Revisiting Shakespeare: Adapting Hamlet in the 21st Century

Abstract

The plays of Shakespeare, especially Hamlet, have been appropriated and adapted worldwide. These adaptations serve various purposes for the adapters. The main and most important purpose is that it draws parallel between the play in question and the relevant situation of a given country, which subsequently addresses contemporary problems of the later. Therefore, this paper focuses on the 21st Century Hamlet and the ways in which it has been appropriated, adapted, and used for the purposes of social reformation. It further looks into the  potential of the play to address relevant respective contemporary problems/issues of a given country. This paper also probes into the question that why do adapters revisit (appropriate and adapt) Shakespeare in general and Hamlet in particular. Essentially qualitative in nature, this paper uses Greenham's (2018) close reading techniques and further makes use of Hutcheon's Theory of Adaptation (2012).