As I start to read Hamlet by none
other than Shakespeare himself, I read about the depressing character, Hamlet.
Hamlet seems as if he hates the
world. When Hamlet first appears in Act 1 Scene 2, he is wearing the "nighted color" (1.2.70) and is told by his mother to "let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark"(1.2.71). The nighted color referred is black and his mother wants Hamlet to be friendly to the King.
He is described by Shakespeare wearing all black, to emphasize his depression over the fact that he is still stuck over mourning his father's death. Hamlet's father has been dead about two months and Hamlet is still terribly mourning over the loss that it has consumed him to wear all black. I guess you can say Hamlet is childish because he can't move on from the death of a loved one, while adult or mature figures can move on with their lives. Of course, grieving and mourning is part of the recovery process when someone dies, but that part of the process typically lasts two weeks, definitely not two months. I am not at all saying that you should remember the loved one for only two weeks and then forget them all together and completely move on. No, you should always keep them in your thoughts but it should not consume you like it does to Hamlet.
Shakespeare also portrays Hamlet as a scornful
prince. He does not want to admit that his mother married the current King, Hamlet's dad's brother. Hamlet idolizes his father and hates that his mother moved on so quickly. Hamlet remarks that "She married. O'with wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" (1.2. 161-162) He calls the marriage "incestuous", but in fact it is totally legal. Calling a legitimate marriage incest is probably one of the worst charges you could make about a marriage, especially about your own MOTHER! To even emphasize the "wicked speed" of her turn around and marrying the brother of her former husband, Shakespeare writes that "the funeral baked meats / Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables" (1.2.186-187). In other words, the funeral leftovers were still good for the wedding. Woah, Shakespeare is rubbing the death in! Shakespeare is definitely contributing to the depression factor of Hamlet.
At this point in the play, Hamlet is a downer, and wants nothing to do with his mother or especially the King. By analyzing other Shakepeare plays, most of his characters change, so I am expecting Hamlet to change. I do not know whether it will be a very dramatic positive change or a subtle even more negative change. I guess, I have to read on.
I love the way you focused your blog post on Shakespeare himself, as opposed to merely on the characters. I was also very impressed with your views on Hamlet. Do you really think that he shouldn't still be grieving over his father's death at this point? I'm kind of wondering if he'd be able to move on better if he had a better support system. But you do bring up a good point in that he definitely isn't handling the situation in the most mature way possible. I also agree with your statement that we can probably expect to see Hamlet's character change quite a bit. I can't wait to read your next post!
ReplyDelete-Eliana(:
Rachael,
ReplyDeleteI really love this blog post because I can clearly hear your voice throughout your analysis. When I was reading it, I thought, "Yes, I could definitely hear Rachael saying this out loud to me." Because of that, the piece made me smile, so thank you. It's interesting that you do not take Hamlet's side in his unnaturally long grieving process. When I read the part about him still being in grieving and wearing black, I worried that being so deeply attached to his father was hurting him in his life and might change his perception of the world in general. I do agree with you when you say that grief "should not consume you" as it does Hamlet, but I think instead of blaming him or making Hamlet feel like he wasn't a man in the way the other characters, particularly Claudius, do to Hamlet, that they should support him and as crazy as it sounds, get him some sort of psychological help to deal with his grief process. Also, I'm not sure Hamlet is a scornful price as much as he is (and you said this) an angry and depressed one that simply wants his father back. Also, saying that their marriage shouldn't be described as incestuous is an interesting view as well, because they did used to be brother and sister-in-law but now are married. The book provides some interesting commentary on the nature of martial relationships within families that might be interesting for you to read. But anyways, I love your analysis!