The Rest, Is Awkward Silence

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…"

- and I forgot to add: more Danish words. In general. Hamlet alternates between calling Gertrude 'Mor' and 'Mother'. If any words are spoken in flashbacks/non-canon scenes they are almost exclusively Danish words

did I ever tell you guys about how I would adapt (the tragedy of) Hamlet (prince of Denmark) if ever given the chance. because I have so many thoughts and I’m adding onto them all the time so here’s a post with all my ideas compiled.

- firstly, it would be an animated mini-series of five episodes, each one corresponding to an Act. I think Animation is a highly under-utilised and underappreciated medium that would suit this particular story well in terms of what it could achieve visually and also these are just a bunch of words to say I’m heavily biased towards animation and just love it so much.

- there are so many fun little character design tidbits i would implement. including but not limited to: Horatio being the shortest, Claudius/Hamlet Sr identical twins (and Claudius having a Scar reminiscent scar on his face for the drama… and also the eventual Act 5 Scene 2 parallels when Laertes wounds Hamlet with the rapier in an incidentally similar way), Laertes having a silly curly moustache, Horatio and Ophelia resembling the other, Hamlet looking tired, pale and ghostly at all times, character’s hair being used as a way to show passing of time (Hamlet having hair on the long side of short in Act 1, growing but in a little ponytail over Act 2, medium-length and unkempt in Acts 3 & 4, and cut shortly and neatly in Act 5. also Ophelia’s hair growing noticeably as well and being often neatly braided with little flowers in Acts 1-2, loosely braided without flowers in Act 3, but being down and wild in Act 4 etc), and so on so forth.

- I would shamelessly be including flashbacks to pre-tragedy memories of the castle/inhabitants. Baby R&G&H running through the castle halls and playing hide and seek. Hamlet actually, god forbid, practicing fencing. The Players entertaining at the castle in Hamlet’s youth. Ophelia and Hamlet sneaking out into the garden beneath the willows by the pond, Hamlet braiding flowers into her hair while they sit together. Yorick entertaining baby Hamlet. All coloured with the softest, goldenest glows that nostalgia can manage to contrast the desaturated depressive hues of the current day. I think a lot of the tragedy of *Hamlet* specifically lies in comparing what was to what ended up being, and since the play starts after Hamlet’s entered his mourning period, it’s hard to fully comprehend the true nature of such a fall.

- Each Act having a lovely stylised title card in its introduction with themes and motifs that are specifically prevalent throughout. Act 3 would have curtains, for example, given the play staging and Polonius’ later poor choice of hiding place. Act 5 introduces the classic skull we all know and love.

- Very purposeful dramatic lighting and colour throughout. Daylight lighting and then the switch to a lot of Hamlet’s soliloquies seeming to appear under more ‘spotlight’ lighting. Early evening during the play, sunset during the scene where Claudius prays (golden light tricking through beautiful stained-glass windows), nightfall when Hamlet yells at Gertrude. Lighting also being used to dramatise entrances perhaps, such as Claudius’s prayer being interrupted by the shift to ‘spotlight’ lighting before we even see Hamlet at the door.

- Same goes with music and motifs, interwoven character leitmotifs and themes that shift keys and qualities and work together to make larger pieces and show up to herald the arrival of a character, or turn sour to match their emotions.

- the visual humour of the play being upped, as well as the wordy humour being emphasised, in order to really contrast the shift in tone throughout the halves of the play. I’ve always been a tragicomedy truther when it comes to Hamlet, I think if done well it could be a really neat way to get the audience to invest more in the characters while also really highlighting how quickly everything goes south.

Probably add more on as I go

uhm zukka/zuko/sokka enjoyers would you guys be interested if I were potentially to start posting a fic (on Ao3) I’ve been chipping away at. asking here because I haven’t actually posted on Ao3 before and idk what it’s like over there.

anyway it’s a Zuko centric (but with much Sokka, and appearances from the Gaang (including Suki) and naturally Iroh) hero/villain/vigilante slash modern college au that follows the two boys when they accidentally end up roommates in the same dorm sometime in the equivalent of Season 2 Ba Sing Se and decide to go with it because they both think they can get information from the other. meanwhile in the wacky world of vigilantism Sokka ends up tailing a mysterious vigilante he’s heard is called The Blue Spirit because the guy seems to be active in the area, supposedly saved Aang’s life once, and if he’s a good guy, he could be a useful ally to take down Ozai, corrupt super-powered politician and secret lead of the city’s crime underworld.

Sokka has no powers/bending, Zuko swears up and down that he does (even if he can’t firebend, not like his sister or father or anyone else, even if he can’t really prove it right this second), and I’m working on a superpower system that is largely based on the Avatar spirit world. It’s a relatively slow burn, but we’ll get there, and I will be doing my best to give theatre kid Zuko justice. I’m working on main themes rn but I also hope to dip into sub-themes exploring disability, sexuality, and healing, and there will be an eclipse.

I have the plot outline and various details of the whole story, I’m most (probably?) of the way through Chapter 1 (4000 words and counting), and I’d probably start posting once I finished up the chapter and also decided on a title.

Kataang will also feature relatively canon compliantly :3 and also major character death. mostly temporary but i might change my mind

hamlet adaptations where claudius and hamlet sr. are played by the same people my beloved

currently working on the chapter layout and it’s looking like it’s going to be around 40 chapters split into two Acts of 20 chapters or so each. STILL trying to think of a good title but have been drawing some pictures and figuring out some subplots.

also spent a little while creating a playlist to listen to while i write >:]

next stages are to figure out the AO3 tagging system and THINK OF A TITLE CMON

uhm zukka/zuko/sokka enjoyers would you guys be interested if I were potentially to start posting a fic (on Ao3) I’ve been chipping away at. asking here because I haven’t actually posted on Ao3 before and idk what it’s like over there.

anyway it’s a Zuko centric (but with much Sokka, and appearances from the Gaang (including Suki) and naturally Iroh) hero/villain/vigilante slash modern college au that follows the two boys when they accidentally end up roommates in the same dorm sometime in the equivalent of Season 2 Ba Sing Se and decide to go with it because they both think they can get information from the other. meanwhile in the wacky world of vigilantism Sokka ends up tailing a mysterious vigilante he’s heard is called The Blue Spirit because the guy seems to be active in the area, supposedly saved Aang’s life once, and if he’s a good guy, he could be a useful ally to take down Ozai, corrupt super-powered politician and secret lead of the city’s crime underworld.

Sokka has no powers/bending, Zuko swears up and down that he does (even if he can’t firebend, not like his sister or father or anyone else, even if he can’t really prove it right this second), and I’m working on a superpower system that is largely based on the Avatar spirit world. It’s a relatively slow burn, but we’ll get there, and I will be doing my best to give theatre kid Zuko justice. I’m working on main themes rn but I also hope to dip into sub-themes exploring disability, sexuality, and healing, and there will be an eclipse.

I have the plot outline and various details of the whole story, I’m most (probably?) of the way through Chapter 1 (4000 words and counting), and I’d probably start posting once I finished up the chapter and also decided on a title.

Kataang will also feature relatively canon compliantly :3 and also major character death. mostly temporary but i might change my mind

Sometimes I forget hamlet is a classic lit character. In my head hes just my buddy. I forget he’s from the 1500s