A NEW ENDING FOR "HAMLET"

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 24, 29 January 1938, Page 27

A NEW ENDING FOR "HAMLET"

Prizes were recently offered" by the "Manchester Guardian" for the Synopsis, of a better Last Act for "Hamlet."

; Act IV of "Hamlet" ends with the conspiracy between the King and Laertes and the death of Ophelia, said the judge. Act V consists of only two scenes: the graveyard scene, with the struggle in the grave, and the final scene, with the duel arid all the deaths. If the .first four acts have to stand in our revised "version ■ there is little chance of altering the main plot of the play. It would also seem that there is little chance of securing a really happy ending, for unless the Queen had a graphic imagination and] a shameless capacity for lying—which does not seem at all probable from the rest of the play—Opheaia is well and •truly dead. This did not,daunt, some .of'the competitors. They had read their' .'."Romeo- and Juliet1; and - their ;"Cyiribeline," and knew that-there is nothing '-easier-"than- for the heroine to make everybody. Relieve -that-, she- is dead,., -.throw . them- into ecstasies of grief, and then in the end reveal that she was only . pretending and was simply under the influence of an ingenious drug. . The real problem is to decide who has got (or, in Shakespearean language, "Who .else is rank, who else must be let blood"). Even if everybody were suddenly to, repent in the last act and learn to love each: other and forget, old injuries and suspicions "Hamlet", would ,not be a bloodless .play.. There is Polonius, dead since

Act 111, and Rosencrantz. and Guildenstern disposed of on the sly, not to mention Ophelia. And what would the Ghost say? ; . The first prize went to — The graveyard scene and the Queen's poisoning stand. We do away with that tiresome business of changing the foils. We, keep Hamlet alive; Laertes too la. a likeable youth; we can better spare Osrlc. Horatio, as .the duellists become evidently incensed,'■ rushed forward to part- them ; he, is stabbed ..inadvertently by Laertes with ..the poisoned foil,: Osric la about: to comment when Hamlet, unable to endure his Euphuisms, spits him on.Kts rapier. Laertes, excited. , and remorseful for.Horatio, stabs the King. ' This, surely, is neat.': Hamlet slew Laertes's father, Laertes slays-Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet and young 'Fortlnbras swear alliance. By . this : rearrangement wo lose the good but stolid Horatlo.and gain. Hamletfs epitaph on his friend;"we retain the original number of dead,bodies. . ■ ■;'. The second prize.. to. "one .oi the-be-lievers in a.really hajipy ending With a resurrected Ophelia:-^ . ~'._"„; i Scene I: ■;.•'■'•■. " ■ ■■. . . When' Hamlet leaps ipto the grare rowing hl3 love Ophelia rises and. laughingly ixplalna that she was: only pretending—-just. to.\see if he really loved her...-: This: scene.;,leaves' . the ■audience tensely -. wondering if: their- proposed marriage will be'shattered by the Impending duel with the poisoned foil. Scene' 2 (In the Castle) :'. While the Queen sits unwittingly sipping the poisoned wine (Ophelia. ".Is teetotal) the King acts as referee la the duel. Laertes.- disagreeing wtth one decision, Impulsively lunges at King. King, hysterical, kicks sword from Laertes.. Hamlet throws .'his . own aside to quieten King.. . Fight, resumed with stfapped swords. Laertes wounded, Hamlet unscratched. The Queer, King,' and' Liertes: die..-. ■'■ - : Hamlet and Ophelia kissing-when Fertinbras i enters with good foreign news. ' Hamlet is then acclaimed King; ./•:.; ' " ' '■' ;