Hamlet Court Culture
Storyboard Text
- Hi John! Are you here to discuss Hamlet with me?
- Hi Katie! Of course I am! I'm so excited.
- Take a seat... oh, you already sat down. What do you think of the way Hamlet comments on the way court culture worked at the time?
- You're so right! That's a very astute observation. I think the play also really questions the traditional revenge tragedy, you know?
- Well... I think a lot of court culture at the time was really focused on revenge, you know? And Hamlet, he was just a young guy who didn't want to hurt anyone. I think he serves as a great foil for characters like Fortninbras who were all about getting revenge against people who wronged them no matter the cost.
- Like, typically Shakespeare's plays are very formulaic. Man gets angry, man gets called to action, man maybe kills someone whether or not it's by accident, man takes real revenge against whoever has wronged him. But Hamlet's different. He doesn't want to exact revenge. He's not a killer at heart. He just wants to go back to school and keep studying. When he actually gets around to killing someone, it's not even the right person!
- I think Hamlet shoulda just done it. I mean, this dude was his uncle and he just kills his own brother and marries his sister-in-law less than a month after the fact? Regardless of what kind of guy Hamlet was, he should have just taken the call to action from his dad's ghost and done the job.
- I don't know... I think it was good that Hamlet showed that it's possible and even okay to not be suited to fight like that.
- I guess, if you like looking like a coward...
- See! That's exactly the type of thing I'm talking about. Hamlet didn't need to kill to avenge his father. He wasn't that kind of guy. Sure, he was way too dramatic a lot of the time, but I think killing someone with little to no remorse is also pretty dramatic.
- WHOA! Chill out, Katie!! You know, it's really not that deep...
- I disagree. I think art imitates life in many ways, and I think it's very important to acknowledge that within ourselves as we consume literature.
- Wow, I didn't know this conversation would end up being so polarizing...
- BYE!
- THE END... for now.
- I'm out of here. Bye, Katie.
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