉旭“把这儿发生的一切事实告诉他”。而就在此刻，一位信使来报，说福丁布拉斯的军队已经入侵了丹麦，听到这个消息后，哈姆莱特表示支持福丁布拉斯加冕为丹麦的新王。但是他还没来得及把想对福丁布拉斯说的话告诉霍拉旭，就毒发身亡了。“此外仅余沉默而已”，这是哈姆莱特所说的最后一句话。

Fortinbras enters and does indeed take Denmark’s throne. But whether we should interpret this as a good thing for Denmark is not clear.

戏剧的最后，福丁布拉斯登场，并顺利继承了丹麦的王位，但我们作为读者和观众，并不能肯定福丁布拉斯的继位对丹麦而言是否真的就是一件好事。

Shakespeare doesn't want to appear unequivocally, pro or unequivocally against Fortinbras or Hamlet, for that matter. So whether the succession of  Fortinbras … whether this is going to be good, bad or indifferent for Denmark is unclear. It's left in suspense at the end.

在王位继承这个问题上，不论是对于福丁布拉斯还是哈姆莱特，莎士比亚都不想显露出明确的支持或反对。所以，福丁布拉斯的继位……对于丹麦国而言究竟是好还是不好，又或者说是不是毫无影响，我们都不得而知。这些其实是戏剧留给我们的悬念。

What is clear, however, is that this complex ending--the fall of one regime, the rise of another, the revenger’s success and his death--reflects the play’s concern with timeless problems.

但有一点可以肯定的是，这部戏剧的结局很复杂，它代表着一个王朝的衰落，另一个王朝的崛起，代表着复仇者的成功和死亡。从这个结局，我们可以感受到戏剧关注的是那些永恒话题。

In its own time. Hamlet raised naturally psychological problems, philosophical problems, moral problems, but it was also very deeply rooted and engaged with the sort of problems that and questions that exercised contemporaries whether to do with religious division, whether to do with the succession to the throne …  with diplomacy and international relations … with the structure of the family, the structure of the royal court, the importance of travel war. And it is precisely because Shakespeare in Hamlet are so engaged with what's happening around here, but that we find Hamlet endlessly relevant and infinitely appealing.

在《哈姆莱特》戏剧创作的时代，它自然会涉及一些心理学问题、哲学问题以及道德问题，但此外，戏剧还探讨了与那个时代密切相关的一系列话题，涉及宗教分裂、王位继承、外交和国际关系、家庭结构、皇室构成以及远征的重要性。因为，莎士比亚在创作《哈姆莱特》的时候，十分关心周围发生的事情，也正因为此，我们才会感觉到《哈姆莱特》这部戏剧跨越了时空，吸引着一代又一代的读者和观众。

In this episode, we paid particular attention to the play’s politics. In the next episode, we’ll look at its psychological and philosophical problems. We’ll explore how Shakespeare created one of the most complex characters in literature, and ask how he captured a whole universe of meaning in some of literature’s most simple and famous words: “To be or not to be: that is the question.”

本集节目我们重点探讨了戏剧所涉及的政治话题。下集节目，我们将把目光转向戏剧中的心理学和哲学问题，一同探寻莎士比亚塑造文学史上最复杂角色之一的过程，探索他是如何通过“生存还是毁灭，这是一个值得思考的问题”这样一个简单却又著名的句子，传达出了无比丰富的内涵。