- King Claudius mentions that:
- Young Fortinbras → wants to take back the land that King Hamlet won over during the war
- King Hamlet recently dead, roughly 1-2 months
- although it is an unfortunate event that King Hamlet has just recently died and grieving is essential, he wants the kingdom to move on in order to focus more on Fortinbras whom he calls “the enemy”
- Cornelius to give a message to Fortinbras
- “Suck it Fortinbras” - King Claudius
- Claudius → Prince Hamlet’s uncle, and now “father”
- Claudius marries his brother’s wife, Queen Gertrude, for the throne
- always calls to attention the fact that Hamlet is “too young with no experience”
- Queen Gertrude remains the queen because she marries her ex-husband’s brother; she’s in-between as she’s both the wife and the sister-in-law
- [ASIDE] “A little more than kin, and less than kind.” -Hamlet
- rough interpretation: “Yes, we are cousin, but don’t call me kin or son”
- “don’t call me son; I don’t really like you”
- Hamlet wants to go to university, but Claudius doesn’t let him
- Claudius uses counterargument → calls him weak
- not letting Hamlet leave indicates a lack of trust
- “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer” scenario
- everyone can put a mask on, pretend → Hamlet insinuates that although Claudius is grieving on the outside, it doesn’t make it real
- 1st of 6 soliloquy: [Hamlet]
- doesn’t really want to be where he’s at right now → Hamlet is essentially cursing everyone (especially Queen Gertrude and King Claudius)
- Alludes to Greek mythology → calls his father “Hercules” to signify a strong (titan), dignified person; basically calls Claudius a worthless person
- he calls his mom a promiscuous woman
- We see three sides to Hamlet:
- 1st → diplomatic prince: regal, noble, intelligent, observant
- 2nd → by himself (soliloquies): dramatic flares; we see a distraught teenager; bursts of emotions;
- 3rd → private eye: asks a lot of direct question; can deduct logic through reason
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