Monday, March 21, 2011

Hamlet Blog 1

"Why should we in our peevish opposition / Take it to heart? Fie, 'tis a fault to heaven, / A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, / To reason most absurd, whose common theme / Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, / From the first corse till he that died today, / 'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth / This unprevailing woe, and think of us / As of a father" (1.2. 104-112)

The King is claiming that Hamlet is committing a crime against heaven, nature, and the dead by mourning the death of his father. It is completely natural to be upset when one's father dies, and his brother, King Claudius, seems to not care that his son is upset. He might as well have told Hamlet to stop crying like a bitch; it would have had the same effect. In this sense, "unprevailing woe" means, "mourning is useless". One would think that if a man, whose father had just passed away, was told to stop being a baby and stop whining about his father's death, that man would most likely be pretty pissed. The King also commands Hamlet to think of him as his new father. This could also anger a man: if he was told to replace his father in his mind with another man. Claudius is trying to force Hamlet to yield to him and follow his orders. These assumptions could depict a "blind" character, who is unaware of another who could bring an end to his rule.

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