Did you understand Hamlet?

          Laura Bohannan believed that Shakespeare’s, story of Hamlet had an a universal understanding to all people around the world. That the basic story line would be interpreted the same way to all people. She assumed that even to a remote tribe in West Africa the story would hold the same meaning and understanding that it does to people living in America, Europe and so on. What she found was that the town elders of the tribe found the story to be wrong and didn’t share in the same interoperation Bohannan assumed it would be. The tribe didn’t believe in things like “ghost” or the idea of sons killing uncles. Their customs and beliefs also saw it as impossible for someone to die from drowning because water could only be used to drink and bathe in. So Bohannan found that many aspects of the story of Hamlet could in fact not have a universal meaning and be understood by all people in the same way. Not only for the story of Hamlet but for a lot of things in general. That all things have a different interpretation and meaning to all people. Universality (Is that a word?) in some ways does exists.