tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7495382709151625398.post5742260275509648873..comments2024-02-09T16:13:32.416-08:00Comments on Classical Carousel: Hamlet ~ Act IV Scene IICleohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13152128642971612433noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7495382709151625398.post-81258249422858954542015-11-20T10:36:02.692-08:002015-11-20T10:36:02.692-08:00I look at it this way: Neither Shakespeare nor his...I look at it this way: Neither Shakespeare nor his audiences cared one bit about some problems centuries ago in Denmark; instead, Elizabethans/Jacobeans were intensely concerned about the authority/power/legitimacy/continuity of the monarchy and citizens' responsibilities to the state v. families v. themselves. The state, of course, in Shakespeare's time was brutal to anyone who would be perceived as either an enemy or a problem. So, by extrapolation, I read _Hamlet_ as Shakespeare's analysis of state v. individuals v. families v. other considerations. Then, when you further complicate the plot with religion (Catholic v. Protestant), the choices for an individual to make (i.e., Hamlet must make terrible choices) makes for powerful drama. We are all Hamlet. Even now. Shakespeare focuses on the then and now of Elizabethan/Jacobean issues but also anticipates our world. Brilliant!RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7495382709151625398.post-34108998218107756592015-11-20T08:49:13.378-08:002015-11-20T08:49:13.378-08:00You could wrap yourself up in a Gordian knot with ...You could wrap yourself up in a Gordian knot with those questions! Technically R&G should be loyal to their leader, which is Claudius. Oh, but wait a minute! Should he be the leader, or should Hamlet actually have inherited the title from his father? In that case, they should be loyal to Hamlet. Then you get into the morality of it ........ Claudius (it appears) committed a crime, so they should be loyal to Hamlet. And there's the weaker argument (IMO) that Hamlet is their friend, so their loyalty should be with him. This conundrum reminds me very much of Sophocles' Antigone, don't you think? Loyalty to state or loyalty to your conscience .....? <br /><br />Shakespeare is so brilliant at tying up his audience in prospective moral, political and emotion knots, which all conflict with each other. I guess that's why he's The Master!Cleohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13152128642971612433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7495382709151625398.post-25911894600796009472015-11-20T07:08:48.300-08:002015-11-20T07:08:48.300-08:00Loyalties are very much a problem in the play. The...Loyalties are very much a problem in the play. These questions matter: who is loyal to whom? what are the underlying reasons for those loyalties? and why and how do people betray those to whom they are presumably should be loyal? The friends and family dynamics are downright profound, and you can spend hours trying unravel the entanglements and complexities of those dynamics. Let me leave you with one question: To whom should R&G be loyal? King? Queen? Hamlet? Themselves? And then there is the other question: Why?RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.com