Was it possible for the author to translate the concepts and emotions of Shakespeare’s world into the African language and context to render the story understandable to them?

Some of the concepts presented in Hamlet were lost in context. The people in the African bush insisted that it was not the soul of Hamlet's father, but an omen sent by a witch. One of the elders asks if Hamlet's father and uncle had the same mother. Bohannan is baffled by the question and says she is unsure. Another elder asks her who married the other wives of the "dead chief," she says he had only one wife, and the elder states that a chief must have more than one wife.

With that said, I don't think the emotions of the story were lost. The concepts that were lost in translation seem to be mere technicalities. Of course, it's impossible for any of us to say how the elders truly felt about the story. But trying to grasp their cultural differences, I don't feel omen or ghost would really change the feeling of fear, astonishment, or confusion.

The concept of revenge is lost to the elders. But even to me, a man born and raised in a western society, vengeance feels like a fruitless, vane self-righteous venture. I see it differently than Hamlet (even, perhaps, after the sight of a dead father), but that doesn't mean I can't understand his emotion. The elder says, and I quote, "But if his father's brother had indeed been wicked enough to bewitch Hamlet and make him mad, that would be a good story indeed, for it would be his fault that Hamlet, being mad, no longer had any sense and thus was ready to kill his father's brother." In a twisted sort of way, I do think the elder did understand, perhaps lightly, perhaps subconsciously, but in his own right.