Hamlet

24/06/19

The famous quotation “to be or not to be” actually came from Hamlet. Most people wouldn’t wonder, or at least, I never did. Where such famous quotes came from. And of course, many a times, these come from Shakespeare. Inventing so many words does give a certain degree of literary justice and liberty to invent sayings as well.

III.1        The ghost appears and disappear. What gives it the right??? And also, initially I would be surprised that Horatio, the friend of nobility, and hence a high rank, would become a sentry for a night. But it is to talk to ghosts. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse. And the next day Prince Hamlet in the flesh will be appearing for that purpose.

Completed

Hamlet has a lot of familiar elements which all turn out to be from Hamlet.

For example, the tale of a king’s brother killing the king by pouring poison into his ear, in order to usurp the throne. And then this new king freaking out and becoming all rage when a stage play is performed of this act, which reveals his guilt and makes him a target. I’ve heard of this story before but again, I never knew that it was the basis of Hamlet.

Hamlet also has a good deal of incest, though without blood relation, but with an in-law, or what would be called a “coz”. This makes for an important trope.

We also have reason to suspect that Horatio is gay, or at least bisexual. I don’t know how common is it to want to die together when a friend dies. But lovers certainly do. Such as in Romeo and Juliet where they take turns dying when they assume that the other is dead. Horatio speaks of wanting to kill himself by drinking the last bit of poison when he sees that Hamlet is dying. If this isn’t love I don’t know what is. And the fact that he is alive in the end, also proves his romantic love to Hamlet, because he is willing to suspend his sadness in order to fulfil Hamlet’s dying wish. Something like the “Who will tell my story” and the “legacy” part of Hamilton.

Also, for a thing about Shakespeare killing off all his characters in the final scene. For a preliminary count, Laertes, the King, the Queen, and Hamlet dies. Which is all or almost all the main characters. I mean, its very sudden. I did not expect Hamlet to die, actually. I knew that the evil brother of Old Hamlet deserved to die, but the rest? Not so. But I guess it’s a case of collateral damage.

I guess I missed an important foreshadowing, but even when they were taking about poisoning the sword, I didn’t think that Hamlet would actually die. But the sheer number of deaths in the final scene is too much that its just tragic but unrealistic.

Hamlet as a character is someone I find really relatable. Maybe it is the constant depression and melancholy. And his inability to tell the girl he loves that he loves her, instead choosing to use insults and jokes to express himself which ends up being a huge mistake and he pushes away the person he loves. And Hamlet is a lot of an emo prince. I imagine him with some black trench coat aesthetic.

Alas, poor Yorick too. He’s dead and his corpse mutilated.