Blog Post #22: Hamlet: Act II Character Perspective

“What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person.”

It seems as though we make up everything in our heads.

Though the voice of the King’s ghost echoes in my ears, I am reminded that ghosts cannot be real and that it must all be in my head. Perhaps things are not as they seem, but more likely, perhaps my imagination is running wild. Have I created this character -- promoted this evidence of Cladius’ guilt -- to soothe my anger, my discontent with the aftermath of my father’s death? Indeed, “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” (2.2.236-237) and perhaps it is time to admit that I have made Cladius as so…

Just as Quentin, in Paper Towns, creates Margot to be far more than a person, fixing his irrational desires and hopes upon her -- or, more accurately, his idea of her.  But how could Margot’s disappearance -- the disappearance of a girl who existed far more in Quentin’s mind than in reality -- spark such a grand reaction in him? If their relationship was within his imagination -- if it was fake -- how could he have been sprung into action? “What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, / That he should weep for her?” (2.2.484-485)

A teenage boy can be so moved, so incontestably changed by the disappearance of a girl and I -- a prince and son of a KING sit idly by, rationalizing reality until it is diminished into nothing. Quentin Jacobson can carry out an entire investigation, embark on an endless car ride to New York, and search fruitlessly for Paper Towns simply in the name of a girl, yet I -- I sit alone in denial, convincing myself into inaction, avoiding the truth.

“Am I a coward?” (2.2.497)

Undeniably, it must be true! This generation’s latest fads have outed real art, still an insignificant story about a teenager’s trivial obsession over a girl holds more passion than I am exhibiting for the revenge of my father! Margo and Quentin’s pranks on her ex-friends reeked of far more resentment than my plan to kill Cladius!

Nay, I must relax. Although I may appear to be melting into a puddle of my tears, I know that “Though this be madness, yet there is a method in't” (2.2.199). Though I may feel impatient for revenge, I am certainly not a coward. My plan is in the works.  Just as Quentin’s search for Margo took time, my plot to punish Cladius must run its course.

Ultimately, “The play's the thing,/ Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king” (2.2.532-533)

Thoughts Hamlet

@ToTweetOrNotToTweet: We see things the way we want to see them #Perspective #TheBreakfastClub #MargoRothSpieglman

@ToTweetOrNotToTweet: How can I sit idly by, when others feel such strong emotions for such trivial things? #WhatAmIDoing #SelfDoubtIsCrippling #Ugh

@ToTweetOrNotToTweet: Am I? #Coward #InactionIsFrustration #IWantToKillCladius #EarPoison

@ToTweetOrNotToTweet: Revenge is best served cold? No. Revenge is best served carefully, calculated, and cold. Cold like an icicle stabbed deep, deep within the heart... #I’mComingForYouCladius #Can’tStopMeNow #SubtweetingLikeABoss

@ToTweetOrNotToTweet: I’ll Get You My Little Pretty! @KingCladius #WizardOfDenmark #WickedKingoftheDanes