Editorial note
When editing this page from Act 1 Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Hamlet, we wanted to reimagine the characters as fraternity members and rework the world they live in into the reality of college Greek Life. Our intention was to put both a comedic and modern take on this scene. In this page of the scene, Horatio and Marcellus are discussing the ghost of Hamlet's recently deceased father -- the late king -- who they think they have just seen. They discuss the legacy of the dead king and the clothing he was wearing that made them believe it was him. In our spin on Shakespeare's words, we use modern day language frequently heard in frat basements and rush events to depict to frat brothers talking about the old pledgemaster who has come back to haunt them. We borrowed slang from our college peers and observations we have made in our everyday lives. We thought these edits would make this text more accessible to college students who may not be familiar with Shakespearean language but would be familiar with fraternity culture. Our hope is that college student who has never read Hamlet will look at this page and get a glimpse into the plot. We made these edits intentionally but also to bring some accessible humor to our college peers. We believe that if the whole play were translated into similar language, even our STEM major friends would be able to engage in a heated discussion of Shakespeare's Hamlet!
Brad: Yo, was that not the Pledgemaster(1)?
Chad: Bro, that was one hundred percent him.
He had on the exact same flannel (2),
As when he jumped the Beta Epsilon (3) kid.
And he had that same smile from when
He hazed (4) the 2024 Freshmen class.
It’s wild.
Brad: On god this happened twice before too
With a Celtic’s jersey (5) he pulled up on us.
Chad: I don’t know why the hell he’s here,
But lowkey this feels like,
Some weird sh*t is gonna happen in the house.
Brad: No cap (6), now chill, and tell me who knows
Why me and my boys are having to do door duty (7),
Every night at the function (8),
And why we keep having to buy kegs
And branding irons, for implements of Greek Week (9),
And why we have so much Beer Pong (10) training that we
Don’t even have a free Sunday to trade Bitcoin (11):
We have no idea what’s being planned,
But we’re working twenty four seven,
Someone gotta let me know bro, it’s sus (12).
Chad: Bet (13), I have heard some of the boys speaking,
The pledgemaster, who as you know was beefing with Zack of Sigma Tau Delta (14),
Called him a pussy, they started
Throwing hands, when Tanner, our goated (15) pledgemaster,
As he’s known in the house,
Beat his ass,
And you know what that means, by law
Zack had to give him all of the tequila
That Sigma Tau Delta had copped from Huntington Wines and Spirits,
But if Zack won, then they would’ve got all of Alpha Pi Epsilon (16) Elf Bars (17),
That Tanner bought this week:
But now bro, Zack’s younger brother,
Is mad as hell,
Image credit: British Library (Halliwell-Phillips edition). The tragicall historie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke. First Quarto. London: 1603.
Citing this page: Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, B2r. London: 1603. Cacodemon Digital Shakespeare. Edited by: [your names]. Source Edition: British Library (Halliwell-Phillips Edition). http://cacodemonshakespeare.com/tragedies/hamlet/b2r.
Notes
1 Pledgemaster - the leader of a fraternity's pledge process, responsible for initiating new members. In this rendition, the late King Hamlet is the Pledgemaster.
2 Flannel - a pivotal piece of clothing in the fraternity sphere.
3 Beta Epsilon - a fictional fraternity, equivalent to the Polish in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
4 Hazed - the process of humiliating and integrating new fraternity members.
5 Celtic’s jersey - an iconic, statement piece of clothing for Boston based fraternity members, especially on St. Patrick’s day.
6 No cap - slang for no lie.
7 Door duty - when the newer members of a fraternity have to act as door bouncers for a party, rather than partaking in the party.
8 Function - slang for party.
9 Greek week - an annual event on college campuses where fraternities and sororities come together to compete.
10 Beer pong - the most famous fraternity party game/activity. The game includes throwing ping pong balls into red cups of beer, and drinking beer.
11 Bitcoin - a digital currency that fraternity members froth over.
12 Sus - slang for suspicious.
13 Bet - slang for okay/agreed.
14 Sigma Tau Delta - a fictional fraternity, equivalent to Norway in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
15 Goated - slang for greatest of all time.
16 Alpha Pi Epsilon - a fictional fraternity, equivalent to Denmark in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
17 Elf bars - a brand of e-cigarette that’s currently very popular amongst college students.
