Read Act 1 Scenes 4-5. I think these should be considered one scene. I don't really have anything to say about it, I guess, which would seem to make this a poor post.
Or, we could view it as reasserting the blogginess of this blog. I don't have anything to say, but blah blah blah, I have a crush on so-and-so.
Here's a summary in case you're covering Hamlet in class and didn't do the reading for tomorrow: the ghost of Old Hamlet shows up and tells Hamlet that Claudius killed Old Hamlet by pouring poison into his ear while he slept, then seduced Gertrude. He then tells Hamlet to take revenge, but not to "taint his soul" or to harm Gertrude. This is a lot to ask: commit regicide/steppatricide/unclecide, but don't taint your soul. Oh yes, and your mother is a trifling whore, but don't hurt her in the murderous rage you'll have to whip up in order to kill your uncle. "Sure dad!" Suddenly any parental pressure I may have gone through as a kid doesn't seem so bad.
Hamlet's friends catch up right after the ghost disappears. He tells them that he's going to act crazy, but not really be crazy, and makes them swear about fifteen times not to tell anyone what they've seen, or to let on that he's not really crazy. The ghost chips in from underneath the ground, kind of moaning "Swear" all the time. Hic et ubique?
There's actually a lot more to say here than I thought. I really let this play permeate the old life this weekend, to the point that Jackie, who is always very patient with my nonsense, got a little bit fed up when I asked if we could buy a record player so that I could play these old records of recordings of Hamlet that we have at the store. So, really I just needed today off.
But the action of the play is now in motion. Hamlet has his mission, has assumed the crazy character, and we know what the situation is in the rotten state of Denmark. We'll need to notice the theme of corruption/garbage that's running through the play, started by Hamlet and taken to whole new levels by the ghost, who vividly describes his wife and brother exercising on a bed of garbage. If you're going to shower afterwards anyway...
Is anyone reading this play along with me? And, oh yes, Scolari out at Chelsea.
I'm reading it with you (although I'm well behind). You know, it was just recently that I caught for the first time the little parallel between Old Hamlet getting poisoned in the ear (which, by the way, is weird, right? I mean... in the ear? Seriously?) and what the Ghost says about "the whole ear of Denmark" being "rankly abused" by the false story that he died from a snake bite (which also seems a little weird, but let that be). Kind of goes along with the whole corruption theme, I guess -- I'm tempted to come up with something about a relationship between the effects of the poison on Old Hamlet as described by the Ghost and "something [being] rotten in the state of Denmark" here, but, well, you know...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I just have to tell you: your word choice of "exercising" has got to be one of the more innovative strokes of tact I've witnessed in recent memory. :D