Do Different Situations Affect Interpretation?

Many questions came to mind while listening to the podcast.  They ranged from life as a prisoner to how they relate to Hamlet.  Out of the various questions, an important one caught my attention.  We have discussed it a couple times during class, but this podcast made it seem much more important.  Do different situations affect our interpretation of a novel or play?

While listening to the podcast, I kept changing my answer.  My final answer was yes.  The situation in which we are in can affect the way we see or interpret something.  Any situation can create an emotion.  Emotions affect the way we think.  The inmates each have their own background story on why they are in prison.  They have all committed a crime, whether they are the same or different ones.  

They would each have a different response as they read Hamlet.  Each prisoner was affected differently and I noticed that each character would bring back a specific memory for them.  Each prisoner was assigned a character in order to act out the play.  They found, in their own way, a way to relate to their character.  For example, one man said:

"I am Laertes. I am."

In the podcast, the man said that Laertes inspired him to be better.   He made him want to be better.  So yes.  I do believe that the different situations in people's lives make them interpret things differently.

Hamlet vs. Pufrock

Prince Hamlet and J.Alfred Prufrock are very similar but yet very different.  Their similarities are found in their thoughts.  Their differences are established by how they speak and the time difference.

Young Prince Hamlet lives in Denmark during Shakespeare's time and is forced to make a difficult decision.  This decision is whether he should avenge his father's death by killing his uncle or by just letting things remain as they are.  He speaks of both choices with his close friend Horatio and for most of the play, he cannot make a decision. Throughout the play he faces this internal conflict.  Only in the end does he finally take action.  He kills his uncle after setting it off for months.

J. Alfred Prufrock is a man who falls in love with a girl.  He debates whether he should tell her of his dying love or if he should keep it to himself. His life passes by and he dies without taking action.  He is similar to Hamlet in terms of setting things off.  He lives his life without being able to make a decision.  This is the same situation as Hamlet's.  Hamlet never took action because he knew he was correct.  He took action when he knew he was about to die.  Additionally, Hamlet also has a trouble with the love of his life, Ophelia.

Although the base of the problem may be the same, the circumstances are very different.  Hamlet faces a life or death problem. Prufrock faces a love problem that can easily be solved.  Another difference is the way in which they speak. Hamlet is a phenomenal speaker while Prufrock has trouble expressing his feelings.  Prufrock admits it himself in the poem:

"No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
  Am an attendant lord, one that will do
  To swell a progress, start a scene or two
  Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
  Deferential, glad to be of use,
  Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
  Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
  At times, indeed, almost ridiculous-
  Almost, at times, the Fool."