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question: how does one be more assertive? someone recently told me that i needed to "stand my ground more" and "tell princes to stop sending me 'u up' letters" and while i do not quite agree on the reasoning i could probably stand up for myself a bit more
@the-poetic-mathematician sent me an ask about my Hamlet views, and because I‘m a cranky English hipster who will grumble about literature whenever someone listens to me. So, Hamlet ranting in three points.
1. I hate the comparison between Lion King and Hamlet. Yes, it’s the same plot, but the intersection of the two stories, what actually happens in the story is so close to zero, that the comparison drives me nuts. I have a similar reaction when people say that “every story is the same because of the hero’s journey!” Get out of here.
2. I think there’s a lot of textual evidence that Gertrude and Hamlet are extremely close. As far as we know, Hamlet’s an only child, so it would make sense that these characters are close, especially since they’re the only ones who would grieve Old Hamlet in the same way. But pretty much every interpretation of Hamlet seems to imply that Hamlet thinks Gertrude was into Claudius, so he now hates his mother too. I’ve never seen that super strongly supported by the text. I just think that Hamlet thinks his mother is weak-willed for not staying faithful to his father, even after death.
3. Okay, this is the big one. In the way that Hamlet is normally interpreted, there’s a HUGE PLOT HOLE. So let’s review. We’re in the third act, the play has just been cut short because Claudius got upset. Gertrude wants to see Hamlet, but Hamlet has decided to kill Claudius. We see Claudius monologue, then kneel to pray. Hamlet comes in, is about to kill him, then decides not to. He leaves Claudius praying in the chamber and goes to see his mother. Him and his mother talk, and then Hamlet sees the tapestry/curtain move.
Now, let’s review. Hamlet believes he was talking to his mother in private. He knows his mother and uncle have people spying on him, but he’s not sure who is all is aligned with Claudius and who is just being used as a puppet. BUT, he knows he left Claudius and got to his mother’s chamber.
So the interpretation that he thinks he’s killing the king is so flawed, unless you accept that Hamlet’s crazy, but would someone crazed decide not to avenge his father on a moral technicality? That’s a rational act.
Therefore, he KNOWS he’s not killing Claudius at this point. He figures that this is more espionage from Claudius. The line after, where he asks “is it the king?” is not about him thinking he killed Claudius, but seeing his mother’s reaction. Then, after seeing he killed Polonius, he says this-
“Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell.
I took thee for thy better. “
Shakespeare in general plays with a ton of language, but Hamlet in particular does not succumb to conveniences of language. If you were seeing someone, and Hamlet thought you were fuckbuddies, and you called them your “significant other”, Hamlet would say something about their significance being entirely in their genitals. So when he refers to “thy better”, would he really ever call Claudius “better”? I think not. That line is actually saying he thought he could trust Polonius. “I took thee for thy better” is saying, “I thought I knew you, but I actually only saw a better person than you actually are”.
Hamlet knew he wasn’t killing Claudius, but is getting rid of all the “rats” (Shakespeare’s words, not mine) that scurry back to the king and conspire against him.
And anyone who wants to fight me on this, give this interpretation a chance while re-reading 3.4-4.1.
dear diary,
if my father and brother were hypothetically right, and my lord hamlet was out of my league, then who is in my league? it is not like there are many other eligible boys around. do they not think their daughter/sister is cool enough to marry a prince?
can anyone relate to this: being the only daughter in your family, and all anyone seems to care about is your love life
