Deliverable 1.2
The two main family units in the play are Hamlet’s and Polonius’s. Throughout the play, both families experience great crises, but because of their inability to rightfully resolve their problems, they result in the tragic death of each and every family remember involved.
Right from the start of the play, we are introduced to a troubled Prince Hamlet. With a father who recently died, and a mother quick to re-marry her ex-husband’s brother Claudius, Hamlet insures it is known that he does not approve and presents little respect. As the action rises, it is revealed to Hamlet that his father was killed by none other than his very own brother. Hamlet swears revenge.
The family is hardly given a chance to truly cope as everything is happening so fast. Hamlet mistakenly murders Polonius in front of his mother, and when Claudius finds out he attempts to ship Hamlet out of the picture. The real reason for this though is his fear, after he discovers that the mad Hamlet knows his secret, and plans to avenge his father. When Claudius’s plan fails and Hamlet returns, Claudius is determined to have him killed.
The crises of Polonius’s family are entangled with those of Hamlet’s. After the death of Polonius, Ophelia, Polonius’s daughter and Hamlet’s love interest, is overwhelmed and as a result commits suicide. The trouble continues when Ophelia’s brother Laertes returns to Denmark from France to find his father and sister dead at the hands of Hamlet, so he is told. This can only be settled one way. A fencing duel takes place between he and Hamlet. Poisoned swords and a poisoned goblet kill off all remaining family remembers.
Neither family seems to have appropriate ways of dealing with problems such as those that arise. With such immense grief and terror left, right and center, the family’s method of coping is… revenge… murder… and more murder. They go straight for the source of the problem. For Hamlet this is Claudius, and for Claudius this is Hamlet. And being as determined as they are, they are unwilling, or perhaps unable to stop no matter whom is in the way.
A stereotypical nuclear family consists of a mother, father, and one or more children. Within Hamlet’s family these positions are filled in terms of Claudius, Gertrude, and Hamlet, but the happy, loving aspect doesn’t quite seem present. It seems possible though, that before King Hamlet’s death, the family played the role well. I imagine it was only after Claudius took thrown that Hamlet, in great depression, began to spiral out of control and disturb the perfect image.
In terms of family roles, Claudius well acts the father-in-charge role, that is until Hamlet begins to stir up trouble and Claudius feels threatened and in danger, losing control. Gertrude for the most part, plays the classic nurturing mother who obeys the father, and keeps her actions limited. Hamlet strays furthest from his nuclear role, by acting out, and being disobedient .
