莎士比亞之漫畫與動畫改編研究: 以《哈姆雷特》及《羅密歐與茱麗葉》為例

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(1)國立臺灣師範大學英語學系碩. 士. 論. 文. Master Thesis Department of English National Taiwan Normal University. 莎士比亞之漫畫與動畫改編研究: 以《哈姆雷特》及《羅密歐與茱麗葉》為例. A Study of Manga and Anime Adaptations Based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. 指導教授：林璄南教授 Advisor: Dr. Alan Ying-nan Lin 研究生：江俞弦. 中華民國 105 年 1 月 January, 2016.

(2) i. 摘要本文旨在探討莎士比亞的《哈姆雷特》及《羅密歐與茱麗葉》中的情節和台詞，如何透過圖片敘述及原著台詞的刪減，交織應用在 21 世紀的動畫及漫畫中，而使其產生新的詮釋及視聽感受。本論文分為五章: 緒論陳述本文所提及的漫畫及動畫版本之取材原因，以及簡述各章節概要。第一章則提供漫畫及動畫的初步認識，並運用 Barbara Postema 所列出的漫畫技巧，解讀圖片在故事中的敘述方式。將圖片視為一種在文本中敘述的語言，並透過漫畫的敘事架構及圖片在畫面上的配置技巧，作為分析第二章的基礎。第二章主要著重在 Manga Shakespeare 改編的漫畫版本中，分析僅是文字的原著劇本，如何在漫畫圖片的框架中，結合既有的台詞與漫畫的敘述架構而得以重新演釋，而產生不同的閱讀可能性及解讀方式。為了區別漫畫和動畫在改編上有所不同，第三章則以 Zetsuen no Tempest 和 Romeo X Juliet 兩部動畫作品為例，探討莎劇的角色、台詞及劇情，如何經由應用與修飾，融合劇情，進而在動畫中產生新的詮釋。與漫畫相比，動畫的重點已經不再是以不同媒介演繹莎士比亞的劇本。反之，原著中的元素(角色、情節、台詞)變成動畫敘事中的潤飾品，或是作為劇情轉折的關鍵點。最後，結論概述漫畫和動畫改編的異同，並提出閱聽者在閱讀或欣賞的當下，應將劇本或是改編作品結合自身經驗，使其產生更具意義的解讀方式。. 關鍵詞:莎士比亞、哈姆雷特、羅密歐與茱麗葉、漫畫、動畫、改編.

(3) ii. Abstract This thesis seeks to explore how Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet are applied and adapted into manga and anime through graphic narration and application of original lines in the twenty-first century. The thesis is composed of five chapters. The introductory chapter explains the reason for adopting specific adaptations and outlines important points in each chapter. Chapter One begins with a brief introduction to manga and anime, and the narrative structure in manga based on Barbara Postema’s discussions. To examine how graphics act in sequence and produce meanings, this chapter offers some terminologies of manga as the basis for examining functions and layouts of graphics in manga adaptations. Chapter Two compares and contrasts important scenes and themes in Manga Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet to discuss how Shakespeare’s plays are represented through graphics and abridged lines. Although numerous lines are omitted, the appealing graphics in manga provide the readers with emotional engagements and different perspectives to reconsider Shakespeare’s plays. In order to look into the differences between manga and anime adaptations, Chapter Three investigates how characters, plots, and quotations are applied in Shakespeare’s anime adaptations (Zetsuen no Tempest and Romeo X Juliet). Contrary to Manga Shakespeare’s editions which are more attached to the original plays, the anime adaptations become new stories and Shakespeare’s lines are transformed into aiding elements to move stories forward. Finally, the concluding chapter summarizes the similarities and differences of manga and anime adaptations. It also pinpoints the importance of relating Shakespeare’s plays/adaptations with our surroundings and daily experience to make our interpretation more meaningful.. Keywords: Shakespeare, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, manga, anime, adaptations.

(4) iii. Acknowledgements During the past years in the Department of English, I have taken many informative courses to inspire me with my research and got lots of help in writing Master thesis. First, I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis advisor Dr. Alan Ying-nan Lin for his encouragement and guidance. Without his valuable advice and persistent instruction, I could not stay at a concrete direction to accomplish my thesis. Besides, I am deeply indebted to the other committee members, Dr. Hui-hua Wang and Dr. Elyssa Y. Cheng, for taking their precious time as my readers and providing me with insightful comments. Their solid suggestions not only helped me improve the quality of my thesis but also encouraged me to explore more possibilities in developing this thesis. In addition, I would like to express my appreciation to my dear friends, schoolmates, and colleagues in Wangfang High School. During the process of writing my thesis, they always encouraged me and cheered me up whenever I felt frustrated or stuck in my thesis. Most important of all, I ought to express my greatest debt to my beloved family. Thanks to their unconditional love and wholehearted support, I could concentrate on my thesis and overcome difficulties with their assistance and company..

(5) iv. Table of Contents Abstract in Chinese ............................................................................................................. i Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. iii Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One Narrative Structure in Manga ............................................................... 5 1.1 What are Manga and Anime? ........................................................................................ 5 1.2 Narrative Structure in Manga........................................................................................ 7 1.3 A Brief Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 13 Chapter Two. Manga Shakespeare................................................................................. 16. 2.1 Hamlet (2007) ............................................................................................................... 19 2.1.1 The Ghost Scene ..................................................................................................... 19 2.1.2 The Mousetrap Scene .............................................................................................. 24 2.1.3 The Graveyard Scene .............................................................................................. 27 2.1.4 The Duel Scene ....................................................................................................... 29 2.2 Romeo and Juliet (2007) ............................................................................................... 31 2.2.1 Ill-fated love under Traditional Patriarchal System ................................................ 32 2.2.2 The Function of Death: Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris, Romeo, and Juliet ...................... 37 2.2.3 Romeo’s and Juliet’s Transformation of Agency .................................................... 40 Chapter Three Visualized Shakespeare in Anime World ........................................... 44 3.1 Zetsuen no Tempest (2013) ........................................................................................... 45 3.1.1 Setting and Characters ............................................................................................ 45 3.1.2 The Time is Out of Joint ......................................................................................... 49 3.1.3 The Ghost Scene ..................................................................................................... 49 3.1.4 The Graveyard Scene .............................................................................................. 52 3.1.5 The Duel Scene ....................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Romeo X Juliet (2007) .................................................................................................. 58 3.2.1 Setting and Characters ............................................................................................ 58 3.2.2 Four Conflicts in Romeo X Juliet ............................................................................ 60 3.2.3 Doomed Love under Revolution of Neo Verona .................................................... 64 3.2.4 Willy’s Theater: The Play within the Anime ........................................................... 67 3.2.5 Death as Rebirth: The Wind of Freedom ................................................................ 70 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 72 Works Cited ....................................................................................................................... 75.

(6) Chiang 1. Introduction. For centuries, the name “Shakespeare” has become a well-known and representative icon. No matter in what kind of adaptation, once an adaptation is entitled or related to “Shakespeare,” this work is endowed with a new perspective for us to read and re-examine Shakespeare’s plays as well. Nowadays, abundant discussions and research on Shakespearean adaptations have been widely explored, ranging from dramas, films, dance performances, even to musicals, but only few of them focus on the adaptations of manga and anime. Compared with other adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, manga and anime adaptations emphasize graphics, visual-verbal allusions, captions, word balloons, and arrangements of stories. Also, with high flexibility of manga and anime, it creates hybridity of different styles and modes of graphic/image making. To address the issue on how and why the adaptations of manga and anime form a distinctive category to narrate Shakespeare’s texts, the study will look into the following research questions: What are manga and anime? How do mangakas (cartoon writers) apply Shakespeare’s works into different types of manga and anime (such as graphics, visual-verbal allusions, frames, panels, captions, and choice/placement of words in word balloons)? How do Shakespearean manga and anime compare with the original texts? What kind of effect is produced through the interplay between Shakespeare’s language and graphics? How do graphics grasp the deep meaning of Shakespearean works? When Shakespeare’s lines are turned into graphics, what contents do graphics replace and interpret? What sort of effect and emotion does Shakespearean manga and anime bring to the readers and viewers? What aesthetic value does Shakespearean manga and anime possess?.

(7) Chiang 2. In this chapter, I will explain why I choose to study specific manga and anime in this thesis, and I will also introduce the main ideas of the following chapters. Among various mangas and animes, Japanese mangas and animes have undoubtedly won a worldwide recognition. Therefore, I choose two Japanese animes as my major texts to analyze: Zetsuen No Tempest, also called Blast of Tempest (2013), and Romeo X Juliet (2007). Although Zetsuen No Tempest is based on both Hamlet and The Tempest, the setting of characters and plots are closer to Hamlet. As a result, I prefer to choose the manga adaptation of Hamlet as a comparison instead of The Tempest in this thesis. To echo with the two animes and to observe different interpretations between anime and manga, I adopt Hamlet (2007) and Romeo and Juliet (2007) of Manga Shakespeare series published by SelfMadeHero publisher as my primary texts. Regardless of manga or anime, the story is told in a series of pictures as well as dialogues. The most vital element in both manga and anime is graphics accompanied by words to give special intensity on actions and words. Consequently, how graphics are narrated and interpreted in the story are delightful parts when viewers enjoy manga or anime. In Chapter One, I provide a short introduction of manga and its relation with anime and focus on how graphics narrate the story. I draw on Barbara Postema’s discussions on graphic narrative structure to explore characters, plots, and usage of manga style in graphic narration. Then, Chapter Two examines Manga Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet to suggest how the original plays are transformed into manga adaptations via graphics and omitted lines. The analysis of two manga adaptations will center on the setting, characters, essential scenes and themes as contrasted and compared with the original plays. Although both manga and anime are mainly composed of graphics and lines, mangakas’ and animators’ interpretations of Shakespearean texts differ greatly. In.

(8) Chiang 3. manga adaptations, by means of kawaii graphics and cartoon style, they display various comic devices of situations. Also, Shakespeare’s original lines are usually simplified or omitted. These modified lines are straightforwardly used in characters’ dialogues and panels to strengthen characters’ actions or provide important messages. Nevertheless, in anime adaptations, dialogue between characters is normal daily conversation. Shakespeare’s lines are thus turned into auxiliary elements that enable the story to go smoothly and build up the climax from a new and distinct perspective. These techniques imply how the mangakas and animators see the play and what they value. Consequently, Chapter Three deals with how the characters, plots, classic scenes, and original lines in Shakespeare’s plays are applied and modified in Zetsuen No Tempest and Romeo X Juliet. Zetsuen No Tempest is a fantasy and detective anime in which main characters seek for their revenge due to the death of one important female character. Then, in Romeo X Juliet, Juliet is a princess, also a cross-dressing young boy, to revive her kingdom which is overthrown by the cruel Montague. Romeo in this adaptation is more like a helper who betrays his father and assists Juliet to build a peaceful kingdom. In the two animes, it is obvious that the stories differ concidentally from those of Shakespeare’s original plays, and the lines and theatrical elements in Shakespeare’s plays have become turning points which act as auxiliary functions and climaxes in the animes. Through different adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, we are encouraged to read Shakespeare’s works from various perspectives, exploring different possibilities and meanings in the texts. Thus, this thesis takes manga and anime seriously and treats them as something to learn from, seeking to analyze adaptations of Shakespearean manga and anime, and to compare them with the original plays to investigate how.

(9) Chiang 4. Shakespeare’s works are reconfigured and represented in different narrative media..

(10) Chiang 5. Chapter One Narrative Structure in Manga. 1.1 What are Manga and Anime? Manga, called “manhua” in Chinese, is a term that particularly means Japanese comics or printed cartoon. Manga explores various themes, ranging from everyday life to Japanese storytelling, religious traditions, horror, and supernatural themes. Due to high thematic range of manga, the influence of manga is like “air” that permeates into other mass media and brings immense “cultural material” (such as magazines, television shows, films, or animes) in the contemporary society (Kinsella 3) In addition, manga is famous for its authenticity of Japanese culture and experience, rather than being “an American or European political or cultural import” for simply conveying political ideology or material products (Kinsella 3-5). In manga, readers can see not only amusing images combining with concise verbal messages but also deeply decode those symbols based on Japanese conventions and culture. To put it simply, manga’s graphic creation of visual styles and adaptation of retelling traditions “underscores how it is a medium not only for extending, but also engaging with, the historical imaginary central to contemporary Japanese identity” (Bryce and Davis 37). Manga’s cooperative and profitable association with anime came in the 1960s when the television emerged. Furthermore, the influence of the anime and animation market led to the “manga boom” in the following years (Hayley 268). In 1963, the success of Tezuka Osamu’s televised animation based on Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy 原子小金剛) launched manga’s association with the mass media, and the publishers continued to develop “the art of media mix,” such as “weekly comics, the reissue of.

(11) Chiang 6. successful series in paperback volumes, TV and OVA1 series, animated films, live action films, music (from TV shows and movies) and musicals” (Kinsella 28). Products of these mix media based on manga have brought large profits through advertising popular characters and associated products, and thus enabled manga become one of the pillars of Japanese economy. Moreover, as Hayley observes, owing to the network and translations of languages, manga and anime have entered into the market of the West and rapidly gained numerous fans in the West (268). This successful result has proved charm of manga and anime and also the sharing of visual language around the world. In addition, extending from the realm of manga, we can observe that the culture of Otaku2and anime has gained its popularity because the market is flooded with related products (such as models, stationery, video games, CD, and so on) based on the characters of the anime, and numerous fans have been eager to purchase them for collections. Then, what is “anime” and why is anime so appealing to the public? According to the definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary3, the anime is a style of animation created in Japan and is composed of numerous images, strong characters, and stories that have a lot of actions. Also, the anime is the abbreviation for animation in Japanese and usually means the hand-drawn or computer animation. More specifically, the term anime is defined as the animation from Japan or as Japanese animation style with colorful graphics and fantastic themes. Although there are 1. OVA (original video animation), sometimes called OAV (original animated video), is animated series or films specially made for release in home video formats without prior showing on television or in theater. (from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_video_animation) 2 The original meaning of “otaku” refers to another people’s house or family in Japanese. Nowadays, otaku is used metaphorically, called 御宅族 in Chinese, is a term to describe people who have obsessive interests, especially in manga and anime. In a broader sense, this term can relate to the fandom of any particular hobby or form of entertainment. Recently, the otaku subculture has gradually obtained its social and academic recognition, and the central theme of this subculture lies in the works of diverse manga and anime productions. 3 The definition of anime comes from the online Merriam-Webster dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anime).

(12) Chiang 7. arguments about whether the term can be used to describe the anime produced in other countries other than Japan, most westerners still consider anime as an animation product of Japan. Nevertheless, in Cinema Anime: Critical Engagements with Japanese Animation, Steve T. Brown proposes that we should avoid simplifying the anime into a kind of unitary and fixed object which is projected on the screen because the anime’s hybridity of forms, genres, styles, and audiences deserves more to be explored. From my point of view, I agree with Brown’s idea that we should not confine the definition of anime only as an animation product of Japan. Instead, the anime should be positioned as a globalized visual production with various styles and images that blend with diverse issues associated with people’s daily life and the contemporary society, such as ethnic, technological, economic, and political issues. Besides, the anime production shares a kind of universal language through its unique graphic narration and visual language without cultural boundaries.. 1.2 Narrative Structure in Manga Being casual, entertaining, various, and close to people, these favorable qualities have brought manga to a high reputation in the art of visual storytelling. The craze for manga shows its successful function of ideograph and communication in images. When the readers read manga, they are simultaneously interacting with the mangaka through the process of deciphering the visual and verbal languages on the pages. As a result, the representation of the image is directly exposed to the readers who are able to fetch concrete impressions from the pictures in a short time. These visual and verbal languages come from the daily-life materials and implications which the mangaka wants to convey or communicate with the readers. In such a manner, how do.

(13) Chiang 8. the readers analyze these messages from the specific structure of manga? How do images narrate a story with (or even without) the assistance of words? How do images act in sequence to help plots move forward in manga? Basically, the readers view the images directly and analyze them according to the design of characters, the setting, and the arrangement of stories to presume what the manga is talking about. Through the function of the visual storytelling, with static images and text, manga incorporates two symbolic systems: one is visual and the other is verbal. The visual image plays a far more crucial role than the text because the image takes the responsibility for pushing the story forward while the text is in secondary place, as a supplement for notification in manga. Consequently, to build up a general concept of the narrative structure in manga, I will introduce some basic terminologies and skills in manga.. Color By and large, the color of manga is usually monocolor with different variation and gradation in gray scale. In order to sustain the consistency of the story, the usage of color will keep in constant style. Therefore, the application of drastic change of color becomes a method to present special meaning in manga. For example, the drawing of black background illustrates the loneliness or astonishment of characters and the gutter chequered with black and white suggests the omitted contents or the separation of the timeline in the story.. Characters Every character is a vivid symbol and the task of characters is to “act” in manga to set up the plots in sequence. Most characters are designed for readers to quickly realize and imagine from their daily and social experiences. With the individualized.

(14) Chiang 9. portrait of each character, readers can catch the main qualities of characters and even project themselves into their positions. From this point of view, images in manga not only bring a story to the readers but also involve the value and intention of the mangaka which the readers experience during their reading.. Caption, Word Balloon Captions are used to support information for word balloons from the third-person’s point of view, such as details of time and places. Since captions are optional elements, placements of captions are flexible. They usually appear outside the panels, placed horizontally, or inserted vertically on the top or bottom of panels. Unlike captions, balloons are inserted into panels to deliver the texts spoken or thought by characters. Based on these two functions, word balloons can be categorized into two types: speech balloons and thought balloons. Normally, speech balloons are displayed in oval surrounded with solid lines whereas thought balloons are in oval with dashed lines. In addition, thought balloons are presented in other type of edges, such as radial, jagged or square, instead of ovals. In short, the appearance of word balloons varies from the style of the mangaka and its usage for conveying “emotions or meanings verbalized within the balloons” (Postema 132). Different shapes of word balloons symbolize distinct verbal and emotional meanings, and these elements become part of narration in manga, distinguishing the layers of narration.. Figure 1. speech balloon in oval with solid lines and thought balloon in jagged shape.

(15) Chiang 10. Frame, Panel Manga is structured by frames and panels which involve expressionistic forms according to amounts, sizes, and shapes. Frames regard a page as a complete reading unit, while panels emphasize the composition of the page. On the one hand, frames tie the images into sequences “while the image sequence still allows for panels to exist as individual entities, not merely ciphers in a more important string” (Postema 27). In addition to the drawing of picture frame with “double lines,” frames “can also similarly be used in a more imagistic fashion, for example with wobbly or jagged lines” (Postema 131). On the other hand, panels are commonly rectangular or square without strict restrictions and may not always be surrounded by frames. The style of panels shows different visual or narrative effects. For instance, the irregular curved panel can be used to indicate the narration of flashback and the slopy panel expresses visions of multi-angle, showing functions of categorizing narration in different layers in a simple and clear way. “Panels, by means of frames, combine on the comics page to create synergy that goes beyond the content of the single panel and makes something new” (Postema 28). Each panel delineates continuing movement of the objects or a specific moment, such as a dynamic action or a close-up of character’s facial expression. Furthermore, through the size and arrangement of frames and panels, it “creates the effect of a gap while at the same time establishing the means to close it” in manga (Postema 27). The connection between panels is a distinctive trait of manga narration because the combination of sequences influences the representation of manga and obliquely conveys the messages that the mangaka wants the readers to get involved..

(16) Chiang 11. Gutter The functions of gutter are to separate panels and to fill the gap between image and sequence. Usually, gutters are “blank and are the color of the unprinted paper” (Postema 131). However, in some cases, gutters are used in black between panels to help readers tell apart the timeline of the story.. Layout The layout of a page can be divided into four basic directions (right, left, upper, bottom), middle, and blank. Gutters and frames “break the page into a signifying structure and which signal the existence of sequence by creating a progression from panel to panel” (Postema 30). The placing and spacing of images, texts, gutters, and panels on a page not only affects the sequence of story and power of characters but also influences the expectation of readers when reading the story. Besides, “the layout can change how the contents of the panel signify, and the panel contents can alter the signification of the layout” (Postema 29). The readers can determine the value and importance of the information from where images and texts are placed on a page. For example, in Manga Shakespeare’s Hamlet on page 6, the image of the ghost appears in the middle across two pages, whereas the soldiers are in small panels. Besides, from the comparison between size, color, and clarity of images, the readers can also detect important elements.. Modality Modality refers to the extent of simulation and credibility of the narration in manga; that is, the extent of reality which manga indicates. The degree of modality depends on complication of lines and intensity of color. If the image is composed of.

(17) Chiang 12. simple lines and light color with low layer, like the cartoon version, the image tends to be in low modality and vice versa.. Onomatopoeia The onomatopoeia possesses the form of image and word at the same time, adding the elements of sound in static manga, such as “beep” (the signal of message), “plip” (the sound of rolling tears), and “hoff” (sound of breathing heavily). Besides, different shapes of words can provide unique meaning. For instance, bold letter can convey the idea of loud noises or surprise, and italic letter can portray the direction of sound and the effect of lengthening.. Sequence and Action As Scott McCloud suggests, in terms of sequences of panels, the mangaka uses “separate images and transform[s] them into a single idea” (63). In other words, the action in manga is created in the combination of panels rather than one panel. An image contains several symbols which are combined as a whole to convey one united idea instead of segments at different periods. Through the arrangement of panels, the images can represent the sequence of time and thus creates action through sequences. “Each panel—each moment—is contrasted with the one before and after it, so that based on the changes shown in the scene, from one panel to the next, an action unfolds” (Postema 56). By observing the sequential and meaningful graphics, readers can infer characters’ actions. Also, to build the effect of action in a story, in addition to the interplay of images and texts, mangakas apply the skill of arranging layout to make the images act and alive on the page..

(18) Chiang 13. 1.3 A Brief Conclusion Generally speaking, the narrative can be summarized in language, but how about summarizing it in pictures? Sol Worth argues that visual media lack the code and grammar to produce specific meanings, while Wendy Steiner proposes that “the image is not a second way of telling the tale, but a way of evoking” and creating symbolic relation with the text in a systematic sequence (139). In terms of the narrative in comics or in manga, it tends to be the second argument that the images are not simply plain and static pictures on the page; nevertheless, they produce the readers’ own interpretations toward the images in unique ways. Comics or manga share the same features, such as images, texts, sequences of panels and stories. The deliberate sequences of juxtaposed pictorial images thus construct integrating narrative throughout the texts, intending to “convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer” (McCloud 9). Consequently, from McCloud’s point of view, the sequential images can also be regarded as language, a “purely visual language” with the same structural properties and mental process as the verbalized symbolic language (2). No matter in words or in images, the combinations of verbal and visual elements create a kind of language which is more than two categories of narrative media that help readers “read” into everything. The celebrated ‘God of Manga” Osamu Tezuka once said, “I don’t consider them pictures…in reality I’m not drawing, I’m writing a story with a unique type of symbol” (Frederik L Schodt 1983, 25). This indicates the potential of images which can be regarded as another system of language conveying meaningful messages. Also, Fredirik Schodt (the first American who writes about manga) comments that “manga are merely another ‘language,’ and the panels and pages are but another type of.

(19) Chiang 14. ‘words’” (Schodt 1996, 26) that constructs the sequence of the story and provides readers with different parts of narrative presentation. Referring to Shakespearean manga, it is a blend of textual words (dialogues between characters or words creating special effects) and visual images (the setting, portrait of characters, or some striking actions) that completes the whole manga. Also, if the mangaka applies the full text, it will ignore the nature of manga which emphasizes its graphical depiction and narration. Via the interplay of visual art with textual poetry, it can avoid being heavily-worded and let the audience pay attention to frames, panels, word balloons, and captions because the main point is to “show” and not to “tell” (Hayley 269), and the focus is that “how meaning is conveyed to the reader in the content of sequential images” (Cohn 194). However, the style of reading Shakespeare plays from the perspective of graphic narratives leads to a paradoxical argument whether Shakespearean manga is “Shakespearean” enough or not; that is, is the manga true to the plots and tropes of the original play? Or does the manga transform the contents and motives of the play, and simply apply the characters and setting borrowd from the original text? Lanier observes that when we re-contextualize Shakespearean narratives in a new place or time, “Shakespeare thereby becomes a collection of narratives highly mobile from context to context, verbal style to style, genre to genre, media platform to platform” (107). In addition, he argues that the authority of the text within the “graphic performance” is reconfigured. The metaphor or styling option is not the primary source of narrative as that of the original plays. In other words, Shakespeare in graphics has undergone the process of converting Shakespeare’s words into visual form and they represented a curious re-textualization of Shakespeare (111). On the other hand, Ryan suggests that narrative is “a type of meaning that.

(20) Chiang 15. transcends particular media” (13), and we might understand this as a kind of consolidating the mobility of Shakespearean narrative across different contexts, and the relationship between the text and the image. As a result, we should focus on the impact on Shakespearean adaptations through the lens of new age by establishing a connection between the literary works and readers’ experiences. Also, we should consider how Shakespeare’s works are reconstructed or reinterpreted through different narrative media with times..

(21) Chiang 16. Chapter Two Manga Shakespeare: Hamlet (2007) and Romeo and Juliet (2007). Manga is a visual medium used for popular communication and education, increasingly popular in the West. Representing Shakespeare in the form of manga is more than rearranging the play with graphics but translating words and emotions into pictures which may not be able to be conveyed through actors on the stage or a silver screen. The rise of Shakespeare in graphics in the West can be traced back to two principal periods: the 1950s and the late 1980s to early 1990s. In the 1950s, the main publication of Shakespearean comics was from Classics Illustrated, beginning its publication in 1941, known for its adaptations of literary classics, such as The Odyssey, Hamlet, Moby Dick, and Gulliver’s Travels. Later, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the reemergence of adaptations of the plays targeted more on the “young adult males, appropriation of the plays, and man into the ongoing narratives, such as The Sandman (Wetmore 172). Moreover, Shakespearean manga or comics provides “a bridge between the world of performance and linear text, a way of bringing Shakespeare to life in a visual way of new audience” (Hayley 269). As Douglas Lanier points out in “Recent Shakespeare Adaptation and the Mutations of Cultural Capital,” he lists three different English-language Shakespeare series in manga style that have been published so far: the Manga Shakespeare series (14 titles), Shakespeare: The Manga Edition (4 titles), and Puffin Graphics (1 title) (109). The publication of graphic Shakespeare shows the promotion of some Shakespearean plays to the young generation and popular youth culture..

(22) Chiang 17. In this thesis, among other editions, I choose Manga Shakespeare’s edition as my primary texts. Manga Shakespeare is published by SelfMadeHero, a British manga and graphic novel publisher founded in 2007. From 2007 to 2009, SelfMadeHero released fourteen Shakespearean manga adaptations with selected texts (about 200 pages) as Manga Shakespeare series, endeavoring to “breathe new life into classics” (Hayley 267). It is a series of critically acclaimed books featuring illustrations with the original text of Shakespeare and the editorial team consists of a group of Shakespeare scholars and educational editors. Furthermore, the settings and character designs in Manga Shakespeare series range from samurai, cyborgs, ninjas, and Japanese pop fashion. Manga Shakespeare adds visual and emotional interest, and “demonstrate[s] the format’s capacity to handle complex, serious material of Shakespearean plays.” Also, “Manga Shakespeare becomes a means to ‘universalize’ the form for a broader audience, showing manga’s potential power and value as a global [lingua franca]” (Lanier 112). In addition to the advantages of Manga Shakespeare’s series mentioned above, another reason why I choose Manga Shakespeare’s edition is because of its drawing style which is influenced by Japan to a certain degree and novelty of reshaping Shakespeare’s plays with the employment of cyber-modern and Japanese elements. Also, contrary to the typical format of Japanese manga which is from right to left, the panel layout of Manga Shakespeare series is from left to right as that of Western comics, enabling the readers (most are westerners) to read easily. The art and form of Manga Shakespeare are clear and engaging with meaningful and stylistic graphics that help readers get closer to Shakespeare’s plays and explore the ideas between lines and pictures. In addition, with the opening color pages of characters and plot summary, readers can follow the story instantly. The following.

(23) Chiang 18. paragraph is a short introduction to Manga Shakespeare’s edition of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet (specifically illustrated by Emma Vieceli and Sonia Leong), and the textual analysis of two manga adaptations will be explored in detail in the following sections. Unlike the traditional 16th century setting in the original play, resituating the setting in the year 2107, Emma Vieceli’s Hamlet is like a science fiction with cyberspace and futuristic elements4. For instance, characters are equipped with high-tech objects in their bodies to communicate and send messages, and their attires are similar to those in Star Wars. This cyber-world is in a dread of war, and humans have been facing with severe global climate change, so that Prince Hamlet of Denmark has returned home to face anarchy and an uncertain future. To further inspect Vieceli’s Hamlet, I will dwell on four important scenes in the original text: the ghost scene, the Mousetrap scene, the graveyard scene, and the duel scene. Following the patterns and structures of manga, we can see how manga edition represents these scenes in graphic narration with its strong comparison of color, background pictures, and bolded words to show character’s emotion and the climax of plots. In the ghost scene, I probe into the significance of the ghost in the manga and Hamlet’s belief in the ghost. In the mousetrap scene, I look into how Hamlet in two adaptations employs different approaches to entrap Claudius that lead to different consequences. The graveyard scene is the turning point when Hamlet begins to contemplate on the meaning of death and stops hesitating. At last, the duel scene depicts the final ending of the characters and portrays whether Hamlet walks into the 4. Emma Vieceli is a key member of the UK manga collective Sweatdrop Studios. She is a keen promoter of the UK manga and anime scene and enjoys offering workshops and seminars on creating manga as well as being a freelance illustrator and mangaka. (experts from Manga Shakespeare’s website: http://www.mangashakespeare.com/).

(24) Chiang 19. history or not. Aside from the discussions on the four scenes, Hamlet’s mental struggles will also be considered, such as his pretended madness and feeling of uncertainty and loss.. 2.1 Manga Shakespeare: Hamlet (2007) An Analysis of Four Vital Scenes: The Ghost Scene, the Mousetrap Scene, the Graveyard Scene, and the Duel Scene 2.1.1 The Ghost Scene In Shakespeare’s play, the ghost scene happens in the very beginning and follows up in the subsequent scenes. The continuous appearances of the ghost imply its importance to the whole play and its influence on Hamlet. Of course the authenticity of the ghost is in doubt, so he keeps appearing in the play and reminds Hamlet that he should not forget his father’s death. Similarly, in Vieceli’s Hamlet, the opening scene starts with the soldiers holding the lights to take turns for the observant watch, pointing out the technological background of the story. Such introduction provides two effects toward the supernatural appearance of the ghost. One is the unacceptable statement of the illusion which is not correctly proved by science and technology. The other is the belief and awe in the power of supernatural phenomenon which science and technology cannot explain. These two effects toward the illusion can be perceived in Horatio’s encounter with the ghost. At first, Horatio does not believe in the ghost and considers it only soldiers’ fantasy. However, when Horatio sees the ghost appearing in a big cloak and military armor with his beaver up, he is totally stunned, especially when he sees the appearance of the ghost looks like the late King Hamlet. The ghost has a stern face.

(25) Chiang 20. with long hair and beard blowing violently in the sky. The picture of the ghost is set in the middle across two pages, while Horatio and other soldiers only appear within small panels, highlighting the importance and overwhelming power of the supernatural illusion. In the original text, when Horatio speaks to the ghost for the first time, he questions if the ghost is old King Hamlet: What art thou that usurp’st this time of night, Together with that fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes march? By heaven, I charge thee speak. (1.1.44-47) Nevertheless, in Emma Vieceli’s manga version, instead of questioning the ghost from its resemblance and authenticity, the way Horatio questions the ghost seems to believe that the ghost is the late King who has something to convey: “If thou hast any sound, or use of voice, / Speak to me. / If thou art privy to thy country’s fate […]” (1.1.109-14; Vieceli 6). Even if Horatio tries hard to ask the ghost to speak to him, the ghost disappears like a mist dissipating into the air. Before Hamlet sees the ghost of his late father, there are several pages to delineate his sadness toward his father’s death under strict surveillance of monitors in the palace. For instance, after Hamlet finishes the conversation between Claudius and Gertrude, he walks along the hallway accompanied with a monitor moving around him. Simultaneously, the images of Hamlet are instantly projected on the screens as Hamlet is monitored. When Hamlet sees his images on the screens, he can no longer curb his rage. He shouts uncontrollably with fists and knees down: “Frailty, thy name is woman” (1.2.146). Basically, what Hamlet assumes in the above quote can be related to his mother,.

(26) Chiang 21. Gertrude’s overhasty marriage to his uncle after his father’s death. Here, I suggest that the word “frality” both refers to Gertrude and Hamlet himself. On the one hand, Hamlet blames his mother’s overhasty marriage and betrayal to his father. On the other hand, he resents his lack of power to challenge his uncle, like a weak woman who has no authority to strike back. Interestingly, Hamlet is portrayed as a bishōnen5 (a beautiful boy) with feminine appearance and emotions, and this depiction makes Hamlet look less masculine but more feminine in the manga, like a woman rather than a man. Later on, when Horatio tells Hamlet that he sees the ghost of his late father, at first, Hamlet considers it a joke, and becomes furious at Horatio because he thinks that Horatio is teasing him for his sorrow and love for his dead father. After Horatio’s explanation, Hamlet believes him and wants to see the ghost himself. When Hamlet begins his monologue after Horatio leaves, the drawing of Hamlet’s half face with one determined eye is filled within one page without frames, and the lines are posited randomly in proper order. He says: “My father’s spirit? / All is not well [. . .] / Foul deeds will rise [. . .] / Though all the earth o’erwhelm them to men’s eyes” (1.2.254-57; Vieceli 25). Peculiarly, the shape of the words “foul deeds” are in bold and larger than other words, indicating something evil is about to come. If we go back to the original text in Act 1 Scene 2, we can notice that even if some lines are omitted in the manga, the picture still echoes to those missing lines. The original lines are as below: 5. Catering to young Japanese women’s interest in male homosexuality, representations of gay men are quite common in Japanese manga, anime, and other media products. The trend of male-male love, particularly the love between beautiful boys, began in the early 1970s. Generally speaking, these gay men are usually portrayed as bishōnen (beautiful boys) with feminine appearance and emotions and form a romantic relationship with another handsome man (boy-love, the so-called shōnen-ai). Also, these beautiful boys share something in common: “they are always beautiful, slender, depicted with the big eyes and flowing hair that often characterizes female figures” of ambiguous gender (McLelland 82). Most beautiful boys are portrayed with “caring and enduring” characteristics that usually create struggling atmosphere or climax in the manga, enabling the readers (most are female readers) to identify with them..

(27) Chiang 22. HAMLET. My father’s spirit in arms! All is not well. I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come. Till then, sit still, my soul. Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes. (1.2.254-57) In manga, Hamlet’s determined eyes reveal his calmness and resolution to disclose the so-called foul deeds, and he believes that he will see the truth through his eyes, too. At almost the same time in the midnight, the ghost suddenly appears in front of them, beckoning Hamlet. Even though Hamlet is starkly astonished, he jumps down from the tower and follows the ghost into the gloomy woods without hesitation. In preference to start from his recent suffering, the ghost directly reveals its identity to Hamlet and narrates how he was murdered by Claudius6: “I am thy father’s spirit. If thou didst ever thy dear father love. . . Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Now, Hamlet, hear. It’s given out that, sleeping in mine orchard, a serpent stung me. . . But know. . . The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown. . . Won to his shameful lust the will of my most seeming-virtuous queen” (Vieceli 37). When the ghost delivers his speech, the picture of a wicked serpent moves closely to the old King’s ear with its tongue widely opening. Besides, at the bottom of the same page, there are two panels. One is Hamlet’s shocked face with curved word balloon written with “mine uncle?” in bold shape (1.5.41). The curved word balloon not only shows Hamlet’s surprising astonishment but also prompts the readers to imagine how Hamlet articulates the words “mine uncle” from his trembling voice. The other is an unknown black paper-cut silhouette of the murderer who smiles widely. 6. The ghost’s statements are abridged and summarized from the Ghost’s lines in Act 1 Scene 4, lines 9-28 and lines 34-46..

(28) Chiang 23. Then, turning to the next page, the panel shifts from the late king’s back to his front, and thus enabling the readers to investigate more clearly how the old King is murdered. The old King sleeps peacefully in the orchard when the black paper-cut silhouette of the murderer drops the poisoned fluid from a syringe. Beneath this picture shows the pale face of the ghost who seems to talk painfully with Hamlet. Finally, delineated in two small panels, as the ghost’s figure becomes obscure, like smoke circumpassing Hamlet, he reaches out one of his hands to touch Hamlet’s cheek and says goodbye to him, revealing the intimate relationship between father and son. At the same page next to the two small panels, with the thundering background to accentuate his fury and his determination to seek revenge, Hamlet holds his fists tightly with tears rolling down from his face. He roars: “So, uncle, there you are [. . .] / I have sworn it!” (1.5.111-13; Vieceli 39). From these two pages, we can observe that even if Hamlet firmly believes in the ghost’s story, the illustrator does not directly draw the picture of Claudius’s face, while the ghost says the murderer is Claudius. Instead, what the readers can see is only a black paper-cut silhouette of the murderer. In other words, the identity of the murderer is still in doubt. Rather than leading the readers to consider Claudius as the murderer like Hamlet does, the illustrator gives the readers more chances to question the authenticity of the ghost and guess who the real murderer is. The last time the ghost shows up in Queen Gertrude’s bedchamber. After Hamlet slays Polonius, he looks indifferently at the dead and kneels down in front of Gertrude. He projects the images of the old King and Claudius, trying to invoke Gertrude’s conscience and faithfulness for his father. As Hamlet becomes more and more agitated, the ghost suddenly appears and inquires Hamlet to speak to Gertrude and comfort her. Even though the ghost is only presented in two small panels, we can notice that it is.

(29) Chiang 24. the first time that the ghost does not wear his armors and his eyes are gentler and softer. From the ghost’s lines, we learn that it loves Gertrude dearly, for it does not want her to be blamed or hurt. In Act 1 Scene 1, the old King wears complete armors and roars powerfully with the background of several black lines to strengthen his actions and to foreground his confidence in winning the battle. Moreover, the old King grabs the head of the old Fortinbras to portray his invincibility in the combat. However, when we compare this image of the old King with the one in Gertrude’s bedchamber, it explicates that the ghost is brutal and cruel in the battlefield; yet, he is gentle and intimate to Gertrude.. 2.1.2 The Mousetrap Scene The mousetrap scene is a crucial one after Hamlet meets the ghost. He starts to ponder what he has seen and heard. Therefore, he sets up a test to detect the reaction of Claudius and to catch his conscience. In Emma Vieceli’s Hamlet, unlike regular players, the player murderer wears a mask with a weird smile that makes it difficult for the readers to speculate his real thoughts. The mask provides the link to Japanese traditional Noh drama7 and also association with kawaii (cute) faces in Japanese manga as “masks” portrayed in graphics. Masks are for disguise, for perfection, for acceptance according to the social norms, so characters’ kawaii faces resemble perfection and reveal their fear to show their real selves. Moreover, these masks also imply characters’ uncertainty, lies, and disguise, such as Hamlet’s uncertainty toward life and disguise of his madness, Claudius’s murder of old Hamlet, Gertrude’s. 7. Noh, also called Nōgaku (能樂) in Japanese, has been a classical Japanese theatrical form since the 14th century. It contains multifarious elements in the show, including the performance of masks, music, costumes, dance drama, and so on. The performers would wear traditional Japanese costumes and masks to conceal their facial expressions and emotions when dancing on the stage. During the performance, the actors primarily use their visual appearances and body movements to suggest their emotions and the essence of the story..

(30) Chiang 25. seeming reluctance to marry Claudius, Ophelia’s sorrow after her loss of Hamlet’s love. These unspeakable narrations and emotions are all hidden under the masks of kawaii faces in manga. After one of the players gives a speech, Hamlet is amused and asks him if the players can play The Murder of Gonzago. Then, the players retire to prepare for the show and Hamlet is left alone, pondering about his plan of mousetrap to reveal his uncle’s guilt. As Hamlet confidently narrates that8 “[f]or murderer, though it ha[s] no tongue to speak, will speak. I’ll have these players play something like the murder of my father before my uncle. I’ll observe his looks. . . wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King,” the flashback of the poisoned fluid appears again, reminding the readers of how the old King is murdered (Vieceli 73). What is more, two white masks show up in the middle of the page with the black background beneath them. By means of comparison between white masks and black background, it implies that the hypocritical mask that Claudius wears will be unmasked, and those filthy and secret crimes done under the table will be disclosed as well. Before the play begins, Hamlet informs Horatio to observe his uncle tightly during the performance. This is important for Hamlet to prove the authenticity of the ghost’s story, and then rationalizes Hamlet’s action of revenge. The play begins with the player King bidding farewell to the player Queen in the form of two black paper-cut silhouettes on the top page. Then, the panel gets closer to focus on the player Queen’s depressed face with tears at the bottom of the page, narrating “[n]one wed the second but who killed the first” (3.2.162). Meanwhile, the portrait of the player Queen’s sorrowful image juxtaposes two small panels which depict the images of shocked Gertrude and calm Hamlet. Both of them share the same. 8. The original lines are spoken by Hamlet in Act 2 Scene 2, lines 570-82..

(31) Chiang 26. word balloon with the symbol of ellipsis, enabling the readers to infer the characters’ thoughts according to their different facial expressions after hearing the player Queen’s lines. When Hamlet inquires Gertrude’s opinion about the show, Gertrude simply answers “[t]he lady doth protests too much, methinks” (3.2.210; Vieceli 97). Different from the original text, Hamlet does not reply “O’ but she’ll keep her word” (3.2.211). Instead, he says nothing, suggesting his resentment against his mother, who does not keep her word but marries Claudius. At the same time, Claudius does not have any obvious change of emotion on his face but his clenching fist shows his agitation and uneasiness. As the play goes on to the climax of the poison scene, the page is divided into three parts: the close-up of the poisoned syringe at the top, the scene of how the player King is poisoned by the murderer in the middle, and the frame describing the aspects of Gertrude, Ophelia, Hamlet, Horatio, and Claudius at the bottom. This frame is designed in five panels which separately describe five people’s facial expressions from different angles. Here, the technique of sharing the same word balloon in ellipsis is applied again, and encourages the readers to have their perspectives to investigate what kind of thoughts are in these characters’ minds. Afterwards, Claudius stands up and shouts: “Give me some light. Away” (3.2. 247) while Hamlet and Horatio calmly sit aside, observing Claudius’s unusual reaction toward the play. On the same page, the depiction of Hamlet’s face with only one eye, which has the image of fire, showing his rage under the mask of calmness. During the play-within-the-play, only the player who plays the role of the murderer wears a mask, which indicates this role’s ambiguity and uncertainty. Furthermore, because the player does not show his real image, the true murderer under the stage will easily project himself on the murder scene, and recall how he murders the late.

(32) Chiang 27. king with the poisoned syringe. In this way, Hamlet can make the murderer self-evident and catches the conscience of the murderer. After the play, Hamlet has a conversation with Horatio through the communicative screen to confirm Claudius’s abnormal reaction. From Hamlet’s relaxed position on the bed, it shows that he has successfully proved that the murderer is Claudius, and this verification enables Hamlet to keep carrying out the ghost’s request; that is, to revenge for his father. In Claudius’s confession scene, he goes into a chapel where the statue of Mary stands still in the middle. He kneels down and murmurs his confession. We see Claudius kneels in the upper-right of the frame, and the aspect moves away from Claudius and focuses on Hamlet, who holds a sword behind Claudius, preparing to kill him. Nevertheless, Hamlet hesitates and withdraws his sword, for he knows that he will send his enemy to heaven. Strangely, when Hamlet takes out the sword and prepares to kill Claudius, the shadow of Hamlet which is reflected on the wall is Hamlet’s shape; however, when he decides not to kill Claudius, the shadow seems to become the shape of Satan, who wears a black cloak and holds a knife in his hand. The mysterious shadow indicates that Hamlet’s hesitation and decision on not killing Claudius will bring forth the death of himself and foreshadows the following tragedy.. 2.1.3 The Graveyard Scene The graveyard scene is crucial in Shakespeare’s Hamlet because in this scene Hamlet starts to contemplate on death and makes some decisions. In the manga version, we can see the illustrator still keeps the presence of diggers but use different ways to adapt Shakespeare’s text. Both the original play and manga adaptation point out the unavoidable death and transience of life. In addition to the issue of death, in.

(33) Chiang 28. the manga adaptation, the illustrator adds more emotional depictions to portray Hamlet’s sorrow for Ophelia’s death, highlighting his true love for Ophelia and also Ophelia’s role as an innocent victim in Hamlet’s plan for revenge. In the beginning of the graveyard scene, the digger throws up the skull and happily sings: “In youth when I did love, / did love. / Methought it was very sweet [. . .] / But age, with his stealing steps, / Hath caught me in his clutch” (5.1.57-67; Vieceli 158). From what the digger sings, the lines explicate sweet but fickle love passing with times, and also point out the love between Hamlet and Ophelia is gone with Ophelia’s death. Then, the gravedigger takes out a skull from the ground and tells Hamlet that this skull belongs to a King’s jester, Yorick. The skull reminds Hamlet of his childhood memory with Yorick. Although he is no longer alive, he becomes a part of memory for Hamlet. Seeing this, Hamlet starts to meditate on that even a person as great as Alexander will die and turn into dust. No matter they are poor or noble when they are alive, all people will become skulls and look no different from one another. Basically speaking, for a thirty-year-old young man like Hamlet, it is dreadful to face death because death seems to be still far away from him. However, after talking with the gravedigger, death becomes much more acceptable as long as he dies meaningfully and becomes a part of someone’s memory or even a part of the history. After a while, Hamlet sees Claudius, Gertrude, and courtiers coming to one grave. The coffin is laid into the pit and Hamlet notices Laertes is in the funeral procession, too. Having overheard the conversation between Laertes and the priest, Hamlet realizes the corpse lying in the coffin is Ophelia, and he is astonished and gnashes his teeth in sorrow. Before the coffin is going to be closed, Laertes cannot hold his.

(34) Chiang 29. emotions but jumps into the grave9. At that moment, Hamlet jumps out from where he hides. Laertes becomes furious upon seeing Hamlet. He pushes Hamlet down and they wrestle. Out of sorrow and rage, Hamlet confesses his love for Ophelia and hopes to do anything for her. It is the first time for Hamlet to admit that he loves Ophelia: “Forty thousand brothers / Could not, with all their quantity of love, / make up my sum” (5.1.254-56).. 2.1.4 The Duel Scene As the last scene in Hamlet, the duel scene not only provides the climax of the play but marks a tragic epilogue composed of revenge, killing, and sacrifice in the end. Everything that has been hidden under the masks of kawaii faces are now totally revealed in the fencing match. Furthermore, the significance of Hamlet’s death leaves to the readers to ponder whether he dies meaningfully or not. In the beginning of the duel scene, Hamlet hits Laertes several times and wins the first round. To celebrate for Hamlet, Claudius puts a pearl in the cup. However, Hamlet rejects him. When Laertes sees the cup, he becomes astonished, indicating that he has already known that wine is poisoned. In addition, the depiction of Claudius gnashing his teeth in anger also proves that the wine is poisoned. Later on, seeing Hamlet’s excellent performance, Gertrude is so glad that she shares her happiness with Claudius while he only replies, “Our son will win” (5.2.229) with a stiff face which is drawn in half black, showing his fury and anxiety. After a while, Hamlet hits Laertes again, and Gertrude wants to drink wine for Hamlet’s victory. As she prepares to drink, Claudius abruptly shouts out: “Gertrude, do not drink!” (5.2.233). Claudius’s behavior indicates that he does not merely regard 9. In Q1, there is a stage direction indicating that Hamlet leaps into the coffin after Laertes. However, in Q2, there is no such a stage direction. Here, in the manga version, the readers can observe that both Laertes and Hamlet wrestle in the coffin beside Ophelia’s dead body..

(35) Chiang 30. Gertrude as a tool to help him enthroned. He really loves her. Yet, Gertrude does not listen to her husband. Her rejection to Claudius’ dissuasion reveals their marital disharmony. After Gertrude is accidentally poisoned to death, and Laertes is wounded by his own poisoned sword, Claudius’s filthy murder and scheme can no longer be concealed and he becomes the main target for everyone to blame. Unlike the plot in the original text that Claudius is killed by Hamlet himself, in the manga version, Horatio joins the battle and assists Hamlet. To kill Claudius, Horatio subdues Claudius from his back and lets Hamlet force Claudius to drink the poisoned wine. In this scene, we can see Horatio shows his courage and loyalty to Hamlet. Also, before Horatio wants to commit suicide and follows Hamlet to die, Hamlet dissuades him and asks him to live on and tell his story: “And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain. / To tell my story” (5.2.290-91). The reason is because that Hamlet wants to die meaningfully like a hero and be remembered and recorded in the history. At last, Hamlet utters, “The rest is silence,” and he dies (5.2.300). Not before long, a warlike noise comes from the outside, and Fortinbras comes in. When Fortinbras appears on the panel, he is posited in the middle part of the frame surrounded by four close-ups of the dead bodies (Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet). The effect of this arrangement highlights Fortinbras’s surprise upon seeing the bloody corpses. In this way, the readers can also experience the horrifying tragedy again instead of quickly reading through the process of killing. In the end of the scene, Horatio narrates to Fortinbras what has happened in Denmark, and Fortinbras buries Hamlet like a soldier accompanied by “the soldier’s music and the rites of war / speak loudly for him” (5.2.344-45). The soldier-like burial suggests that Hamlet is considered an ideal soldier, not an ideal king. Besides, Horatio.

(36) Chiang 31. does tell the story of Hamlet, but is Hamlet’s story going to be passed down as Hamlet wishes? I consider that the answer is in doubt.. 2.2 Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (2007) Regarding Romeo and Juliet, Sonia Leong10 modernizes Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet by setting it in the present day Tokyo. The manga adaptation depicts the story of the star-crossed teenage lovers, Romeo and Juliet, who struggle in the feud between two Yakuza families (members of organized crime syndicates). In this adaptation, readers can see how Shakespeare’s theatricality blends with Japanese culture and traditions, such as kimono (Japanese traditional garment), Shinto (Japanese religion which focuses on acting out rituals religiously), Bushidō (the way of the warrior’s life), and Yakuza. These elements create a new taste to appreciate Shakespeare’s play with exotic Japanese and Shakespearean elements at the same time. Consequently, to investigate how Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is represented in Leong’s manga edition, I want to base my reading mainly on the major themes of love, death, and protagonists’ transformation of self-autonomy through the application of graphics and texts. For example, in Leong’s Romeo and Juliet, instead of showing Romeo and Juliet’s innocent and juvenile love, she portrays more on their pursuit of self-autonomy, freedom, and transformations through banishment, conflicts with parents, and even their protest through suicide. In addition to these plots, the drawing style of the characters’ appearances (especially the eyes) and usage of words in balloons or panels are worthy of exploring, especially the transformations of eye. 10. Sonia Leong is a professional illustrator specializing in the anime/manga style and comic artwork. She is a core member of Sweatdrop Studios, the leading UK comic collaborative. Her artwork has featured in several manga-related publications, events, websites and magazines internationally. (experts from Manga Shakespeare’s website: http://www.mangashakespeare.com/).

(37) Chiang 32. depictions which strongly represent characters’ inner feelings instead of verbal words.. Discussions on Major Themes: Love, Death, and Self-Autonomy 2.2.1 Ill-fated Love under Traditional Patriarchal System In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, both Romeo and Juliet act rashly in the voyage of love which is young, irrational, and passionate. From their first encounter at the ball to their final suicide in the tomb, it only takes five days, revealing how fast their love grows and how fatal their love is. Nevertheless, in Leong’s adaptation, despite the fact that actions and hastiness of time can be portrayed through captions or sequence of images, the idea of time passing is not strongly emphasized. Rather, she underscores how Romeo and Juliet stand up for their love and their mental transformation under the patriarchal power of two households. The voyage of Romeo and Juliet’s love can be briefly divided into four phases: the ball scene, the balcony scene, the bedchamber scene, and the tomb scene. Each phase proclaims different significance of their love and individual inner transformation in the story. In the ball scene and the balcony scene, the seed of love grows in the young lovers’ hearts and leads to the succeeding tragedy. Shifting from happiness to sadness, the bedchamber scene omens the forthcoming death of the lovers who take their life in the final tomb scene. In addition, in these four scenes, we can notice how characters express their emotions through eyes instead of verbal words and how graphics portray the hidden meaning between the lines without many texts. At their first meeting in the ball scene, Romeo and Juliet fall in love at the first sight, and this hasty love results in a series of fatal death. On the way to the ball, Mercutio tells Romeo about his dream of Queen Mab11, who is “the fairies’ midwife”. 11. In the manga version, instead of quoting the whole speech of Mercutio’s lines on Queen Mab, Leong.

(38) Chiang 33. (1.4.55). “[S]he gallops night by night / [T]hrough lover’s brains, and then they dream of love” (1.4.71-72; Leong 29). The drawing of Queen Mab is a traditional Japanese beauty with long black hair and enchanting eyes, appealing to young lovers to indulge in the desire and fantasy of love. Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech can be interpreted in two noteworthy aspects. One is to predict the upcoming romance between Romeo and Juliet, and the other is to portray love as fantasy which is “as thin of substance as the air” (1.4.99). According to the Queen Mab imagery, it proposes that all desires and fantasies are fragile, transient, and unrealistic as dreams, similar to the love between Romeo and Juliet. Unlike the masque ball in the original text, Romeo does not wear a mask but a pair of transparent black sunglasses that enable Romeo to show his passionate emotion in his eyes through lens. When Romeo actively approaches Juliet, he initiates a conversation with Juliet to court her. Also, when Juliet reaches her hand to Romeo for a kiss, the image of several little Cupids is filled with the background of the panel to display the love bond between the lovers. The conversation between Romeo and Juliet fleetingly ends in ten panels within two pages. The hastiness of their love reveals that everything seems to be predestined, and they are bound to fall in love with each other. Then, the scene changes to the balcony scene, and we see Romeo hiding himself in the brushwood and eavesdropping what Juliet says from her balcony. Here, the first panel is designed as a long and narrow strip at the left side to create a visual distance between Romeo and Juliet, while the right side is separated into two panels to illustrate the close-ups of Romeo’s and Juliet’s facial expressions. On the next page, as Juliet delivers her well-known “wherefore art thou Romeo” speech (2.1.75), the only focuses on the romance and fancy of Queen Mab. The readers can observe from Mercutio’s lines and Queen Mab’s graphics on page 29..

(39) Chiang 34. image of Juliet’s upper body is depicted at the upper panel and her eyes look into a distant place, illustrating her endless sorrow and worries. The next two panels are the close-ups of Juliet’s sorrowful eyes and Romeo’s distressing facial expression with a thought balloon writing “[s]hall I hear more” next to his face (2.1.75-79). These graphics elucidate that both Romeo and Juliet understand that their love is forbidden but they still cannot resist the temptation of love. In the subsequent pages of the balcony scene, notwithstanding the abbreviated lines are the same as the original text, through the layout of panels uniquely intersecting on pages, it delineates the physical distance and the mental closeness of Romeo and Juliet. For instance, during their conversation, the speech balloons of Romeo’s and Juliet’s are set in the individual panels that separate them and create a sense of isolation. However, by means of cartoon version and close-ups of eyes, the images depict the naïve love between the lovers, and their intimate eye contact shows spontaneous overflow. Besides, some lines are replaced by the protagonist’s silence to represent the characters’ inner worlds, thought, feelings. These silent depictions mostly appear through the presentation of the characters’ eyes. The eyes are the mirror of the soul that directly reflects the lovers’ simple and primal love and their mental closeness with each other. After two sweet and romantic scenes mentioned above, the bedchamber scene changes into a doleful and melancholy atmosphere. In this scene, Romeo and Juliet spend their last night together before Romeo goes to Mantua. When Romeo says his final goodbye to Juliet, he stands beneath the balcony just like that night at the balcony scene; however, the background of this panel is in gray and filled with irregular curved lines, suggesting Romeo’s impending doom and the lover’s uncertain future. At the same time, Juliet’s painful speech also points out the threatening death.

(40) Chiang 35. of Romeo: O God, I have an ill-diving soul! Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails, or thou look’st pale. (3.5.54-57) From Juliet’s speech, the words “so low” and “as one dead in the bottom of a tomb” mention not only the positions of the lovers but also the upcoming death of Romeo. Moreover, after Romeo leaves, Lady Capulet breaks into Juliet’s chamber and narrates her fantasy of poisoning Romeo in Mantua. In this panel, the close-up of Lady Capulet’s resentful face covers more than half of the page, and the whole background is totally in black. The depiction of this panel elucidates Lady Capulet’s deep hatred toward Romeo and predicts Romeo’s approaching death. These elements of death contribute to the dramatic atmosphere that intensifies the image of death and allow readers to imagine the lovers’ doomed love based on their actions. Finally, in the tomb scene, Romeo and Juliet take their lives and realize their doomed love as the opening prologue suggests. Compared with the original text, the Montague and the Capulet families are defined as Yakuza in manga, and the group of Yakuza focuses on the law of respect and hierarchy of class. This setting foreshadows brutal and bloody violence and strengthens the power of male dominated society and the idea of patriarchy. The demonstration of male power can be apparently observed from Lord Capulet’s control of Juliet and his treatment to Lady Capulet. The following are three examples to inspect Lord Capulet’s dominating power over Juliet and Lady Capulet. In the original text, when Lord Capulet and Paris discuss about the marriage between Juliet and Paris, Lord Capulet replies to Paris: “I think she’ll be ruled / In all.