#just because I love Hamlet

[santacoppelia]

Putting the Meta in "Metatron"

(couldn't resist the pun, sorry)

Ok, this has been tickling my brain for a while. I've been thinking about how The Metatron designed his role and discourse specifically to manipulate Aziraphale into the end result we saw in the last minutes of S2. I become obsessed with it because… well, I'm a bit obsessive, but also because there were many really smart writing decisions that I loved (even when I despise The Metatron exactly for the same reasons. Hate the character, love the writer). If you haven't watched Good Omens Season 2, this is the moment to stop reading. Come back later!

We already know that in Book Omens, the role of Gabriel in the ending was occupied by The Metatron. Of course, the series introduced us to Gabriel and we won a lot by that, but I feel that the origins of The Metatron should be considered for any of this. He is not a "sweet old man": he was the one in charge of seeing over the operation of Armageddon; not just a stickler of rules, but the main promoter for it.

However, when he appears in the series finale, we first are primed to almost pass him by. He is in the line for buying coffee, using clothes that are:

obviously not tailored (almost ill fitted)

in dark tones

looking worn and wrinkled

This seems so important to me! All the angels we have seen are so proud of their aspect, wear clear (white or off white) clothes, pressed, impeccable (even Muriel), even when they visit the Earth (which we have already seen on S1 with all the visits to the bookshop). The Metatron chose a worn, comfortable attire, instead. This is a humanized look, something that fools all the angels but which would warm up someone very specific, can you guess?

After making quite a complicated coffee order (with sort of an affable and nervous energy), he makes a question that Crowley had already primed for us when asking Nina about the name of the coffee: having a "predictable" alternative and an unpredictable one.

This creates an interesting parallel with the next scene: Michael is discussing the possibility of erasing Aziraphale from The Book of Life (a punishment even worse than Holy Water on demons, because not having existed at all, EVER is definitely worse than having existed and ceased to exist at some point) when The Metatron arrives, interrupts the moment and signals having brought coffee. Yup, an amicable gesture, but also a "not death" offering that he shows clearly to everyone (even when Michael or Uriel do not understand or care for it. It wasn't meant for them). He even dismisses what Michael was saying as "utter balderdash" and a "complete piffle", which are the kind of outdated terms we have heard Aziraphale use commonly. So, The Metatron has put up this show for a specific audience of one.

The next moment on the script has Metatron asking Crowley for the clarification of his identity. Up to this moment, every angel has been ignoring the sprawled demon in the corner while discussing how to punish Aziraphale… But The Metatron defers to the most unlikely person in the room, and the only one who will push any buttons on Aziraphale: Crowley. After that, Aziraphale can recognize him, and Metatron dismisses the "bad angels" (using Aziraphale's S1 epithet) with another "catchy old phrase", "spit spot", while keeping Muriel at the back and implying that there is a possibility to "check after" if those "bad angels" have done anything wrong.

Up to this moment, he has played it perfectly. The only moment when he loses it is when he calls Muriel "the dim one", which she ignores… probably because that's the usual way they get talked to in Heaven. I'm not sure if Aziraphale or Crowley cared for that small interaction, but it is there for us (the audience) to notice it: the sympathy the character might elicit is built and sought, but he is not that nice.

After that, comes "the chinwag" and the offer of the coffee: the unnecessarily complicated order. It is not Aziraphale's cup of tea (literally), but it is so specific that it creates some semblance of being thought with care, and has a "hefty jigger" of syrup (again with the funny old words). And, as Aziraphale recognizes, it is "very nice!" (as The Metatron "jolly hoped so"), and The Metatron approves of him drinking it by admitting he has "ingested things in my time, you know?". This interaction is absolutely designed to build a bridge of understanding. The Metatron probably knew that the first response he would get was a "no", so he tailored his connection specifically to "mirror" Aziraphale: love of tasty human treats he has also consumed, funny old words like the ones he loves, a very human, worn, well-loved look. That was the bait for "the stroll": the moment when Aziraphale and Crowley get separated, because The Metatron knew that being close to Crowley, Aziraphale would have an hypervigilant soundboard to check the sense of what he was going to get offered. That's what the nasty look The Metatron gives to Crowley while leaving the bookshop builds (and it gets pinpointed by the music, if you were about to miss it).

The next thing we listen from The Metatron is "You don't have to answer immediately, take all the time you need" in such a friendly manner… we can see Aziraphale doubting a little, and then comes the suggestion: "go and tell your friend the good news!". This sounds like encouragement, but is "the reel". He already knows how Crowley would react, and is expecting it (we can infer it by his final reaction after going back for Aziraphale after the break up, but let's not get ahead of ourselves shall we?). He even can work up Muriel to take care of the bookshop while waiting for the catch.

What did he planted in Aziraphale's mind? Well, let's listen to the story he has to tell:

"I don't think he's as bad a fellow… I might have misjudged him!" — not strange in Aziraphale to have such a generous spirit while judging people. He's in a… partnership? relationship? somethingship? with a demon! So maybe first impressions aren't that reliable anyway. The Metatron made an excellent job with this, too.

"Michael was not the obvious candidate, it was me!" — This idea is interesting. Michael has been the stickler, the rule follower, even the snitch. They have been rewarded and recognized by that. Putting Aziraphale before Michael in the line of succession is a way of recognizing not only him, but his system of values, which has always been at odds with the main archangels (even when it was never an open fight).

"Leader, honest, don't tell people what they want to hear" — All these are generic compliments. The Metatron hasn't been that aware of Aziraphale, but are in line with what would have been said of any "rebel leader". They come into context with the next phrase.

"That's why Gabriel came to you, I imagine…" — I'm pretty sure The Metatron didn't imagine this, ha. He is probably imagining that the "institutional problem" is coalescing behind his back, and trying to keep friends close, but enemies closer… while dividing and conquering. If Gabriel rebelled, and then went searching for Aziraphale (and Crowley, they are and item and he knows it), that might mean a true risk for his status quo and future plans.

Heaven has great plans and important projects for you — this is to sweeten the pot: the hefty jigger of almond syrup. You will be able to make changes! You can make a difference from the inside! Working for an old man who feels strangely familiar! And who recognizes your point of view! That sounds like the best job offer of the world, really.

Those, however, are not the main messages (they are still building good will with Aziraphale); they are thought out to build the last, and more important one:

Heaven is well aware of your "de facto partnership" with Crowley…

It would be considered irregular if you wanted to work with him again…

You, and you alone, can bring him to Heaven and restore his full angelic status, so you could keep working together (in very important projects).

Here is the catch. He brought the coffee so he could "offer him coffee", but the implications are quite clear: if you want to continue having a partnership with Crowley, you two must come to Heaven. Anything else would be considered irregular, put them in a worst risk, and maybe, just maybe, make them "institutional enemies". Heaven is more efficient chasing enemies, and they have The Book of Life as a menace.

We already know how scared Aziraphale has always been about upsetting Heaven, but he has learned to "disconnect" from it through the usual "they don't notice". The Metatron came to tell him "I did notice, and it has come back to bite you". The implied counterpart to the offer is "you can always get death". Or even worse, nonexistence (we have already imagined the angst of having one of them condemned to that fate, haven't we?)

When The Metatron arrives, just after seeing Crowley leave the bookshop, distraught, he casually asks "How did he take it?", but he already knows. That was his plan all along: making them break up with an offer Aziraphale could not refuse, but Crowley could not accept. That's why he even takes the license to slightly badmouth Crowley: "Always did want to go his own way, always asking damn fool questions, too". He also arrive with the solution to the only objection Aziraphale would have: Muriel, the happy innocent angel that he received with so much warmth and kindness, is given the opportunity to stay on Earth, taking care of the bookshop. The only thing he would have liked to take with him is not a thing, and has become impossible.

If God is playing poker in a dark room and always smiling, The Metatron is playing chess, and he is quite good at it (that's why he loves everything to be predictable). He is menacing our pieces, and broke our hearts in the process… But I'm pretty sure he is underestimating his opponents. His awful remark of Muriel being "dim"; saying that Crowley "asks damn fool questions", and even believing that Aziraphale is just a softie that can be played like a pipe… That's why telling him the project is "The Second Coming" was an absolute gift for us as an audience, and it prefigures the downfall that is coming — the one Aziraphale, now with nothing to lose, started cooking in his head during that elevator ride (those couple of minutes that Michael Sheen gifted to all of us: the shock, the pain, the fury, and that grin in the end, with the eyes in a completely different emotion). Remember that Aziraphale is intelligent, but also fierce. Guildernstern commited a similar mistake in Hamlet, and it didn't go well:

"Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass, and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me."

I'm so excited to learn how this is going to unfold!! Because our heroes have always been very enthusiastic at creating plans together, failed miserably at executing them, and even then succeeding… But now they are apart, more frustrated and the stakes are even higher. Excellent scenario for a third act!

*exits, pursued by a bear*

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #good omens spoilers #aziraphale #ineffable spouses #ineffable divorce #narrative analysis #character analysis #the metatron #and a casual Hamlet quote #just because I love Hamlet

[aq2003]

martha jones is kind of like if horatio and ophelia were one person tbh

this post by darkcomedies

s03e08 human nature // hamlet (2009), act 3 scene 2 // hamlet to horatio, act 3 scene 2 // martha about ten, s03e09 the family of blood // s03e03 gridlock // hamlet (2009), act 5 scene 1 // canary in a coal mine by the crane wives

s03e02 the shakespeare code // hamlet (2009), act 3 scene 1 // ophelia about hamlet, act 2 scene 1 // s03e07 42 // hamlet (2009), act 3 scene 2 // s03e05 evolution of the daleks // hoping on another life by madds buckley

hamlet's letter to ophelia, act 2 scene 2 // s03e13 last of the time lords // hamlet (2009), act 5 scene 2 // the shooting script for s03e07 42 // the tags on darkcomedies' post

#martha jones #tenth doctor #10th doctor #doctor who #hamlet #david tennant #<- because this IS his fault . at least a little bit #dr who #10 era #ten and martha #my edits #i do NOT know how to title my webweaving posts sorry and also my sources look like a nightmare #this post is just extremely fucking incomprehensible . sorry. my bad #so proud of the parallel i drew between the scene at the end of gridlock and alas poor yorick i'm so smart <- deranged #also despite the fact martha clocks closer to horatio in my head and it's way easier drawing parallels between those two #so proud of the parallel between hamlet's love letter and last of the timelords my brain is huge <- DERANGED #no this isnt a ship post bc im not built like that but i do realize i've set myself up for failure completely with this one #DONT LET ME COOK [BANGS POTS AND PANS] DONT LET ME COOK

[idlesuperstar]

- As far back as I can remember, I had a passion for dressing up and playing games of 'Let's Pretend', which are, of course, the basic principles of acting, and if you are lucky enough, you get paid for so doing, hard work though it may be.

#peter cushing #birthday boy #thank you for existing! #cannot believe it's taken me this many years here to do a proper peter cushing birthday gifset #just looking at his face through all these films has brought me great joy #even having to suffer larry's hamlet again was worth it for peter's amazing thighs in those tights (sorry not sorry) #the hardest part was having to watch from beyond the grave which is just completely heartbreaking every time #anyway your honour I love him #and his dedication to his craft #like all the greats he never gives less than his best even when the material is a bit shit #I especially love 1950s peter because he's in some great films and gives great performances #but all peter decades are amazing #my wee gifs

[zappedbyzabka]

🖤💀🖤💀

#Okay I see youuuu #With your cute skeleton heart shirt and tiny shorts #Who dressed him. the hat was an odd choice but everything else? just picture me as a sleazy sailor #The bracelettttt #No bc I’m just as bad about his wrists as Kreese and Terry. pin them to a bed. #And his name is Kim. KIM #That’s so good for me you don’t get it #​Kimmy gets his ass pounded by a crew mate or dock worker every single night no doubt (pretending most of them ARENT his siblings) #You don’t have to explain the white stains on your crop top and in your hair when you fucked in the water. cleans it off #Mo was clearly his main meat. #Kim fisher #william zabka #Ok sweet little kimmy over here (no relation) is getting given to THREE adjacent characters #N 1: Max Perish (Hollow Point) #(omfg. Tig did play a damn pirate slslskskksksks. Captain Jeffery) #N2: Wolf Larsen (WAIT. Greg Larsen and Wolf Larsen? amazing) because why wouldn’t I give this soft boy to him… #N3: Bianchi (that weird Hamlet movie Ralph was a side character in) because he was kind of creepy #and a dick. clearly he needed his balls drained into a blond to make him just shut the fuck up #I love cheesy ass 80’s and early 2000’s movies with hot daddies—who said that🤨 wasnt meeee. No but geez some of these are so cheesy #I could put them on nachos. Oh wait. Eugene in Crossroads can have Kimmy too. Long as the hat comes off during sex #Play him a little song on his guitar and see how Kimmy thanks him—play that guitar at him boy #nsft #There’s too many options.

[blossoms-and-petrichor]

my favorite trope in literature is when the MC watches a shakespeare play for "no fucking reason" until you slowly realizes its all adding to the theme/characterization

#orlando watching othello and being jealous af of his girl #pip freaking out over hamlet because he too is confused and pulled away from his father figure #dorian romanticizing sybil vane's innocence and beauty as the “naive” heroines of tragedies that she winds up mimicking #holden talking about hamlet and not really liking it much except for a part where ophelia and laertes mess around not listening to polonius #im just saying i love it #orlando #virginia woolf #great expectations #the picture of dorian gray #catcher in the rye #hamlet #oh yeah and holden talking about how much he liked mercutio because he was witty and funny and died due to things not his own fault #romeo and juliet #shakespeare

[lansolot]

i really wish i wasn’t so shy because i’d love to rp either on here or with people 1 on 1. i overthink way too many things, including basically everything when it comes to picking characters to rp as and making a rp account 🥲

my biggest problem is that i’d like to rp as canon characters, but since there’s existing blogs of people roleplaying as said canon characters, i instantly back out

#talking to the void #and like… a lot of the characters i’d like to play have people with accounts roleplaying as them already #so i’m like… ack #i’d love to rp for either #hamlet #the phantom of the opera #frankenstein #or maybe even some horror film character like #martin #because i’m an introject of him #ack! #sorry. just me rambling #i really miss role playing and don’t have anyone to do it with so like #yeah #idk. maybe i’ll stop being a pussy and actually do something #i may need a little nudge though #i’m actually very flexible and can rp as almost any of my favorite characters

[crow-in-springtime]

You know what? Fuck this, fuck you *aromanticizes your classical heroine*

#this is specifically about ophelia. because think about it all this debate over whether or not hamlet loved her and none over whether she #loved hamlet. I do think she loved him but not in a romantic way. think about it! she goes mad over her fathers death and all the abuse #she’s suffered at the hands of men not just because hamlet rejected her. and need I remind you she was the one originally rejecting him in #that scene. everyone is so focused on what hamlet’s true feelings are that we never really learn what ophelia thought or felt. #“made many tenders of his affection to me” “I do not know my lord what I should think” “madam I wish it may” #“madam I wish it may” because it would be such an easy solution! because if all that’s needed to cure hamlet’s madness is ophelia’s love #then it will be easy to fix! then hamlet no longer has to suffer and they can be together! so then why does that line feel so resigned? #we’re told by everyone that hamlet is in love with ophelia and from that we just assume she must be in love with him too. #anyway. aromantic bisexual ophelia for the win. thank you for coming to my TED talk. #ophelia #hamlet #shakespeare #classic literature #aromantic #(ky attempts to figure out if she is aromantic by talking about fictional women. more at 8) #ky’s gallery

[withasideofshakespeare]

(I am supposed to be studying but instead, I’m going to write a post about my trans Hamlet headcanons.)

Transmasc Hamlet who never gets a chance to come out to his dad before he dies. Hamlet, who named himself after his father out of love and veneration never gets the chance to come out because he’s away at college and can’t work up the courage to visit his family to tell them the truth. Imagine the euphoria, then, when he meets his father’s ghost, who calls him “Hamlet” and asks his son to avenge him. 

And Claudius! Claudius’s comments about Hamlet’s “unmanly grief” are beyond dickish, they’re invalidating. He goes just far enough to hurt Hamlet, not quite far enough to let anyone else to pick up on what he’s saying. Claudius feels empowered to take the throne because he refuses to see Hamlet as a man worthy of the crown. (He is a masterful asshole who deserves what’s coming to him and I will die on this hill.)

Oh, and Horatio! His constant use of “my lord” is not some unnecessary sign of respect, it’s a reminder that Hamlet is no “lady.” Maybe these are the first gender-affirming words Hamlet ever heard. Maybe it’s habitual, almost a petname between them, an inside joke from the days before Hamlet was fully out.

And Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia? Perhaps a projection of the toxic femininity he was raised on. Purity culture, misogyny, repression, all targeted at a woman who is probably also queer (she/they genderqueer Ophelia, my beloved), Ophelia, who does see him as a man, but whose femininity he struggles to accept as a creation of Ophelia’s own design and not a projection of what he was expected to be.

#listen i just love transmasc hamlet okay??? #projecting onto made up danish people is my hobby #ophelia likes flowers? i like flowers? we have the same gender. #i really like the idea that gertrude genuinely supports her son and claudius is a dick about it #which really strains hamlet's relationship with gertrude because she stays with him (possibly not by choice) #yeah shakespeare caused my gender crisis #what about it? #hamlet #shakespeare

[throesofincreasingwonder]

"average tragic hero could have just made better choices" factoid actually just statistical error. Viewers Georg, who knows everything about the tragedy and can see outside of it to a better path separated only by one crucial decision, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

#anyway. yes this is abt people saying they hate preventable tragedy bc the characters are just being stupid. #like oh forgive hamlet for not knowing what fucking play he's in. should've been omniscient i guess #in this house we LOVE dramatic irony #a preventable tragedy hurts because we know it's preventable but the players don't #i'm putting the phrase 'doomed by the narrative' on a higher shelf until you guys put away the cinemasins stick #original post #text post

[i-likefrogs]

So fun fact about me, I completely fucking hate Shakespeare. or at least I used to. I mean, I positively despised ALL of his plays. But then I fell in love with a bibliophile. She loves him. She gets so, so much joy out of his plays. And how could I hate something that she loves? So here i sit, reading and responding to her messages about Romeo and Juliet. And I'm smiling. Because she's got a theory and it brings her so much joy.

I suppose I really have gone soft. And I couldn't be happier about it.

#Griffin goes on #❤️her❤️ #im seriously thinking about reading hamlet because its her fave #i just love seeing how happy she gets about them

[inkykeiji]

I SAW YOUR SHAKESPEARE FANFIC POST AND CLARI I WOULD DIE TO BE ABLE TO READ ONE OF THOSE!!! i havent read it since hs unfortunately 😔💔 but i loved it sm back then and have a lot of his plays and have been meaning to read them. Its also such a fun concept!! If you ever choose to write it i will be #1 SUPPORTER 😤

omg no way!!!!! i never completed any of them sadly but maybe one day far far faaaaar in the future i’ll complete one!!! i’ve always wanted to write my own hamlet adaptation so why not!

AW hehehe anon <33 ur so adorable!!! thank you!! sending tons of love ur way sweetpea <3

#i love love love shakespeare #hamlet is my number one favourite character of all time across all art #i also really love iago because he is just;;; SO fucking evil and for what?????? he’s literally just evil personified #also a lot of his lines are so poetic #i encourage you to read more of his work for sure!!! if u ever have the time n feel up to it! #it boggles my mind in the best way that we are STILL studying shakespeare even 400 yrs later #it just goes to show you how important and influential art is #i love it #i love it so much #inky.bb #clari gets mail

[cookinguptales]

spaceoperetta said: How else could dracula have become younger without Jonathan’s blood I mean honestly

----------------

Being real with you, from the very, very little I remember of this book from my childhood, part of me wonders if he was consuming Jonathan’s blood in very small quantities? Like you’d think Jonathan would say something about it, but from what I remember about [spoiler]’s conversion, they also did not know it was happening.

That said, I think there’s also a lot of possibility in the Dracula-as-incubus idea! Especially when you include medieval concepts of genderfluidity in incubi/succubi, not to mention the fears about bodily fluid stealing.

For the uninitiated, there was this prevailing idea in the Middle Ages that incubi could get women pregnant (...I think you can see why this idea would be a popular one amongst young, unmarried pregnant women) but religious scholars and authorities pushed back against this because demons weren’t supposed to be able to create life. (This was more God’s zone of influence, demons couldn’t be seen doing it.) So you get this overly complicated set-up to explain how demons can impregnate women without actually having life-giving capabilities of their own.

WHICH IS AS FOLLOWS:

The demon first appears to a human man as a (female) succubus. They get the man to have sex with them, stealing their semen and sealing it inside them. Then they transform into a (male) incubus and appear to a human woman. They use this stolen semen to impregnate the woman. So it is technically human semen that impregnates the human woman, the incubus/succubus is just the unholy vessel.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(This was a whole-ass tangent, but I know a surprising amount about sex magic from college...)

Anyway, when you keep all that in the back of your head, the idea that this demonic figure that transgresses gender and sexual roles might be stealing life essence from Jonathan that was meant for his betrothed, Mina... Let’s just say there’s a pattern! lmao

#I had to read what Aquinas wrote about all this in class and it was just like #lmao okay #I also loved all the stuff about how ghosts are really demons trying to fool humans #because that makes Hamlet metal as HELL #dracula daily #dracula

[shittywriterbrain]

apologies to everyone who has to interact with me today or tomorrow because i just CANNOT be normal about hamlet and i WILL be doing this inside my head

#i have very complex feelings about fangirling over hamlet because like #its the best known play ever i think. like. yeah #like if i said oh my god do you know what makes you beautiful by one direction its so good i cannot be normal about it #but on the other hand. why should i care i should just enjoy this and not imagine that someones judging me the entire time #like yeah i guess for people who are into theater as well its like “basic” but who cares if youre basic yk this whole striving to be specia #is tiring and useless #and also. i could not tell you why i love hamlet. do Not know. i guess bc its drama and gay and emo i think thats why #i have no great theories about it i could not write an essay on hamlets character #i have however made a powerpoint about why hamlet is gay #im just ranting in the tags now i realise #sorry #hope you didnt read through all that #anyway #another one for the void #caspian is obsessed with hamlet

[eurydicees]

maybe start thinking about how we have been telling the same stories over and over all throughout history and how they've lasted throughout all time because the humanity in them is universal to all of us and then maybe you'll have faith in us again

#like...... we've been retelling and rewriting and remaking the same stories and legends and such for all of history #because the love and truth and kindness and humanness in them LASTS #i just. am a little bit emotional about that. #there are thousands of new renditions of things like orpheus & eurydice. of the odyssey. of robin hood. of hamlet. #and for what? for us to forget that there are redeeming bits of humanity? to forget that there are things to live for? #we have been making art for a million years and we will keep making art for a million years and always we will reinvent love when we do it #isn't that worth sticking around for? #im so.

[trashcanalienist]

:)

#i love love love telling my boyfriend about movies that he literally watched with me #i'll be like my love...munkustrap is so cool and he'll give me such a look of tolerant adoration #we just watched the david tennant hamlet movie today and then i've just spent the last fifteen minutes or so explaining why i love what i #love about it so much #like david tennant hamlet rips down one of the security cameras! and he's like 'now i am alone' and there's so much contempt and #frustration in it! it's a new side to the melancholy line that also addresses the voyeuristic and distant aspect of the screen vs the #personal and emotionally charged stage! #and he's like yes i know. i was there. #forgive me my darling i just love to talk and to say things. but it's cool because he does like to hear what i think about stuff like this #nonsense #words i speak #starstruck

[jakeotters]

i rediscovered my hamlet hyperfixation only because i relate to that stupid little guy so well. we are both goth angsty depressed gay little guys. and we slay so hard at it.

(note: coincidence that i rediscover this hyperfixation while i’m currently very depressed and not having a good time with life whatsoever? methinks not.)

#literature #hamlet #william shakespeare #english literature #he is so dramatic #but i love him #angsty gays #he girlbossed a little too hard tho #hamlet 1996 #because i love this movie so leave me alone #depressed teenagers #he’s just like me fr #depressed homosexual with uncle daddy issues #hamletcore #the prince of denmark