#after hamlet killed polonius

[transsexualcoriolanus]

i find it interesting when hamlet productions put ‘to be or not to be’ in different places but i also think the original location is really important, because of the mention of “something after death - the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns”.

that line seems confusing because obviously hamlet has seen the ghost of his father, and therefore knows people can return from the dead. so i think it’s really important that it comes just after the soliloquy at the end of act 2, when hamlet creates his plan of the play within a play. it’s definitely possible that hamlet was genuinely just trying to play it safe with this plan and his justification - “the spirit that i have seen may be a devil” - but, especially as hamlet is often described as a genre aware character, i think some part of him probably knew that it was his father he saw, and that claudius is guilty.

and that line in the to be or not to be soliloquy shows that further: he’s not just being cautious, he’s fully convinced himself that wasn’t his father. possibly because he doesn’t want it to be. he doesn’t want to have to kill someone, his own uncle, and the play is his last, desperate attempt to get rid of that responsibility. and at the start of act 3 he’s clinging onto the hope that he won’t have to do this.

so, really, ‘to be or not to be’ needs to happen after the end of act 2 and before the play, because he goes from the tentative language of act 2 - “the spirit that i have seen may be a devil” - to the definite “no traveller returns”, which doesn’t make sense the other way around. and it can’t happen after the play because by that point hamlet has confirmed claudius’ guilt and cannot convince himself that the ghost lied anymore

[saphronethaleph]

The Rest, is Awkward Silence

"Now cracks a noble heart," Horatio said, his arms holding Hamlet as Denmark's prince slowly slipped away. "Good night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

 He slowly let his dear friend go, then turned to see as two men entered the chamber.

 "...what am I seeing?" asked Fortinbras, the crown prince of Norway. "What was it you were saying?"

 "I was offering a lament for my friend, Hamlet," Horatio explained.

 "Right," the other man said – the English ambassador, if Horatio recalled right. "And not for the… hold on… three other corpses in the room?"

 "It has been…" Horatio began, then paused. "...a day."

 "Then explain, please," Fortinbras asked. "Because I hesitate to hear what could have caused this to happen."

 "Well," Horatio said. "To give you the very brief summary… Hamlet is dead because he was stabbed by Laertes with a poisoned sword."

 "Who's Laertes?" the ambassador asked.

 Horatio pointed. "That's him over there. He was also stabbed, by Hamlet, with the same poisoned sword."

 "Right," Fortinbras said. "And… how exactly did that happen?"

 "Well, the poisoned sword was given to him by Claudius, I think," Horatio explained. "Who's also dead. Over there."

 "Oh, that's a shame," the ambassador muttered. "I was coming here to tell him that his instructions were fulfilled – Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead."

 Fortinbras blinked, glancing at the ambassador. "Seriously?"

 "King Claudius asked us to, and I was hoping that England would be rewarded for it," the ambassador mumbled. "They delivered a letter that said, please kill whoever is carrying this letter."

 "That's a letter Hamlet was supposed to deliver to you," Horatio informed him. "But Hamlet worked out what was going on, and he swapped the letters around."

 Fortinbras was starting to look a bit overwhelmed.

 "So… I've still got some questions," he admitted. "Firstly, what about that lady over there?"

 "That's Queen Gertrude!" the ambassador gasped. "Did she get stabbed by a poisoned sword, too?"

 "No, this time it was wine," Horatio answered. "Claudius offered it to Hamlet, who refused, and then the Queen drank it… and, that was poisoned too. That's half of how Hamlet killed Claudius, and I offered to drink the wine as well to follow my friend. But he told me that someone had to be around to explain what had happened."

 Fortinbras and the ambassador exchanged glances.

 "...I'm not sure you're doing a very good job, but you are doing it," the prince conceded. "So why did all these people want one another dead?"

 "I don't think anyone wanted the Queen dead," Horatio said, counting on his fingers. "She drank the wine by mistake, I think. Claudius wanted Hamlet dead because Hamlet had worked out that Claudius assassinated King Hamlet with poison in the ear."

 "Oh, this isn't getting better, is it?" Fortinbras muttered. "That explains why Prince Hamlet wanted Claudius dead, I suppose… but it was Laertes who killed Hamlet, wasn't it? And how on earth did they both get stabbed with the same sword?"

 "They were in a duel," Horatio explained. "Laertes knew the sword was poisoned… yes, he must have done, from what he said before he died."

 The ambassador groaned.

 "I'm going to regret asking this," he said. "But why were they in a duel?"

 "Laertes blamed Hamlet for the deaths of his sister and father," Horatio admitted, somewhat reluctantly.

 "Horatio," Fortinbras said, almost gently. "I know you're in mourning for your friend, but… I'm standing in a room with two people Hamlet killed, and he sent two more of them to be executed by the English king. At this point I'm expecting Laertes to be right."

 Horatio looked uncomfortable.

 "He didn't kill Ophelia?" he tried. "Though he did insult her, tell her she was a whore, and run off after killing Polonius. So she committed suicide."

 Seeing the expressions on the other two men, he waved his hands. "He didn't mean it! He was pretending to be insane."

 "Pretending?" the ambassador repeated.

 "All right, what about Polonius?" Fortinbras asked. "I dread to think… from context, that must be the father of Laertes."

 Horatio looked embarrassed.

 "Hamlet stabbed him through the arras," he said.

 The ambassador winced.

 "Sounds painful," he said.

 "An arras is a tapestry hanging," Fortinbras pointed out. "But… all right, why?"

 "Polonius was spying on him," Horatio explained. "Hamlet may have thought that Polonius was Claudius."

 Fortinbras sighed, rubbing his temples.

 "As God is my witness, I'm not sure I want to win the election for this place," he said. "But I think I've got the best legal claim."

 He paused.

 "So… how exactly did you find out that Claudius killed King Hamlet?" he asked. "I've not heard any such thing, but you sound very sure."

 "...Hamlet saw a ghost," Horatio said. "And I'll admit, that sounds bad. But he did a test to prove it! He wrote a play."

 Fortinbras groaned.

 "Didn't you say you were offering a lament for your friend?" he said.

 "It was very meaningful," Horatio defended himself. "I said, may hosts of angels sing you to your sleep."

 Fortinbras and the ambassador blinked.

 "Isn't he directly responsible for the deaths of about six people?" the ambassador asked, somewhat hesitantly. "I'm not sure if you have a different theology here in Denmark, but I wouldn't exactly expect angels to be involved…"

[aq2003]

maxine peake hamlet you would have loved utena from revolutionary girl utena and percy de rolo from critrole

maxine peake is SO fucking good as hamlet she embarrasses, like, 90% of the other actors for the part i've seen oml

[theofficialpresidentofmars]

feeling righteous anger on behalf of Laertes again

like he’s kind of a jerk to Ophelia at the start. but he’s also sort of right. and siblings are just Like That. they’ve only had each other and Polonius for their whole lives and goodness knows how many times they’ve come to each other to talk about Polonius behind his back or to cry on each other’s shoulder. or the teasing or inside jokes or Laertes trying to be the one to empathise with Ophelia being the only woman in the family because lord knows Polonius won’t.

when Laertes warns Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet, he expects her to ignore his warning. He’s not entirely opposed to the idea truthfully- the prince does seem to like her well enough. It’s not like he couldn’t see it working out. But he’s also both overprotective and filled with the brotherly need to remind her of how much he himself can get away with, and he knows what men are like, so he tells her to keep her distance. She laughs, and says she will in a tone that suggests she very much won’t.

When he leaves for France, after the occasional scarce letter from his father about the prince’s state, Laertes expects the worst upon his return.

except he thinks the worst is that he’ll come back to his heartbroken sister, crying in her bedroom, and she’ll tell him that he was right, and he’ll tell her that all men are jerks and arrant knaves and they all suck. and he’ll offer her a tissue and maybe a lighthearted jest at their father or the prince or men again or something to improve her mood and she’ll laugh, and eventually she’ll be okay.

When he learns his father is dead, something inside him goes numb. He tries to remember what he and Ophelia used to complain about, but he can't think of anything. Polonius was all they had, after all. And for all his flaws, Laertes loved him.

When he learns his father was murdered, he swears he'll have the head of the monster that killed him.

And when he gets back to Elsinore, when he hears of the circumstances surrounding his father's death and sees the state of his sister, he burns with an anger he never knew he was capable of.

When his sister's funeral is disrupted by the prince himself, claiming to grieve, claiming to have lost more than Laertes could even comprehend, Laertes finds his hands around his throat before he can even fully realise what's happening. How DARE he? How dare he put an end to what little service the king would allow to put his sister to rest? How dare he claim he ever loved her when his actions put her in the grave? How dare he pretend to have lost when he could not possibly understand what he put Laertes through? What he put Ophelia through?

It's only natural that less than two days later, he finds himself at the other end of a poisoned blade. A dirty play, Laertes knows, to stab at your opponent before the round starts, but Laertes is so beyond any sense of fairness or mercy by now. The prince is dead within the half hour, his sister and father revenged, justice served.

What he doesn't expect is the prince to take the blade out of his hands and return the blow. And as he bleeds, Laertes realises the fate he's resigned himself to.

What he doesn't expect is the look in the prince's eyes after his mother falls, holding her as she dies. It's a terrified, vulnerable, pained expression, the likes of which he's never seen on the prince. The kinds of emotion he was beginning to doubt the prince was capable of, even. But Laertes can see in his face that, strangely enough, they only seem to scratch the surface of some melancholy that runs bone-deep.

And of all things, Laertes can't help himself but be struck with a sense of empathy for the villain. He remembers how he felt after the death of his father. He knows how it feels to live without a mother.

He thinks of the desperation he himself felt to find out who was at fault, and he thinks about Claudius. He thinks about how quick Claudius was to encourage his vengeful plans. He thinks about how Claudius had the opportunity to stop his own wife from drinking poison, but said nothing. He thinks about how the prince acted towards Claudius in the time before he left the country. He thinks about how the prince was then, grieving over the death of his father.

Something starts to make sense.

There's not a full hour between them. Maybe, in these last moments, he won't be the only one avenged.

Laertes calls out to Hamlet and warns him of his fate, revealing Claudius' plan. Within less than a minute, the king is dead.

There never was enough time to get a further explanation from either party, but in the little time they had left, some understanding was had. Perhaps it was Laertes' empathy. Perhaps it was his realisations. Perhaps it was the dwindling clock, and the idea that he'd see his father and sister again soon.

He'd talk it out with Hamlet then. For now, his and his father's death did not come upon him, nor his on himself.

[ago0112]

The Bear, The Bard, and Hamlet

Christopher Storer pulls from so many media types, music, movies, opera, theater, and it's beautiful. He is on point with Alfred Hitchcock in telling stories visually.

Like others have mentioned @gingergofastboatsmojito @thoughtfulchaos773 @currymanganese he pulls from the Bard, William Shakespeare. Fairest Creatures and Midsummers Night's Dream.

Another is Hamlet. Long story short, Hamlet's uncle kills his dad, marries his mom, and he goes, rightfully so, a bit mental with wanting revenge. (Yes, yes, yes, it's far more poetic than that. Worry pas, I get it. My dad is a retired English Lit professor.)

So, how does this relate to The Bear? Well, Mikey is definitely the stand in dad for Carmy and Nat. But, take it a step further. Their dad, seemingly, vanished, left them. Their "uncles," Lee and Jimmy, are connected with unsavory types. *cough *cough the mob. Mikey, Donna, and Jimmy say he wasn't good with the business. This has me wondering if, like with his son's, he went looking for a loan that he either couldn't, didn't, or wouldn't pay back. Not that Jimmy or Lee killed him, but they know what happened to him. And I feel that they also had something to do with Mikey's death. Again, not that they did it, but they know more than they are letting on. Jimmy feels so guilty this season. And felt so guilty to give Mikey the money in the first place. Where is that guilt coming from?

So, back to it. Carmy is Hamlet (Hamlet is driven by revenge. Carmy is driven by a need to prove himself for attention and acceptance. And kinda revenge, too.) Mikey is King Hamlet (king Hamlet is Hamlet's father. Mikey is the stand in dad to the bear siblings). Claudius is Uncle Lee (fucking asshole abusive prick. And I know there's more to Mikey's death and Lee had a part to play.) Donna is Gertude (Hamlet's relationship with his mother was strained and she was also poisoned. Carmy's relationship with Donna is messed up and her drinking also isn't good for her.) Ophelia is Claire (She gets burned by Hamlet. Not literally. Which does happen to Claire. No matter how I might feel about her.) Jimmy is Polonius ( "He is the chief counsellor of the play's ultimate villain". Jimmy is in businesss with Lee. And Polonius is supposed to be a busy body. Which, let's face it, Jimmy is.) Fak and Teddy are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (I want more space for them lol.)

Let's add the other Shakespeare plays in here, too, so we can get a good idea of the whole complete story of the Bear.

I also love that Richie is Puck. His fucking dream weave, people.

The rest of the Faks are The mechanicals.

Syd is like Cordelia. (King Lear's youngest daughter. Yes, I know, another play but still relevant. She refuses to wax poetically about the love of her father in public just to get some land. He refuses her and makes her life hard... Syd's not signing the agreement and is not really enjoying this version of Carmy.) She's honest, true, and brave. Puts up with a lot of shit.

I'd like to go back to two characters though. Dum and Dummer, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or Neil and Teddy Fak.

In Hamlet

"They are two old school friends of Hamlet, and they come to visit him after his father's death, though it turns out that they are called to Denmark by King Claudius and Queen Gertrude to spy on Hamlet. They represent corruption and deceit in the play, and their existence and actions are full of irony."

Wait, what was that last part again?

"They represent corruption and deceit in the play, and their existence and actions are full of irony."

Hamlet ends up killing them, lol.

I don't think Carmy will. But it's definitely going to be interesting. Oh, Ophelia goes mad (because of Hamlet) and drowns herself...I don't want that for Claire. Hopefully, she moves on. Clearly they aren't good for each other.

Also, Richie, I want more of your dream weave. Lord, what fools these mortals be, am I right? Come on Robin Goodfellow, show us the goods.

[scilessweetheart]

quotes from my senior year lit class’s modern adaptation of hamlet (titled “keeping up with hamlet”) that only get funnier the longer they sit in my brain

“how are you doing?” “oh, you know. same soup, just reheated, baby!” - hamlet, pulling a monster energy drink out of an industrial sized fridge

“polonius! why’d you stand under my copy of the atlantic?” -hamlet, after beating him to death

*snorts a line of coke and then introduces herself* - gertrude

*tagline in asides is “feels super awkward”* - hortatio

“listen to me. hamlet’s a douchebag!” - laertes

*played by a 6 foot man with a thot knot and a scrunchie* - ophelia

“he gave me his favorite monster tab necklace! plus, he’s an aries and i’m a libra. we’re a match. i even checked his natal chart.” - ophelia

“women! they’re so caught up in things. they don’t even know about the stock market. it just… it saddens me.” - polonius

*reading texts from hamlet to ophelia* “‘ophelia. i love you. i dream of smelling your skin when you sleep. if you don’t love me i will kill myself.’ you know. some real criminal minds shit.” - polonius

“life’s a prison and you’re my cell mate, guildencrantz!” - hamlet

“hey hamlet, what are you doing?” “watching the… moving pictures. have you ever seen one?” “…. you mean a movie? the tvs not even on.” - polonius and hamlet

“ophelia! you stay here and read this fanfiction. he’ll think you’re all alone.” - gertrude

*hamlet starts his famous monologue* “not this emo shit again” - polonius

“please just take your monster tab necklace back… it’s sticky.” - ophelia

“hah! that stain on the couch looks like a camel.” - hamlet

“i’m actually sending hamlet to [rival school] to be put to death. that way he’ll stop being such a little dickhead.” - claudius

“look at these two men! this is claudius and this is your husband!” *holds up a picture of handsome squidward and willy shakes* - hamlet

“great i’m going to have to kill you. this is my mob, by the way.” - laertes

“here lies the poor, dead, super dead, ophelia.” “babe! no! babe! aw fuck, the fair ophelia!” - hamlet at the funeral

“funeral costs are so expensive. *to the camera guy* how much are the royalties on this?” - horatio

[thehamletdiaries]

Thinking more about the irony of the idea that Hamlet's flaw is inaction when - within the context of the play itself - whenever stuff really goes wrong, with the exception of the King's death and Claudius's usurpment of Hamlet, which happens before the play anyway...it's really when Hamlet does do something.

When the play starts out, we don't really have any reason to think that Hamlet is in any particular degree of danger (there is of course an argument that that would change if Claudius and Gertrude had a kid but the implications are all that she is too old for that)...with the exception of the impending threat of Fortinbras, which is a whole separate conversation but also really should be Claudius's problem to solve, not Hamlet's (in terms of where blame lies, not ignoring the material danger).

When stuff starts to go wrong is when Hamlet starts doing things...even the antic disposition and the pushing away of Ophelia is an action, which alienates the one person who might have been able to help him (I was about to write "other than Horatio" but the reality is that Horatio is a massive enabler and when Hamlet does stuff Horatio just sort of...goes along with it the whole time, until the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, which I'll come to).

There is of course the argument that if, after the play, Hamlet had killed Claudius straight away things would have been....better? But there isn't really much evidence for that; we have no idea what would have happened, ultimately, but given the entire situation and set up the idea Hamlet would not be suspected of the murder and then what happens? He's just committed regicide...maybe it would have worked out but also maybe absolute chaos would break out.

And then ultimately, he doesn't kill Claudius....but then he really starts acting and he is impulsive as heck. He kills Polonius because he doesn't think to *pull back a curtain to check who's there first* and he kills Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on what basically seems to be an impulse (and is certainly not needed; he could have replaced that letter with literally any instruction other than "kill them"; this is also the first moment we see Horatio pause and not just act like "whatever Hamlet thinks is a good idea probably is a good idea" and realise that...no, this guy is losing it and this guy, when he acts, acts in a way that is unhinged, impulsive and dangerous)...and then ultimately he goes ahead with a dual that he obviously should have avoided and gets himself and two innocent (assuming we assume Gertrude is innocent or at least somewhat innocent here) people killed in the process.

And a lot of the idea that inaction is his flaw is based on the idea that killing Claudius would have fixed all of this but a. the chances that killing Claudius would have caused a whole load of problems of it's own is really high and b. the fact he didn't kill Claudius doesn't mean he inevitably was going to kill Polonius and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern...he could have still just looked behind the damn curtain and not sent the letter and even with the dual, whilst Claudius is manipulating the situation and is absolutely the person responsible for the deaths that happen...Hamlet still could have chosen inaction, which Horatio finally does push him to do - far too late in the day, but none the less Horatio becomes the person going "please, stop".

And that's essentially how I feel about Hamlet through really all of this play, when he is doing stuff, is that it's like "please just stop doing things! Every time you do anything you fuck it up! Please just go sit in the corner and don't touch anything!".

I don't really think the idea of a "fatal flaw" applies to Hamlet - it's not that kind of tragedy - but in as far as Hamlet has one, it's not his inaction...it's literally his drive to action and his inability to do that in a way that is tactical or well thought through (which is also something that stands in contrast to Fortinbras who is able to bide his time, take it slow, not rush into anything and ultimately comes out of all of this King).

[princeofallbones]

Parallels in the original castings of Shakespeare plays

One interesting thing about Shakespeare is that, as we know, he often wrote characters with a specific actor in mind, that would go o to play them (for example Hamlet his good friend, Richard Burbage. I could write an entire essay on why he was such a perfect fit for the character) This often made for very interesting situational puns during the first run of Hamlet. There are two great examples to prove this.

During Act 3 Scene 2, right after his argument with Ophelia, Hamlet asks Polonius (played by John Heminges) if he acted before, to which he replies that he did, and he played Caesar in Julius Caesar, and was killed by Brutus. The prince remarks how it must've been a 'brutal' role to kill such a 'capital a calf'. During The Globe's first year, one of it's first plays to be presented was Julius Caesar, actually starring John Heminges as Caesar, and Richard Burbage as Brutus This a great way to break the forth wall and cross-reference, but also to foreshadow the fact that Polonius will -yet again- will die by being stabbed to death by a character plaid by Richard Burbage.

The other parallel is at Ophelia's funeral, where Hamlet and Laertes begin fighting in Ophelia's grave. This is a callback to the time when same duo of actors (William Sly and Richard Burbage) previously played Paris and Romeo, who also start a fight in the mourning process of their mutual loved one, Juliet.

[moonlarked]

alright big hamlet interpretation time

(thanks to @thehamletdiaries and others on the discord server for helping expand my ideas on this one!)

hamlet’s father is at least part of the reason he killed polonius.

And I don’t mean that in a metaphorical way (though that reading certainly is there). I mean it in a “the ghost influenced hamlet into killing polonius” sort of way.

Hamlet Sr. wants revenge through any means possible. This isn’t about him enacting justice or righting a wrong. It’s about him being angry at his brother and willing to do anything to get back at him. Including ordering his son to ruin his life to earn his father’s approval. He was a warlord in life and he’s using the same “the ends justify the means” to get what he wants.

Think of pre-canon hamlet always in the shadow of the father that missed his birth because he was at war. Think of him constantly wanting his father’s approval but being too introspective, too sensitive, too feminine for him. Hamlet was never good enough for his father, and despite all his mother did, she couldn’t help him during his father’s life or after his death.

So now, hamlet has a chance to win the approval of the father who he was never good enough for. Of course he takes it. Of course, now that his father needs his help, he’s going to do whatever it takes.

But his father never asked him for his help because he cared about him. He asked him for his help because his son was his only chance. He sees his son as a tool.

So, when hamlet has been scheming and faking madness and making sure his father wasn’t a demon by proving claudius’s guilt, his father has grown impatient. He thinks his son is simply too weak to kill his uncle. So, he helps him speed it up.

Imagine, for a second, as hamlet hears polonius call out - he hears his father’s voice urging him on. Reassuring him that he’s doing the right thing. Maybe even guiding his hand through the curtain. And hamlet, so overwhelmed with confusion and anger, strikes without thinking. (Afterward, when the ghost actually appears and says that he has come to whet his son’s almost blunted purpose, part of what he’s referring to is this.)

But why would the ghost do this? Well, as I said before, he was a warlord. His language is blood and death and revenge and honor. Polonius was an important man. The king couldn’t simply brush his death aside. And he had children. Children who would look to avenge him.

So this speeds up the timeline and it makes hamlet more aware of what he has to do. When he says that his thoughts must be bloody to complete his task, he is drawing a conclusion based on what he saw with fortinbras’s army, yes, but he still has the echo of what he just did in his mind and it’s taking him further away from who he used to be - further away from the kind, sensitive, witty soul that horatio and ophelia loved. So when he kills ros and guil, it’s due to his father’s influence - and of course horatio is angry at him because this isn’t the hamlet he knows.

And by hamlet killing polonius, he has ironically brought the rage of someone who lost a father into himself - hm, wonder why king hamlet would’ve made that happen? Hamlet knows why laertes is angry. He knows that laertes wants to kill him. And he understands why. So of course he takes the duel. Its what an honorable man would do. Its not what a weak, feminine man would do. (It’s what his father would’ve done.)

And hamlet ends up killing claudius because of this duel. So in the end, the ghost gets what he wanted at the expense of his son. Who, as we have established, he never really cared about in the first place.

[veil-of-exordia]

alright we all know about the hamlet+laertes foils thing. But have we considered. Gertrude and Polonius foils

For starters we have Polonius dedicating too much attention towards his kids and Gertrude paying too little attention to Hamlet but also. there is the implication that Gertrude pays not enough attention to Hamlet because she is more dedicated to Claudius. Whereas Polonius is apparently a single parent and this may have caused him to be overprotective. The play thus encompasses both ends of the terrible parent spectrum so to speak

Then we have the moment where Gertrude and Polonius directly enter a conflict. Where Gertrude criticizes Polonius with 'more matter with less art' and Polonius replies 'I use no art' On a literal level this is simply about their different ways of speaking. perhaps their different outtakes on life BUT we have to consider that at this scene they were both competing for the approval of Claudius. If we went with a more sinister interpretation we might speculate that Claudius purposely chose the people around him so that they would be constantly squabbling with each other. So that they would be distracted with petty arguments and won't notice that he is the ultimate cause of all the problems by murdering Hamlet Sr. I think the more important thing though is that Polonius and Gertrude ultimately come to an agreement with each other. It is almost similar to Hamlet and Laertes' sort-of-forgiveness scene during their duel, right? Except that Polonius and Gertrude's agreement is enabling Claudius, while Hamlet and Laertes's agreement (after Polonius and Gertrude both died) ultimately kills Claudius So you could say that this a commentary about the relationship of older generations with younger ones. It's almost like Greek Mythology in a sense, where the younger generation both echoes and displaces the older generation

finally, Polonius and Gertrude's deaths themselves also mirror each other. Polonius died when Hamlet stabbed him through the arras. It could have been either intentional (i.e. Hamlet knew that Polonius was treating Ophelia badly and supporting Claudius) or accidental (i.e. Hamlet mistaking Polonius as Claudius). Gertrude died when she drank the wine poisoned by Claudius. Again, it could have been either intentional (i.e. Claudius intentionally not stopping Gertrude, as she might support Hamlet against Claudius if push came to shove) or accidental. If we go with the both accidental interpretation it adds to the theme of "tragedy occurs when it could have gone another way, but didn't". If we go with the both intentional interpretation, it becomes a bit more interesting. We could say that Hamlet killed Polonius because Polonius harmed Ophelia, while Claudius killed Gertrude because Gertrude would help Hamlet. Ultimately there appears to be no right way to be a parent in the play, because both of the main parental characters die because of their parenting

Anyway I think Gertrude and Polonius deserve to suffer around each other in hell. Yeah

(posted this to the Hamlet discord too)

[bundle-of-glitter]

hi, i was summoned by your hamlet reblog. there's a bunch of stuff going on so i will try to be concise and not confuse you. this is very long though, and you totally do not need to read/answer this at all!!

ok so basically we open in Elsinore, Denmark, with two guards who have recently spotted a ghost that bears a striking resemblance to the recently deceased king Hamlet, not to be confused with his son, the alive (for now) prince Hamlet. now, this ghost isn't talking to them so they get Horatio (a college student and hamlets bestie who's visiting Elsinore) to try and talk to the ghost. Horatio doesn't really believe them until he sees the ghost and then yells at the ghost to speak, which the ghost still refuses to do. (side note: Hamlet is also a college student and his dad's death occurred when he was gone for college)

a little backstory: Hamlet's uncle Claudius has recently married his mother Gertrude. this unfortunate development has added to Hamlet's distress. his mom and uncle (now step-dad) both think it's high time that he gets over his father's death (kindly note that it is not high time, and has actually been less than two months). hamlet expresses these feelings of distress like any other college student, by wearing black, sulking around and bursting into dramatic monologues frequently.

a few more characters : Ophelia (Hamlet's primary love interest), Polonius (her dad) and Laertes (her brother). Polonius and Laertes both talk to Ophelia and ask her to stop receiving Hamlet's letters, and tell her that he does not really love her, he's a prince and won't marry her etc etc. she agrees to stop talking to him. also, Laertes leaves for Paris.

then, Horatio tells Hamlet that he saw his dead dad's ghost, and so Hamlet goes with him at night to seek out said ghost. they run into the ghost again and this time, it lures Hamlet away from the others. the ghost of his dad speaks to him, and tells Hamlet that his death was not due to natural causes but was actually a murder. you see, he was napping in the garden when his brother (Claudius, the uncle/step-dad) poured poison in his ear and killed him. he asks hamlet to revenge his "most foul and unnatural murder" and also points out that he must do this ASAP (you won't believe this but hamlet does not do it ASAP). at the ghosts request, hamlet asks Horatio and the guard to swear that they won't tell anyone about the ghost and now hamlet begins his master plan (i am using the words master and plan very liberally) hamlet also mentions that he thinks it would be useful for him to act like he's going crazy.

Ophelia tells her dad that after she returned Hamlet's letters and everything, he visited her and was acting crazy. this makes Polonius think that maybe Hamlet did love Ophelia and went mad because she rejected him. he goes to tell this to the king and queen, who were also concerned about hamlet's behaviour and called two of his friends (Rosencrantz and Guiledenstern) to hang out with hamlet and figure out the cause of his madness/cheer him up.

as soon as rosi and guild leave, polonius goes to the king and queen and tells them that he made his daughter reject hamlet because she was unworthy of him, and that's probably what made him go mad. Claudius and Polonius decide to arrange a meeting between ophelia and hamlet (they make it seem like these two just accidentally ran into each other) and they spy on the two. hamlet acts extremely rude to ophelia, calling her all sorts of names and saying he never loved her. after he leaves, Claudius and Polonius come out from hiding and they're like wow hes like mad-mad and also not in love with ophelia. Claudius believes that Hamlet could be dangerous and he decides that he will send him away to England.

Meanwhile, Rosi and Guild know that hamlet is a theater kid, and they invite and group of actors to cheer him up. hamlet has the genius idea of putting on a play that resembles his father's murder, and judging the innocence of his uncle based on how he reacts to the play. he does this because he's worried that maybe the ghost is not actually his father, but some lying devil and so he just wants to be sure. (another minor note: during his play, the entire time he's flirting with ophelia instead of looking at his uncle, and he's made horatio keep an eye on his uncle) he sets up the play with the actors, and as expected, his uncle gets extremely upset and storms out in the middle of play. this confirms hamlet's suspicions.

let's cut to Claudius for a bit, he leaves the theater very guilty and he tries to pray, but finds that he cannot. this is when hamlet sneaks up on him and you'd assume that now, he will finally kill his uncle right?? WRONG! hamlet doesn't know he cannot pray, and thinks that he's actually praying and if hamlet kills him now, he will go straight to heaven. Claudius doesn't deserve heaven, so hamlet does not kill him :)

hamlet goes to meet his mother (what he does not know, is that polonius is hiding behind the curtain to listen to the conversation between hamlet and gertrude. btw polonius did have gertrude's consent to do this) hamlet is very angry at his mom for marrying his uncle so quickly and he's shaming her for it when he hears some movement behind the curtain. he thinks this is Claudius and immediately stabs the guy through the curtain (except ofc, it was not claudius, it was polonius :) ) hamlet then asks his mom to promise that she won't sleep with claudius anymore. at this moment, the ghost enters and scolds hamlet for taking so damn long to murder a guy. this scene is super interesting to me because when hamlet is talking to the ghost, gertrude claims she cannot see it. i don't know if she actually couldn't see it or if she was lying and that fascinates me because either case would mean so much for both the mother and son. anyway, hamlet drags polonius' dead body and leaves. claudius finds out about this and asks hamlet where polonius is, and hamlet says (paraphrased) "hes at supper. hes not eating, he is being eaten. by worms. :)"

after this, claudius sends hamlet, rosi and guild to england. he gives rosi and guild a sealed letter that states that hamlet be executed immediately. they do not know the contents of the letter and only know that they are to give it to the king of england. more on this later.

news of polonius' death reaches his son and daughter. laertes comes back to denmark with a crowd of supporters to kill the guy who murdered his dad. ophelia meanwhile, actually goes mad, so this is another thing that laertes wants to avenge. he is ready to overthrow Claudius but Claudius is like bro its not my fault its all hamlet, so we should both plot to kill him.

but wait? didn't hamlet die in england? NOPE! while this shit was going down in Denmark, hamlet and co. were attacked by pirates and hamlet managed to escape. not only did he escape but also, found the sealed letter and switched it with a diff one, demanding that rosi and guild be executed instead. then he sent them to england and himself left for denmark. he sent a letter to horatio letting everyone know that he was returning to denmark and thats why polonius and claudius decide to work together to kill him.

as they read letters and make murder plans. gertrude comes in to let them know that ophelia's dead body was found in a stream. she says that ophelia must have drowned. (if im not wrong, its unclear if it was an accident or suicide, and @waitingforthesunrise hc-ed that maybe gertrude killed ophelia which is a super interesting theory!)

hamlet is back in denmark and he's chilling in a graveyard where there's two gravediggers, digging graves, as they do and making jokes while doing it. the grave they are digging is for ophelia but he does not know she's dead yet. he picks up a skull (that belonged to yorick, who was a court jester) and gives the famous "to be or not to be" speech.

laertes, claudius etc come in to bury ophelia and thats when hamlet is like oh shit. laertes jumps into the grave to give her a last hug. and hamlet being the dramatic bitch he is, also jumps in, saying no one loved ophelia as much as he did. the two start fighting and have to be pulled apart.

later, hamlet is telling horatio about how he caused the deaths of rosi and guild. osric, a court dude, comes to invite hamlet to a fencing match with laertes in front of the king and queen, hamlet agrees.

this fencing match is the result of the murder planning that Claudius and Laertes were doing earlier. they plan that laertes will dip his sword in poison so that his wounds are enough to kill hamlet. and just to be really sure, claudius pours some poison in hamlet's wine cup as well.

now during the fencing, hamlet hits laertes first, so laertes pours a pearl into hamlet's wins cup and asks him to drink, which hamlet refuses. the second hit is also by hamlet. to celebrate her son winning, gertrude drinks from hamlet's poison cup. laertes finally manages to wound hamlet with the poison sword, but hamlet gets mad and the two just start grabbing at each other. in this chaos, they accidentally switch swords and hamlet wounds laertes with the poison sword. at this point, gertrude collapses and dies. laertes admits he poisoned the sword and the wine, and that now both he and hamlet will be dying shortly. he also says this was all caludius' plan. in a fit of dying rage, hamlet FINALLY stabs Claudius with the poison sword. and just to really be sure, he also forces Claudius to drink some of the poison wine and Claudius dies. laertes also dies. hamlet, who is dying, asks horatio to stay alive and tell his story and then, he too, dies.

at this moment, fortinbras, king of norway bursts into the room and is like wtf (he's me). since everyone is dead, he takes over (if im not wrong). also, i would like to mention that fortinbras was mentioned previously, but just in passing. you see, his dad was killed in battle and he wanted to avenge his dad's death too but they asked his old uncle (i think) to calm him down. clearly, he did not listen to his uncle. i did not mention him before because tbh i don't fully remember the discussion they had around him. i also did not mention every single thing that happened because this is already way too long. i read hamlet recently but i've read a lot since then so i may have made mistakes so im sorry in advance. im also sorry for any typos etc, i did not proofread im exhausted. thank you for volunteering as tribute, i hope i did not bore you to death because the number of deaths by hamlet is already way too high

Omg it's been wayyy to long I'm so sorry 😭

I've read this so many times and always forgot to answer it properly but ruhi you're a fantastic and absolutely hilarious storyteller pls tell me more of these anytime I'll try my best not to take so damn long to reply💀💀

Anyways gertrudes character is soo fascinating, I kinda wonder if she was involved in scheming for king hamlets death along with claudius from the beginning tbh, (also if she did kill Ophelia, I wonder what exactly could her motive be?)

Speaking of Ophelia she really ends being collateral damage in all of these people's "master""plans" TT (I mean hamlet couldve just let her know of his plan instead of playing with her feelings yk? Also his complete lack of remorse at polonius' death...that was dark💀)

Also I wonder how hamlet found out the contents of the sealed letter. Rosi and guild ending up being yet more names on the collateral damage list 😔

Also what's he doing in the graveyard randomly anyways. Sus.

[kaleidoskuls]

hamlet, writing after killing polonius: dear diary, my teen angst bullshit now has a body count.

[a-dux]

Hamlet Act III Scene IV is so so so upsetting and also unreasonably funny at times.

(Paraphrasing right after Hamlet kills Polonius)

Gertrude: Oh my god, what have you done???

Hamlet: Dunno. Is this Claudius?

(And after Hamlet talks to the Ghost that Gertrude can't see or hear)

Hamlet: Anyways...how are you, Mom?

Gertrude: How are you????

Other than that it's one of the most upsetting scenes in the play though. Goodness :(

[aq2003]

various dt hamletisms that i really enjoy (non comprehensive list)

zooming across the screen to hug horatio

the perfect amount of uppity bitchiness he has when complaining abt danish ppl's drinking habits

messing up his hair during the o all you host of heaven soliloquy

stomping his foot when going "WELL SAID, OLD MOLE" to his dad's ghost

the way he Does Not Blink for the whole rest of to be or not to be after "calamity of so long life"

loudly shushing polonius whenever he interrupts the first player's speech

hitting the floor with his hand when applauding for said speech instead of clapping normally

or ere this i shouldve fattED ALLLL THE REGION K I TE S !! with this SLAAAVVEEE'S OFFAL

mimicking the specific arms-over-head position that the first player uses when acting out pyrrhus' revenge during both the "o, vengeance!!!" part of the coward soliloquy and when he almost kills claudius during the praying scene

"speak the speech i pray you as i pronounced it to you, [snap] trippingly [snap] on the [snap] tongue"

pointing at things with his feet during the mousetrap scene even though he can definitely still use one hand to hold the camera

o good horatio !! i'll take the ghost's word for a THOUSAND pound didSt percieve !!!!! uuPON the TALK OF THE POISONING

jumping down a whole flight of stairs for absolutely no reason. what was he trying to accomplish there. it fascinates me

the way he keeps moving around yorick's skull in his hands like he's trying to inject some life back into it

here. thou INCESTUOUS. MURDEROUS. DAMNED DANE. DRINK OFF THIS POTION. IS THY UNION HERE?? FOLLOW MY MOTHER

[theofficialpresidentofmars]

random little witchy Hamlet au! in this one Gertrude is a fae/witch/some type of magically aligned being who falls mutually in love with Hamlet Sr and becomes Queen of Denmark. this is met with mixed public opinion that eventually tips positively because she turns out to be pretty swell and the two have a little half-human child who grows up to be a pretty sweet prince.

Claudius grows resentful of the power that the young prince holds, both in ability and inheritance, and feels it is being misplaced in not being used to further their status. Denmark is in a politically unstable position, and they're not using all the tools at their disposal. He also fears that his own power pales, and so he feels the need to do something that will establish himself on top again.

In the months leading up to his father's murder, the young Hamlet is met with bad dreams that he can't always remember but leave a bitter taste in his mouth. They're often ghostly, demonic, and confusing, but frightening nonetheless.

In the weeks following his father's murder, the nightmares continue, but with added clarity. Some seem to be of the moments surrounding his father's death but they're hazy, and disorienting. The clearest are the ones of hands, bloody and pale. Swords, curtains, boats. A cup hits the floor and spills its wine red contents. He thinks the hands might be his own, but he's not sure.

When Horatio arrives, he tells Hamlet he's seen a ghost. He thinks, but he's not sure. The guards took him to a spot on the roof with some strange activity, wispy shadows, whispering voices, a site of general bad omens, hoping Hamlet can help them decipher it. Hamlet isn't entirely sure where to begin, but in the very moment the others turn their backs, he's struck with a debilitating vision of his father's murder, flashes of his father's present condition, and a chorus of strangled voices urging him to take revenge.

Over the coming weeks, Hamlet is stuck on exactly where to go and what to do with this information. He's not sure that it's all true, and fears it may be the trick of the devil. He's also been closing himself off deliberately from using any supernatural ability after his mother's taking of his uncle (unfortunately he can only do so much about visions), deciding that the use of magic is feminine and unholy. He's also swung heavily towards Catholicism in his paranoia, especially after some of the vision's aspects.

The story plays out largely the same way, with the au only affecting certain areas like: Hamlet accidentally cursing Ophelia, Hamlet and Gertrude having an added layer of messy to their relationship for each other to yell about, Hamlet being very deliberate in his usage (or lack thereof) of magic at the start of the play, but as it furthers and he slips further into madness, he starts to instinctually care less and it begins to creep back in.

For example, Hamlet kills Polonius with a sword. He yells at his mother about her wicked ways, about his resentment towards what she's made of him. She cries that she only ever wanted what was best for him, and she's ashamed.

But when he writes and seals the letter and the fates of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, perhaps he's a little too overzealous in his cause. When he escapes the ship and leaves the two on course to England, they never make it. The vessel goes down not four hours later in an unexpected storm that rips it apart, plank from plank.

When he accepts Laertes' challenge, he's more than happy for a chance to show off his fencing, a skill he's been in large practice of since his father's death. It was, after all, his father's choice to train him personally in the art of handling such a weapon. His mother taught him how to use magic, and his father taught him how to use his physical skills. And after his mother's betrayal of her post, he felt sickened by her craft and spent the extra time throwing himself into his fencing practice.

But when she dies, all of a sudden he finds that it doesn't really matter to him anymore. He can't remember how mad he was at her, he can only feel an empty and desperate depth where there once was feeling. So when Laertes reveals the king's guilt, it's the most natural feeling to have magic flow into his veins again, and he brings Claudius to his knees. He grabs him by his head, and using the same practices that his mother's hand once guided him in, ends him without even needing to lift his blade.

It's too late for him though, and it finishes off, again, much like the play. Hamlet gives Horatio and Fortinbras his blessing for their respective futures, before dying in Horatio's arms.

anyway this isn't very thought out and feel free to add anything but was just a silly idea I had :}

[gabriel-shutterson]

Jealous Rosencrantz is very canon methinks 😳 I think there should be a cutscene of Ros beating the shit out of Hamlet after the recorder scene and Guildenstern bursting into tears

No no no babe!!! It’s the other way around!!! ❤️

I think I briefly discussed this on either the hamlet server or with an irl. But something I noticed in canon is how LITTLE Guil speaks. Although I said it was 38 lines per boi, it’s really clear that Ros is a chatterbox. The most Guil speaks IS the recorder scene, and you can tell it’s because he’s annoyed. He talks when he’s MAD

So after the recorder scene, the two of them go hunting for hamlet who just killed Polonius. I can VIVIDLY imagine Ros saying “ok PLEASE don’t get mad we’re dealing with something serious’ and Guil is like, fine, whatever

Then the sponge scene comes! Guil doesn’t speak the whole scene. Until-

He interrupts Hamlet, loudly, immediately after hearing Ros be insulted. Imagine this— he’s already PISSED, but is trying to keep his cool, and then Hamlet starts digging into Ros and he EXPLODES.

But that’s just a theory. A game theory.