Ive Always Been A Fan Of The Hamlet Sr And Claudius Are Identical Twins For A Few Reasons (one, The Hypocrisy

I’ve always been a fan of the Hamlet Sr and Claudius are identical twins for a few reasons (one, the hypocrisy of HJr when comparing the two, and two, in the months following his father’s death, HJr might occasionally turn a corner or catch a glimpse and for a moment, think he sees someone else. and then after the quick realisation that it’s Claudius, hate Claudius more for these moments. he swears the two of them are not identical to him. the difference is glaringly obvious. Hyperion to a Satyr. but although he denies it, his heart has almost stopped one too many times at the sight of someone he mistook for his father)

but I’d like you all to also consider, in a visual adaptation (I like to imagine an animated mini-series) of the play, the only difference between HSr and Claudius is that Claudius has a large, un-ignorable scar across the right side of his face. Doesn’t have to be explained, doesn’t have to be like intensely detailed or a horrible near-gaping wound or anything, just a noticeable scar across his right eye, perhaps. An easy identifier. If you were to approach him from the left, or even if you weren’t paying attention, still quite possible to mistake him for his better. (And well, perhaps a Lion King reference if you will).

Hamlet (Jr) can’t help but almost fixate on this scar. It’s bad enough as it is that it looks like he could be Claudius’s son, so he’s drawn to what sets them apart. What sets his father and him apart. Even if he won’t admit it, it’s practically the only difference between the image of his father and the image of this vile, incestuous murderer. It sticks out to him. It leers at him; it’s the difference between the idolised good and damned evil in his mind. It might re-contextualise some of the things he says, but it’s not like he hasn’t been nasty to other types of people (like women) before.

Let’s say he ends up in, I don’t know, some kind of fencing match. One where his opponent wields a blade secretly sharpened past what’s safe, for the sake of this hypothetical. If this opponent had the intent to wound him, and hadn’t had luck in the actual fencing part of duel for the past two rounds, he might be tempted to strike at Hamlet while he was unaware, and not facing him. But if Hamlet, upon hearing something slice through the air behind him, turned around; well, he might be a little too late to stop the blade’s interception, but he might be able stop the rapier from wounding his shoulder by unknowingly shielding it with his face.

And if the blade were to make contact, and one of his eyes were to go red as blood leaked into it from a fresh wound, a shallow but clean slice lengthwise along the right side, he might have a number of things running through his mind. Pain, blinding anger, shock, realisation. He might hear Horatio’s gasp from somewhere nearby, which he could take as a sign that it looked bad-

If he didn’t already know exactly how it looked. What he looked like.

Who he looked like.

tragedy enjoyers when even good intentions lead to ruin

hello pls share the rosencrantz/guildenstern fic recs, i am not a hamlet person but i am a tom stoppard person

well every single R&G fic by kylee is touching and charming and nostalgic for me - there was even more back in our livejournal days but these are the best of the best. Ghost Story is the one i always remember by its original title, dry bones can harm no one, so it took me ages to find it again and i was in raptures when i finally did!

most of the others that haunted me are now lost to time and fond memories, and really the play itself has formed so many of my artistic sensibilities - the nature of choice and returning to the start, the distance between what is said and what is meant, identity disruption, The Narrative As Character, being each other's context, it's all extremely good stuff!

I walked into Barnes & Noble to see that Prince Hamlet was the cashier and he was trying to sell his autobiography in play form, Hamlet. He didn’t know who Shakespeare is.

did I ever tell you guys how much I love making Venn Diagrams. anyway Venn Diagram of my three blorbos

i’ve been going insane about Hamlet recently. so I’ve been a comprehensive list of everything in this play that makes me absolutely lose my mind, and here’s the list for Act 1.

- The play starting and ending with Horatio. Hamlet is the protagonist, the prince, the titular character, but it’s Horatio’s story to tell. Horatio is the one charged with recounting the occurents which have solicited, and as such he’s the first and the last of the main characters that we see. Love a good bookend.

- Hamlet’s first line (first two lines really) being a bit of wordplay. Much of this list will touch on his extensive need to pun about, and there’s no more fitting way to introduce such a character. I love his silly little lines so much

- The complete normality of the Royal Court in the first scenes. Given what this play becomes and where most of them end up before it’s over (six feet under), it’s so important to me to be able to see, as an audience, the tail end of what once was, especially given that we never get to see Hamlet prior to his grieving state. There are so many subtleties in this play that hint at the world the characters lived in before the events that happened did, and I think about them far too often.

- Hamlet asking to go back to Wittenberg, being asked by his mother to stay, and complying. God, this little moment on so many levels. If Hamlet had gone back to Wittenberg, he would’ve likely been able to grieve and move on in a healthier manner, likely being surrounded by a greater support system (than one that tells him to get over it) or at the very least a place of comfort, where he is free to express himself and pursue what he specifically likes. By staying in Elsinore, he is putting his individuality in that sense aside for the duty he owes his country (or the one he will owe the Ghost, which is still to his country in a manner, avenging treason). And of course, by staying in Elsinore, the events of the play are allowed to transpire. Also Hamlet’s relationship with Gertrude is so important to me and so often under-acknowledged, and this brief moment is again, one of the subtle few where we can draw larger conclusions about their relationship prior to the play’s events.

- The religious stuff in this text and especially surrounding Hamlet’s character and motives is also something I like looking into, and this moment where Hamlet considers that he would kill himself if it weren’t for the notion of divine punishment is also so. In less than a page, we’ve been presented with two alternate ways that the events of the play could’ve been avoided- Hamlet’s return to Wittenberg, which would’ve likely allowed him to heal and move on, and Hamlet’s suicidal thoughts, which although the worse option by far, still technically would’ve worked as a preventative measure: lives would’ve been saved. Either way, it’s just another tragic facet of his character, and the first of what will be many cries for help from this character over the course of the play.

- Hamlet and Horatio’s reunion, of course, but specifically the moment when Horatio tells Hamlet about the ghost. OUgh. Shoutout to that person who wondered if post-play Horatio ever lay awake in night, wishing he hadn’t told Hamlet about the ghost at all because I think of that every single time I read it. Horatio’s closeness to Hamlet increases greatly due to the events that occur as a result of this one line, and their relationship is just so. interesting to me from a comparative standpoint. between the events of the play and what might’ve been. but we’ll get into that later. and also Hamlet, once again, taking every opportunity to be a little sassier will always be funny to be. who said this wasn’t a tragicomedy?

- and Hamlet’s reaction to hearing that he may be able to see his father again

- Ophelia from the very beginning being told what to do by the men in her life, having her femininity and body reduced to a sexual object, being the victim of that good ol’ fashioned misogyny right out of the gate and it hits. I love Ophelia’s character so much, and it really just does set the bar straight away what we’re to expect. She’s talked over, told what to do, held to unreasonable standards by men who wouldn’t meet them himselves. It’s early days again, and I’ll get into this more later, but wow.

- Again, Hamlet’s reaction to the ghost on the roof, and specifically his threat to ‘make a ghost’ of Horatio or Marcellus should they try to stop him. It’s a grim little nod to what’s to come, and it’s an interesting little setup to both the desperation and the dedication explored regarding Hamlet and his father. Followed shortly thereafter by the ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’, and you’ve got yourself the equivalent of your hair standing up on end in anticipation of the lighting strike that sets the play in motion.

- ‘If thou didst ever thy dear father love (O God!) Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.’

- ‘Murder?’

- this whole scene. goodness. Every time I’ve recounted this play to some poor soul who couldn’t escape my segues into it, I’ve always gotten a reaction when Hamlet Sr reveals that the snake that poisoned him is the same one that now wears his crown. And that’s also why the previous normalcy is so important, because Claudius hasn’t explicitly come off as like that bad a guy yet. Maybe a bit of a douche for slipping into the sheets of his brother’s queen, but he’s at the very least acted onstage with nothing less than a formal and respectable air to him. But now we’ve passed the point of no return at the same time as the prince, and we can’t let the villain get away with this. Because that’s what he is, right? A villain. A murderer. And everything Hamlet’s been worried about or concerned with or thinking about prior is wiped away, trivial, unimportant, and there is no normal to return to.

- also, absolutely insane move to tell your depressed (and possibly manic?? i’ve been trying to look into the modern psychology side of things someone please help me out) son that he has to kill a guy to restore heavenly vengeance. this can’t go wrong. surely

- Horatio and Marcellus swearing their secrecy and dare I say involvement by complicity (oh, Horatio) and Hamlet deciding that the logical course of action is to. naturally. fake madness. put on an antic disposition. his decision-making process in this play is something I’d like to put under a microscope and study

I’ll update with the following acts over the next few days, and reply if I think of anything I forgot to intitially add. feel free to add thoughts :D