As many of you know, there are many different versions of Hamlet; a few examples I came across while reading Gilbert Murray’s Hamlet and Orestes are: Saxo, Ambales and the Greek versions. It is interesting to see how similar each edition is, but also how different they are.
1) The Hero:
- In the Northern and Greek versions, the son of the king who is killed is named the hero. In all the editions (Saxo, Ambales, and the Greek), the hero’s mother—who is also the king’s widow—marries the king's murderer.
- For example, in the Greek version, there is a supernatural character which tells the hero to get revenge on the king's murderer.
- In Hamlet, the hero dies white getting revenge; during Ambales and Saxo, the hero duels for the kingdom and succeeds.
- Each version of this story has ways the hero could find out why he should take vengeance: In Saxo, there is no ghost like Shakespeare’s version, the revenge comes naturally. Whereas, in Ambales, there is a mention of angels where the hero experiences dreams from his father.
2) “Shyness about the Mother-Murder":
- In each edition the murder of the mother is not really talked about;
- In Shakespeare's version, the mother is accidentally poisoned; in Ambales she is warned to leave "the Hall" that is on fire just in time; in another version, she refuses to leave "the Hall" where she burns with her husband.
3) Madness within the Hero:
- In every version, “the hero is in some way under the shadow of madness,” but the madness in each “dramatic character” is different (256). Everyone assumes that Hamlet is crazy, but there is some suspicion from the reader that it might just be an act or a way of coping.
- In my own thoughts, the same type of actions happen with the hero in Ambales.
4) The Fool:
- Hamlet plays the hero as well as the fool. Murray writes, “It is very remarkable that Shakespeare, who did such wonders in his idealized and half-mystic treatment of the real Fool, should also have made his greatest tragic hero out of a Fool transfigure” (258).
- I do not believe that the fool is Hamlet, although he is a crazy man, he is not the blind one in the play. In fact, I believe that the queen is more foolish than her son, Hamlet, because of her own blindness to what has actually happened to her kingdom.
Discussion Questions:
1) Do you believe that Hamlet is actually mad, or is just using it as a way of coping?
2) I do not believe that Hamlet is the true fool in this play; who would you say is the true fool in Shakespeare’s Hamlet?
1) I believe that Hamlet's madness comes from his way of coping with his father's death as well as the events afterwards. However, though I believe that he is feigning madness for a portion of the play, I also believe that he takes it to another level where he no longer has control of his lunacy.
ReplyDelete2) I believe that Hamlet only wants to appear the fool, but is not at all the true fool in the play. I agree with Sarah that the queen is one of the biggest fools in the entire play. She seems oblivious at times to the true events of her life and her son's and does not seem inclined to do anything about the death of her husband. Her ability to be so content about her husband's death and her re-marriage are incredibly odd and lead me to believe that she is quite foolish.
Hannah, I really like your comment about Hamlet's madness and when he chooses to appear foolish or "crazy" within the play.
DeleteNow that you've read Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, do you think your answers are the same? Has Hamlet's madness changed in any way or is it the same kind of madness?
I often think Hamlet *does* appear the fool in Stoppard's version! Do you agree?
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Delete1) Do you believe that Hamlet is actually mad, or is just using it as a way of coping?
ReplyDeleteI believe that Hamlet's behavior is used as a way of coping. All the bad things that happened to him has caused him to change drastically throughout the play; however, he does understand the situation as a whole. He knows how manipulated Gertrude is by the king. He understands a deeper meaning of the problem. The changes he has gone through made him become a whole new person. He needed change when he was feeling pressured, so he adapted himself to the craziness.
2) I do not believe that Hamlet is the true fool in this play; who would you say is the true fool in Shakespeare’s Hamlet?
The true fool of the play is the King because he constantly plays and tricks characters in order to get what he wants
What a great point! I have often thought that King Claudius was the "fool" in the play.
DeleteI'll ask the same question I asked Hannah above: Do you think that Hamlet is the fool in Tom Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead? Or is King Claudius still the fool?
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