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.