A Solitary Woman Channels Hamlet in Rome

/ Kimberly

Musical accompaniment: Dreaming by Al Bowlly

 

In Act 2 Scene 2 of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark says, There’s nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so. 

This phrase comes back to us again and again as we experience and react to life around us—and witness others reacting very differently. There’s always another way to look at something.

It’s also the phrase that popped into my mind when I saw this 1906 photograph called Villa Torlonia by the Austrian photographer Hugo Henneberg.

Cleveland Museum of Art

Villa Torlonia and its gardens are in Rome, though this photograph looks worlds away from the Eternal City. It was the solitary, pensive figure in the middle of the photograph who prompted Hamlet’s words in my mind.

What do you think of when you see this picture?

7 thoughts on “A Solitary Woman Channels Hamlet in Rome”

  2. In the second act of the musical Carousel, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the male lead, stabs himself with a knife whilst trying to run away after attempting a robbery with his mate Jigger and dies in her arms. 

    It’s not that I am Broadway Theater expert, I know the song because a musical group I was in played “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” The photo took me to that song title.

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