@sapphic-shakespeare / sapphic-shakespeare.tumblr.com
don’t mind me, just going insane over the fact that in romeo and juliet, written by shakespeare in 1597, romeo chooses to drink poison rather than live in a world without his lover and then in hamlet, written by shakespeare in 1603, horatio tries to drink poison while hamlet is dying so that he won’t have to live without him.
people give hamlet grief for being indecisive but to be entirely fair to the guy, he does get around to killing someone. like he has two major hangups, ‘can i trust this ghost’ and 'does sending claudius to heaven count as revenge’, both of which are pretty reasonable, and once he’s cleared those hurdles the next thing he does is stab someone through a curtain. and idk about you but i feel like 'accidentally killing your ex-girlfriend’s innocent father’ is enough to make you think twice about your next murder attempt, even without the distraction of being exiled to england, tricking your ex-best friends into sending themselves to their deaths, and getting kidnapped by pirates
i like to believe that ophelia’s madness gave her a kind of meta knowledge of the plot— that she saw the tragic ending coming, knew that hamlet’s indecision would be his hamartia, that she realised gertrude and claudius were both poisoned with corruption from the beginning and instead of the customary funeral goers laying flowers at a grave, it was Ophelia— mad, at death’s door, about to die in less than 2 scenes— who handed flowers to the king, queen and protagonist as if the dead girl was mourning the living
(aka who is simultaneously trans masc, trans fem, AND nonbinary)
PROPAGANDA
L + horatio + there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy
"I want this character to step on me."
"I want this character to have their way with me."
I want this character to hold me in their arms as I lay dying and try to sip the last of the poison out of a cup so they can be with me, but I tell them no. I tell them that if they ever loved me, they must live on and tell my story. I want this character to sob over my dead body - realising all too late just how much they truly love me - as the prince of Norway storms in with soldiers, only to find this character the only one left alive.
whoops
#when you set out for revenge dig two graves#unless you’re hamlet#in which case you’re going to want to rent a backhoe (x) YOU’RE NOT LEAVING THAT IN THE TAGS BUDDY
asta nielsen as hamlet
Hamlet Act III scene ii:
I'm going to lie awake at night thinking about these additions.
-Kit
the fact that ophelia is on stage and hears all of “to be or not to be” already makes me scream sob foam at the mouth etc. but what if hamlet knew she was there and was speaking the monologue to her. just venting to his friend. there would probably need to be a few cuts for it to make sense but i cannot stop thinking about this now
hamlet, act 5, sc 1.5
