So, I did major (and some minor) characters. Quick summary (for my sake, mostly): The King, The Prince, The Queen, The Love Interest, The Uncle, The Advisor, The Best Friends. K.
Number two was "major events of the story", and number three was minor events or events that happen outside the story. Ok, I had these separate, but I'm going to go ahead and do my (more) detailed plot analysis all at once instead of in two parts.
a) The Prince is born and raised.
TLK
b) The Uncle kills The King.
TLK
c) The Prince runs away/goes insane and The Uncle marries The Queen.
TLK
d) The Prince sees the ghost of The King.
TLK and H
e) The Prince waffles about what to do.
TLK and H
f) The Prince orders a play mimicking the action prior to the events of the story to get a reaction out of The Uncle.
H
g) The Prince kills The Advisor accidentally.
H
h) The Prince is exiled.
H
i) The Love Interest goes mad with grief over the death of The Advisor (her father) and commits suicide.
H
j) The Prince returns.
H
k) The Prince learns of The Love Interest's death and attacks Laertes, proclaiming his love for the dead Love Interest. (Laertes is The Love Interest's brother and son of The Advisor).
H
l) The Uncle orchestrates a duel between Laertes and The Prince. During the duel, The Queen drinks from a poisoned cup and dies.
H
m) Laertes cuts The Prince with a poisoned sword tip, mortally wounding The Prince. Laertes is also cut with the poisoned blade and dies.
H
n) The Prince kills The Uncle.
TLK and H
o) The Prince dies.
H
p) The Prince and the Love Interest live happily ever after, ruling wisely and well over a restored kingdom.
TLK
Of a-o, only 3 of the 16 events occur during the action of both works. Three more occur during the action of TLK and before the action of H. So that's approximately six of sixteen important plot points that occur in both works. There's a pivotal character in H (Laertes) who does not have an equivalent in TLK. So far, they look remarkably different.
Maybe a good next step will be to find other works with King/Uncle/Queen/Prince dynamic going on, since that seems to be the strongest similarity.
Okay last one: Just because the Uncle's murder occurs before the text of the play, it still counts as part of Hamlet. And Simba does too return! Also a lot of your points here come from one scene in Act V. You could just as easily say the prince visits an elephant graveyard where he is attack by hyenas.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing a great job, though. lots of interesting points for me to disagree with. I look forward to continue to tell you why you are wrong,
I like the a through o analytic approach.
ReplyDeleteInteresting stuff about sources for Hamlet
ReplyDeletehttp://www.shakespeare-online.com/sources/gestadanorum2.html
Hamlet is based on a Norse legend composed by Saxo Grammaticus in Latin around 1200 AD. The sixteen books that comprise Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, or History of the Danes, tell of the rise and fall of the great rulers of Denmark, and the tale of Amleth, Saxo's Hamlet, is recounted in books three and four. In Saxo's version, King Rorik of the Danes places his trust in two brothers, Orvendil and Fengi. The brothers are appointed to rule over Jutland, and Orvendil weds the king's beautiful daughter, Geruth. They have a son, Amleth. But Fengi, lusting after Orvendil's new bride and longing to become the sole ruler of Jutland, kills his brother, marries Geruth, and declares himself king over the land. Amleth is desperately afraid, and feigns madness to keep from getting murdered. He plans revenge against his uncle and becomes the new and rightful king of Jutland. Saxo's story was first printed in Paris in 1514, and Francois de Belleforest translated it into French in 1570, as part of his collection of tragic legends, Histoires Tragiques. Saxo's text did not appear in English until 1608, so either Shakespeare was fluent in French or he used another English source based on the French translation. Generally, it is accepted that Shakespeare used the earlier play based on this Norse legend by Thomas Kyd, called the Ur-Hamlet. There is no surviving copy of the Ur-Hamlet and the only information known about the play is that it was performed on the London stage; that it was a tragedy; that there was a character in the play named Hamlet; and a ghost who cried "Hamlet, revenge!"
I had fun reading your blog. It is really informative and entertaining at the same time.
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