Bickering Peaks: A Twin Peaks Podcast

Hamlet is arguably the first of Shakespeare's "Big Plays" -- the magnificent tragedies, the ones that everyone studies in their English classes, that hold a special place in the canon because of their thematic and dramatic importance. Oh, sure, we've covered Richard III and Romeo & Juliet and The Merchant of Venice already; no one is denying the importance and vibrancy of these and other earlier plays. But you have to admit that Hamlet (along with King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello) represents some of the grandest of Shakespeare's writing and thinking. In today's episode, we've once again attempted to break down the play into the biggest umbrella themes. We ask a lot of questions, about the imp[act of grief on a person's mental state, the treatment of gender and sexuality, what does it mean to revenge your murdered father -- typical stuff. We make no pretenses that we have any of the answers to the questions we're raising, and we won't come to any novel understanding of the play or the themes found within (