Imagine Shakespeare’s Hamlet set in modern Denmark against a backdrop of today’s celebrity-obsessed culture.
Imagine Ophelia as a beautiful blonde high school senior, partying and texting with her boyfriend, Hamlet, a dashing prince and college student whose every move becomes tabloid fodder. Add a treacherous uncle, who plots to kill Hamlet’s father and marry his mother.
That’s what Eastern Middle School teacher Michelle Ray did in Falling for Hamlet, a page-turner of a novel that was published this month by Little, Brown and Company. She took a classic tale of romance, treachery and revenge and brought it smack into our world: Ophelia’s story plays out through interviews with an Oprah-style TV host and police detectives investigating murder.
This is the first book by Ray, a veteran teacher in the Silver Spring school’s Humanities and Communication Magnet Program who says she’s always loved concocting stories in her mind.
Passionate about Shakespeare, Ray decided to take a closer look at Ophelia, who goes mad and kills herself in Shakespeare’s play. Ray wondered: What would make her go crazy? What would it be like dating Hamlet? Can anyone imagine being the girl dating a prince who sees his father’s ghost?
With its romance conducted by texting, this book is sure to appeal to teenagers. Ray discovered that having her characters use today’s technology helped her modernize the original tale while sticking to its plot. Phones with video and cameras allow the characters to see things happening where they’re not. Security cameras in the castle track everyone’s moves.
And Ray doesn’t shy away from the complexities of a modern teenager’s life. Ophelia drinks, sleeps with Hamlet and has a casual hook-up with a friend. She also argues with her father, who doesn’t approve of her boyfriend.
Ray says she originally wrote the book for college-age readers, but her editor thought it was better suited to teens. “The question for me is, ‘Is it true and typical?’” she says.
She decided to keep the original names of Shakespeare’s characters, although they do sound a little weird to the modern ear. But changing the names didn’t seem right, Ray says.
Otherwise, the modern language should strike a chord with teens, who might find it tedious to wade through the Elizabethan-era words of Shakespeare. The book could be a perfect companion to a high school class studying the original play.
Ray’s novel also could fit right into an emerging trend of educators using technology and social media to engage teens in the classroom. One example: high school students across the country have created Facebook profiles of Geoffrey Chaucer’s characters from The Canterbury Tales, providing status updates from the stories.
Ray, a mother of two young daughters, wrote the first draft of her book in four months, fitting the writing around teaching and correcting papers. “I love sitting down and carving out time to write stories,” she says.
It took about 18 months to find an agent and then the book was sold to a publisher within six weeks. Now Ray is basking in the attention as word of the book spreads. She is scheduled for a book signing Sept. 17 at Booktopia in Bethesda.
“I’m not over this yet. My excitement that people like this has not worn off,” she says. “It’s the biggest shock to me.”
