Hamlet draws his general condemnation of women's fidelity from his mother Gertrude's "incestuous" marriage with the despised Claudius. I think we can assume that the Prince never cared much for his uncle, but by now has grown to hate the man who replaced his idolized and adored father both as King and as husband to Gertrude.
The Ghost complains of "my most seeming-virtuous Queen," who fell for the blandishments of an "adulterate beast" of a brother whose "witchcraft of wit" and "traitorous gifts" stole her heart and loyalty away. Young Hamlet also takes a share in the Ghost's assessment of Claudius: a satyr in comparison with the Hyperion that was King Hamlet.
Let's examine the evidence in the play to build a character study of the late King of Denmark. Look at the Ghost's words, Horatio's dialogue with Marcellus, Hamlet's private thoughts in his first soliloquy and brief exchange with Horatio…etc. What sort of man, King, husband and father was King Hamlet?
Look then at what you know of Claudius beyond Hamlet's disdain and loathing: what qualities in him attracted Gertrude in the first place, and why? Why did she not adore King Hamlet as his son did?
This will take some thought. You might be smart to make a first entry assessing King Hamlet, then return a day later and post a comment on Gertrude and Claudius.
We'll have a lot to talk about on Wednesday.
5 comments:
O dear, I know this post is late at night and Mr. Duncan is going say that staying up this late and posting a blog means that everything would be kind of incoherent since we're not at our peak of thinking. And not only that, I forgot my Hamlet book back at Westview in the library, so I guess I'm going to have to do his out of memory.
King Hamlet does not have the same masculine baldness that King Claudius has, therefore the sheer appearance of the man has caused Gertrude to swoon over him. What's not to like about a round shiny head? Not only that, perhaps King Hamlet was a fair and good king, although sometimes being well at your job does not mean that you are doing a good job at home. He could be like Montel Williams, being the TV guru and everything, but he's never at home taking care of his two kids. Bad bad father, but great role model in general. Claudius on the other hand, is able to balance both the world and his relationships with both hands.
Hamlet disapproves of his mother's quick marriage, like how after Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston broke up, he went straight for Angelina Jolie. A lot of people disapproved of this because it means that he was probably thinking of hooking up with Angelina Jolie the entire time and was dishonest to our favorite 'Friends' actress. And not only that, it was his uncle too. Weird. Gertrude probably was eyeing Claudius the entire time, but she was just waiting for the old geezer to die before she could make the move. She was only "seeming" to be virtuous. 'nay, it is, I know not seems'.
O David, by the way, how are things going for you? Ready for college and everything? Gotten all of your college apps in already?
Isn't that the guy from Star Trek?
Oh, also, all of your comments should be considered void because we all well know that Hamlet was insane.
Pretty sure he's from Start Trek The Next Generation.
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