Hello there and happy Friday to you.
Sometimes I identify more with characters in books and movies than with real people. Is this a problem? It probably is.
I recently watched the movie Sing Sing which tells the story of a program at Sing Sing prison in which incarcerated men participate in something called RTA (Rehabilitation Through the Arts). According to the RTA web site “Rehabilitation Through the Arts has transformed thousands of lives by helping people in prison develop critical life skills through the arts...theater gives members the opportunity to inhabit diverse characters and perspectives, supporting the development of empathy and providing a safe space to explore different choices and emotions.” Seems like we all would benefit from that experience.
In the movie the group is preparing for a performance that includes a soliloquy from Hamlet (the famous one: “to be or not to be”). It’s all based on a true story and I absolutely loved the movie. Very emotional. But it got me thinking about Hamlet again, so I went back and started reading Act I when I came across a passage that captured my imagination.
The character of Ophelia is often written about in song—I can think of a couple at least. The Band song of course, and more recently the Lumineers offered one up. I have to admit the name is just fun to say. Ophelia is usually seen as a sort of tragic and helpless character, but something she says early in the play has me thinking differently. She is getting a lot of advice from her father Polonius and her brother Laertes in Act I scene iii—basically they are telling her to stay away from Hamlet because he will spoil her maidenhood and leave her a shameless outcast. She agrees but then says to Laertes:
I shall the effect of this good lesson keep As watchman to my heart. But, good my brother, Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads (1.3.50-54)
Basically Ophelia is saying, “okay I’ll consider your advice but don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t have me walk the ‘thorny way’ while you take the ‘primrose path’”. And this is exactly what happens as Laertes gets to go back to college in France while Ophelia has to stick around her dysfunctional home in Denmark. This got me thinking maybe she isn’t so fragile, maybe she is just a victim of her time and place (and her gender as she is dominated shamelessly by the men in her life). Hamlet turns out to be a real jerk. I mean he is in a bad way too, with his uncle murdering his father and marrying his mother. But he really messes with Ophelia (he also kills several people with little to no remorse…seriously lacking empathy brother!) and she eventually drowns herself in the river. I wish for a better outcome for her but these tragedies always end with a pile of bodies and Hamlet is no different. The play is actually quite relatable to modern times with both Hamlet and Ophelia suffering with their mental health. They need a therapist!
So, like the incarcerated men in the movie, I decided to take on a different voice to work things out. I’m trying to evoke an Ophelia with some agency and attitude. I wrote this song spring-boarding from her line “…a watchman to my heart” and I’m singing from Ophelia’s point of view.
Thanks for listening and for reading. Have a wonderful weekend! - Mick
P.S.
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I Don't Need a Watchman I don't need a watchman To guard my heart I don't need nobody to play my part Because I knew it right from the start I don't need a watchman for my heart I don't need no brakeman To slow me down I don't need nobody always hanging around Too many nights in this stinkin' town I don't need no brakeman to slow me down I don't need a watchman for my heart I don't need a watchman for my heart oh no Don't need a shovel To break this ground I don't need my brother to show me how To walk with thorns on my crown I don't need no shovel to break this ground I don't need a watchman for my heart I don't need a watchman for my heart oh no I don't need a lover To make me feel sad I don't need a lover well not like that With words of love to be taken back I don't need a lover, not like that I don't need a watchman for my heart I don't need a watchman for my heart oh no I don't need a fire For to escape I was born in my very own cage Tears of sorrow, tears of rage I don't need a fire for to escape I don't need a watchman for my heart I don't need a watchman for my heart oh no I don't need a watchman To guard my heart I don't need nobody to play my part I knew it right from the start I don't need a watchman for my heart I don't need a watchman for my heart I don't need a watchman for my heart
