subject: Theres Something Rotten In The State Of Denmark... And It Isnt The Eggs In Our Hamlet [print this page] Theres a major problem with trust between the characters in William Shakespeares most famous play - Hamlet. How can you blame them? Theyre not the most upright, honorable bunch. In fact, they make Dexter look like a sweetheart.
A couple of these Hamlet quotes pretty much say it all in a nutshell:
GHOST: Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast.. (1.5.9)
HAMLET: O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! (1.5.10)
POLONIUS: At such a time Ill loose my daughter to him;
Be you and I behind an arras then. (2.2.12)
LAERTES: I am justly killd with mine own treachery. (5.2.12)
Sounds like these guys have got some issues to work out. Lets break it down and take a look at whos doing what to whom:Claudius kills the king, Hamlets father, takes over the throne and snags his own brothers wife while hes at itGertrude, Hamlets mother, betrays her ex-husband the king by jumping into the sack with Claudius immediately after his deathLaertes interferes in his sister Ophelias love life and demands that she stop trying to become involved romantically with HamletHamlet pretends to be crazy. Sure, hes just doing so to catch his uncle in a trap, but still - deceitful.Hamlet plots to kill Claudius.Polonius hides behind a curtain to spy on Hamlet. What - were there no closets in this castle?Hamlet (thinking he is Claudius) stabs and kills Polonius (wouldnt have been so easy if he were in a closet - were just saying),Claudius conspires to have Hamlets friends usher him to England where hell be out of the way for at least a little while.Claudius and Laertes plot to kill Hamlet.Hamlet, upon discovering an incriminating letter ordering his own death, decides to serve Rosencrantz and Guildenstern a dose of their own medicine and has them killed. (Thats some costly medicine.)Claudius unintentionally poisons Gertrude.Laertes kills Hamlet.Hamlet kills Laertes and Claudius.Horatio is caught cheating on the PSAT.Now thats some treachery and deceit. If this isnt a FOX reality show in the making, we dont know what is.
There are plenty of aspects of Shakespeares masterpiece that make Hamlet his most performed and most acclaimed effort, but you just have to give a shout-out to the element of duplicity that runs rampant throughout the text. Its no wonder that practically everyone ends up lying in a pool of blood and/or poisoned wine by the end of it.
Hopefully the above list will inspire you to go home, tell your mother you love her, hide the cutlery, and stop acting so crazy.
