Hamlet Blog Post #2

            Like many of Shakespeare’s works, Hamlet emphasizes a struggle over power, good versus evil, revenge and death. Specifically, Hamlet deals with young Hamlet protecting his father’s name by seeking revenge on Claudius. The whole play revolves around retaliation. Claudius kills his brother and marries his wife and rises to power for that reason. He wants power and the only way that he is able to obtain it, is to kill for it. Furthermore, there is a lack of thought stringing through the characters. None of them thoroughly think about the consequences of their actions; they simply act then die (well most). Fortinbras (who speaks in the last two acts), on the other hand, has very calculated and structured actions and arrives at the scene, right after all the drama is done.

            The following is a passage from Act 1 Scene 5 where Ghost Hamlet talks about Gertrude and Claudius’ relationship. Here the Ghost questions if Gertrude really loved him because she was able to move on fast. He questions her virtuosity indirectly. This passage does a good job of characterizing both through a bias. The Ghost states that Claudius is slime to have seduced Gertrude but Gertrude isn’t so pure either. Here the main overlap is the lack of thought and lack of integrity. Gertrude seemed to be virtuous, but she wasn’t and was grabbed by lust.

Online text:
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,

With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts—

O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power

So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust

The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.

O Hamlet, what a falling off was there!

From me, whose love was of that dignity

That it went hand in hand even with the vow

I made to her in marriage, and to decline

Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor

To those of mine.

But virtue, as it never will be moved,

Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,

So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,

Will sate itself in a celestial bed

And prey on garbage.

            This passage does a great job of characterizing Gertrude’s faults and lack of thought and control. She fell for Claudius’ power, bringing back the point of power as a driving force. Many of the main characters neglect to think about how one action can create a snowball effect and that is what is