JESCL Vol 22.1 (2024-2025)

My studies brought to my attention the differences between a live, staged adaptation and a graphic novel one. The latter mimics the effects of the former, like sound and movement, through visuals alone. The lines are not spoken but written in speech balloons, and the acting is frozen in time and framed by panels. At first glance, these parameters seem stifling, but many comic adaptations as well as the entries for the Graphic Shakespeare Competition have proved that, with some creativity, comic adaptations of Shakespeare’s work can not only look dynamic and entertaining but can also delve into aspects of the text that actual stage productions could not.

In the case of adapting a monologue, comics, unshackled from a physical stage, can take on an almost dreamlike quality when allowed to delve into a character’s mind. Images evoked by the text blend with the stage and actors, creating a performance unique to the medium. This was one of the reasons why I chose Hamlet’s speech from Act 2; I wanted to capture his thought process in a way that only a purely visual medium could.

At this point in the play, Hamlet has not made much progress in avenging his murdered father, who previously appeared to him as a ghost. Travelling actors had just arrived in Denmark, and with their performances fresh in his mind, he berates himself for not having the same passion to bring his goals to fruition. After a failed attempt to rouse himself into action, he turns to reasoning instead. He resolves to have a play performed identical to his father’s murder in order to elicit a reaction from his uncle. Once his uncle reveals his guilt, Hamlet is assured the spirit of his father is telling the truth, and he could finally move forward with more certainty.

Within this monologue, imagery permeates and affects Hamlet’s thought process. The ghost, the theater stage, and its actors blend together in his mind to help him formulate a way forward. I took note of this imagery and weaved it, to the best of my ability, into Hamlet’s performance on the page. 

The speech begins with him commenting on an actor’s performance and connecting it to his own situation, so I framed the second and third pages with curtains and placed him on a stage. The theater in page three was directly inspired by the Globe Theatre. In Shakespeare’s time, a trap door that led to a space beneath the stage was often used to represent hell. I made a reference to this convention by having Hamlet fall through the door and into his father’s unrelenting gaze. In addition to this being a reference to an earlier scene where the ghost lurks under the stage, it was a way for me to depict both Hamlet’s fear of being condemned and his assumption that the ghost may be an evil spirit.

A similar combination of imagery reappears on the final page. Here the spirit is either his father or “the devil”, and the two possibilities are depicted side by side, in lighter and darker values respectively. In the next panel, these two values merge and overwhelm Hamlet, as if he is physically within the throes of his doubt. As his plans moving forward become clearer in his thoughts, however, he parts this seemingly impenetrable doubt like a curtain, revealing a stage. The theater imagery that was previously used to frame his wretched state is now being used to pierce through his uncertainty, in the form of a play within a play.
The way this speech in particular draws attention to its original medium and its source material is another reason why I chose it. I intended to highlight the relationship between theater and graphic novels, and how one is adapted into the other. As a purely visual medium, comics fall short when it tries to be a direct imitation of a staged performance, but it could flaunt its own unique strengths when allowed to adapt a script in its own way. When other graphic novels tackle the plays in the future, I hope they keep exploring the potential the medium has for nuanced storytelling.

Hamlet Act V, Scene II remains my favorite part of the entire play, and my appreciation for it has only deepened after revisiting this piece after many years. In this updated note, I would like to give some background on my visual decisions in the comic and ponder a bit more on the themes presented in this particular scene.

Firstly, the struggle between “fate” and “free will” remains one of the most prominent themes explored in Hamlet. In this scene specifically, the play ponders on this theme most notably in Hamlet’s famous quote, “There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” The quote alone already presents a rich trove of ideas to unearth, but depicting the scene in comics format gave me an opportunity to explore this theme in the visual dimension as well.

In this comic adaptation, I took advantage of the gap between text and images to express the underlying tension in the theme. For example, on the sixth page of the comic, Hamlet says “We defy augury,” which exhibits free will; however, the characters and dialogue box are framed within the window, which asserts that they are still boxed within their destinies. As such, the visual interplay adds more nuance to the dialogue and also gives the scene another layer of meaning.

This leads to my next point: nuance. As I have mentioned previously, Hamlet is a play of greys and unanswered questions. So much so, that one of the questions raised to readers is whether Hamlet is a reliable narrator or not. I remember being fascinated by this idea while making the comic. As such, I intentionally drew him in a manner that kept his face partially hidden. It was only when he had seemingly come to terms with his fate and decided to face it head on that his full face was revealed.

The slow reveal of Hamlet’s face parallels his journey of self-actualization as he transforms from someone paralyzed by his questions and the unknown into somebody who realized that, ultimately, one has to face them to find answers. Like the sparrow who continues to fly and survive the world, he too must face his questions firsthand and discover for himself what lies beyond. Knowing what comes after, it is befitting then, that the comic ended on a hopeful yet haunting note, “Let be.”

Overall, adapting Hamlet Act V, Scene II into a comic presented unique challenges. There are no flashy fight scenes, no dramatic exchanges, nor passionate monologues to showcase the intensity of the play’s themes. Instead, there is a lot of nuance and underlying tension, which is not easily depicted visually. In creating this comic, I hope that I managed to convey some of that depth while making the most of a visual medium.