All is not well in Denmark

Ophelia has gone mad, citizens of Denmark are disturbed and murmuring amongst themselves, Laertes has returned from France and is now teaming up with Claudius, and Hamlet has been abducted by pirates on his way to England. Pretty terrible I know, but it’s not as terrible as it could be. It turns out the pirates actually grew a liking to Hamlet and sent him back to Denmark, how ridiculously lucky! Despite that, there is still a price on Hamlet’s head. Laertes has obviously become outraged by his father’s death and is now allies with Claudius working for the same cause - to do away with Hamlet. What they are plotting together is yet unclear, but Hamlet should be very aware of what his thoughtless action have caused. Our reporters have overheard Laertes stating to Claudius that he would slit Hamlet throat in a church! That’s quite ironic considering Hamlet hesitated avenging his own father while the murderer was kneeling in prayer. As for Ophelia, her insanity is most likely primarily due to her father’s sudden death, but Hamlet is also another man that has recently been absent for her life which is definitely a contributing cause.

Check this picture out, it really puts Ophelia's insanity into perspective for those of you who still can't believe it!

Nice outfit, don't you think?

- The Hamlet Herald

And Things Get Worse...

Hello everyone! As you may have remembered from my last post, I had mentioned that Hamlet was called to his mother’s chambers shortly after the play. After choosing to temporarily spare Claudius, Hamlet answered his mother’s call and head over to her chambers, promising to “speak daggers to her, but use none”.  Turns out, he stayed true to his word, but that doesn’t mean he left her unharmed. According to our reporters, Hamlet was restraining his mother to her bed, shoving a picture of her head husband in her face! She begged for him to stop, when suddenly Hamlet heard a movement behind the curtains. It was Polonius, eavesdropping for information to give to Claudius. Without ANY hesitation, Hamlet jumped towards the curtain and started thrusting his sword at the unseen Polonius, killing him. Wait, so Hamlet will put weeks of thought into the perfect way to kill Claudius, but if he senses movement behind a curtain he jumps in swinging his sword like a maniac?!  But that’s not all, shortly after Polonius dropped dead the ghost of King Hamlet appeared once again, but Gertrude couldn’t see it! She instantly was convinced that Hamlet is mad as he conversed with the ghost, as he tried to get her see the apparition of her dead husband. The event concluded with Hamlet telling his mother to tell no one what she has seen, and he began to drag Polonius’ lifeless body from the room.

 Here's a reporter's sketch of the event:

It truly bewilders me that Hamlet would use such aggression towards his own mother, yet he hasn’t even confronted Claudius yet! At this point, we know that Claudius is the murderer of his father, and the fact that Claudius stormed out of the theatre and faked prayer in front of Hamlet strongly support that. So why doesn’t Hamlet just cut Claudius’ head clean off and get on with his life? Or an even better question is: Why does Hamlet choose to unleash his anger on Polonius and his own mother? In Hamlet’s defense; if my father had been murdered by his brother, and his ghost was appearing to me telling me to commit a murder as revenge, I’d probably go a little crazy too! His mental instability has become so extreme that he has become completely unpredictable! Claudius is definitely aware of this, and he has arranged for Hamlet to sail to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. What awaits him there is yet to be seen, but knowing Claudius’ past actions, it can’t be good

- The Hamlet Herald

Lights, Camera, Inaction!?

It's showtime people! The Murder of Gonzago has been conducted at the castle, and noblemen and noblewomen all around Denmark had gathered to see it. The actors were playing their roles great, the King and Queen were there, under the close watch of Hamlet and his good friend Horatio. All seemed to be going well, at least until the murder of the king was performed in front of Claudius. Once that happened, the play grinded to a hault and Claudius stormed out of the theatre! Hamlet is immediately ordered to his mother's chambers by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern but with the confirmation that Claudius killed his father, he heads straight for the murderer. To Hamlet's surprise, when he arrives he finds Claudius praying, asking for forgiveness for the sins he made.  Upon seeing this, Hamlet makes the potentially costly decision to wait for another time to kill Claudius, where Hamlet will be sure that killing him will send him straight to hell. But here's the twist; Claudius knew Hamlet was there and he said the prayer to fool him! Here's what he said after Hamlet left:

“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below”

If I had to sum up my frustration the I have towards Hamlet's decision in one picture, this would be it:

Why must Hamlet make things so difficult for himself? By choosing not to kill Claudius, he has made Claudius aware of his true intentions, which will surely not go without consequence! Hamlet is letting his extreme anger towards Claudius influence his original plan of killing him, just because he wants the perfect revenge. Hamlet seems to be disregarding the fact that each and everyday he refuses to grow a pair and kill Claudius, his father torments in the afterlife! If he doesn't act soon, his options and his time are going to run out, and he will pay dearly for it. Until next time readers, TTYL!

- The Hamlet Herald

Depressed or Deranged?

The title of this post is a question that's been hovering over the heads of many people in King Claudius' castle as it pertains to Hamlet. Fortunately, the information that I’m about to reveal will help shed light on the subject! Last night Hamlet was in the castle alone with his thoughts, and he had said some really surprising things that our reporters have managed to witness. Here’s a short but important line that Hamlet said followed by a full video of his secluded speech:

“To be, or not to be: that is the question”

Is the Prince of Denmark really contemplating suicide? Well, it is surely a possibility considering all the things that have happened in Hamlet's life recently. But here's what I'm thinking; is Hamlet thinking about suicide as a form of escape from the current predicament he's in? It sure would make a lot of sense since his hesitation to avenge his father's death resulted in him organizing a play to further confirm his hunch that Claudius is behind the deed. If such is true then I must admit it's quite a cowardly way to go about the situation, even if Hamlet is more of a man of thought than a man of action. We're just going to have to wait and see how Hamlet will react to Claudius' response to the Murder of Gonzago to truly see if there's a method to his madness, or if he's just too frightened to act.

- The Hamlet Herald

When in Doubt, Resort to Theatre?

Howdy Hamlet fans and critics! So at this point, Hamlet has seen his alleged father's ghost and he is either completely messed up mentally by it, or he’s acting insane for some odd reason that is yet unclear. Being the critical thinker that Hamlet is, he is quite skeptical as to whether the apparition he saw was actually King Hamlet, or a demon with evil intentions towards him. Due to this, Hamlet has planned to organize a play of the Murder of Gonzago. In summary, the play is about a king being murdered, which obviously resembles what has apparently happened to King Hamlet. If Claudius did kill King Hamlet, then Hamlet believes that he will show an obvious reaction and shed light on the truth of what really happened. It’s like regicide inception! What I find really odd about Hamlet’s choice to investigate Claudius’ true intentions is that a GHOST that the guardsmen had also seen appears to him and tells him that his father was killed by Claudius, yet he finds that Claudius’ reaction to a simple play would serve as a more valid confirmation that it is actually true! This brings up the possibility that perhaps Hamlet isn’t using the play to confirm the accusation of the ghost, but he is instead using it as a form of procrastination to delay the fulfillment of avenging  his father’s death and achieving peace for his restless soul. From Hamlet’s perspective, how you could possibly hesitate to act on a crime of that significance to his life is beyond me, but what do I know? I’m just a measly blogger, and he is the Prince of Denmark. Leave your comments as to what you think Hamlet’s reason behind not confronting Claudius is, I’d be glad to hear your perspectives on this. Until next time, TTYL!

BTW, here's a video of the basic plot for the murder of Gonzago.

- The Hamlet Herald