#hamlet spoilers

[prokopetz]

It just occurred to me that out of the five people who die at Hamlet’s hands in Hamlet, four of them are due to accidents or misunderstandings. Like:

Polonius: Hamlet is stabbing blindly and has no idea that it’s Polonius behind the curtain – he thinks it’s Claudius, and has no specific reason to want Polonius dead.  

Rosencrantz and Guidenstern: Hamlet is under the mistaken impression that they were aware of the contents of Claudius’ letter when he orders their deaths.  

Laertes: As far as Hamlet knows, it isn’t meant to be a duel to the death, and he isn’t even aware the blade is poisoned at the time that he strikes the fatal blow, having exchanged blades with his opponent by accident.  

Claudius: This is literally the only time in the entire play that Hamlet deliberately sets out to kill someone on the basis of good information and stabs the correct guy.

Dude is literally running an 80% fuckup rate.

#media #theatre #shakespeare #hamlet #hamlet spoilers #spoilers #violence mention #death mention #swearing

[trickster-or-nothing-at-all]

DONT GO INTO THE WORLDS BEYOND NUMBER TAG IF YOU HAVE NOT CONSUMED SHAKESPEARE’S OEUVRE!!!!

#hamlet spoilers #worlds beyond number #wbn spoilers #wbn: www #wbn: www spoilers

[waitingforthesunrise]

And to be Horatio – to love with someone in love with death. To watch them walking the cliff side so ready to stumble – what if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord? – my fate cries out. To walk behind them, reaching out despite every attempt to push you away – hold off your hands. To walk beside them in every place, in every time, in graveyards and courtyards and clifftops. To hear your name in their mouth, so loving, so soft, that you would do anything just to hear it again. and yet. you are unable to do the most important thing; you can’t save them. you are so desperately afraid that it will be the last time, one day, and you can do nothing. Here, sweet lord. nothing but stand beside them in a graveyard and know they’re envisioning their own bones in the cool earth. To what base uses may we return, horatio! To catch your breath and say t’were to consider too curiously, to consider it so. please, please see me, standing here…stay. I beseech you. I’d listen to everything you’d say, hide my bleeding heart behind my hands, watch you crumble into a thousand stubborn pieces. he that thou knowest thine – and yet not yours; you must watch them battle sleep and death and a horrific longing for a peace you’d do anything to give them. in my heart’s core. in my heart of hearts. 

In love with someone in love with death. 

And in the final instants – they love you like they’ve never loved anything in their life. more than death, more than life, more than a miserable story they’ve helped create. they wrest the cup from your hands…I love you and you cannot follow me, I love you and if thou didst ever hold me in your heart, I love you and in this harsh world draw your breath in pain, I love you and live. give me the cup! live. even as I will not, for my death is sweeter knowing you will go on. the rest is silence to hear your voice…

Oh good horatio. what a wounded name. 

#Ari reads hamlet #Original writing #hamlet and horatio #hamartia #tw hamlet spoilers #Hamlet spoilers #Blue this was for us and all the horatios

[common-grackle]

do you ever think about how like. hamlet and macbeth both want to kill the king, but they're framed in wildly different ways

hamlet is told by the GHOST of his FATHER to kill claudius to avenge his dad's death. the audience already sympathizes with hamlet, and we're on his side. of course he should kill the king! that's the natural thing to do!

the witches tell macbeth that he'll become king, and he (and lady macbeth) decides on his own to do some murder to achieve that goal. he seems like Just Some Guy at the beginning of the play but we quickly (rapidly) decide that we can't support his decisions

the ghost in hamlet is depicted as some poor soul wandering the earth, and yet he proposes something inherently malicious for hamlet to do. the witches are portrayed as The Bad Guys, but they don't actually tell macbeth to do anything that he does

and hamlet is...just like the audience member. macbeth is disconnected. when we're watching hamlet, there's tension because we care deeply about the characters (and ALL of them have their moments to be sympathetic). when we're watching macbeth, there's tension because we already know what's going to happen to this guy, and it's going to be bad

i think . what i'm getting at is that neither is treated with mercy by the narrative and they handle that differently

#hamlet #macbeth #if you saw me talk about this on discord already i um #yeah #shakespeare #hamlet spoilers #<- in case anyone hasn't been spoiled already

[ultimate-tragic-couples-showdown]

Round 1d - Poll 2

Hamlet & Horatio (Hamlet) vs Utena Tenjou & Anthy Himemiya (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

#tragedy main polls #polls #tumblr polls #hamlet #revolutionary girl utena #rgu #rgu anthy #rgu spoilers #revolutionary girl utena spoilers #rgu utena #utena tenjou #anthy himemiya #utenanthy #hamlet spoilers #horatio #hamratio

[deadguydeathmatch]

Dead Guy Death Match Round 1: Poll 63

#tournament polls #banana fish #banana fish spoilers #hamlet #hamlet spoilers #ash lynx #ash banana fish #Ophelia #ophelia hamlet #round 1 #round 1 wave 4

[djungelskog-oblivion]

shoutout to my hamlet notes from last semester

My teacher said that he hated comic sans, so, naturally.

i may have a small amount of ADHD.

#ADHD #english major #hamlet #hamlet spoilers #sorry if you havent read the works of the bard yet #pure fucking chaos honestly #comic sans

[volfoss]

Everyone is dying in Hamlet good god

#twist rambles #shakes posting #hamlet spoilers #<- silly tag but jic ig

[professorsta]

This goddamn site wants me to read Hamlet so fucking bad. Hamlet?! The guy Shakespeare killed? Fuck off

#I say this as I get the book from #the local library #I’m mad about it though #hamlet #Shakespeare #hamlet spoilers #??? #is that a tag I need to include #that’s like talking about Jesus getting crucified and tagging it #bible spoilers #doesn’t everyone already know?

[emotinalsupportturtle]

David Tennant being a lifelong Doctor Who fan who was inspired by the show to act, becoming the Doctor and Ncuti Gatwa who watched David Tennant and was inspired to act, playing the Doctor opposite David’s Doctor is the most beautiful thing

#This is a fanboy moment of immense proportions #Also they are both so silly it’s perfect #Dw spoilers #Doctor who #david tennant #ncuti gatwa #10th doctor #14th doctor #15th doctor #I’m just thinking of “I saw a regeneration scene on tv aged 3 and decided to be an actor” tennant #And ‘I watched David Tennant”s hamlet before drama school and realized that’s what an actor should be and what I should aspire to” ncuti #And that hug is so wholesome #it’s really come full circle #Also we can’t forget Mel for being the no 1 hype woman there

[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

[jellyfishinajamjar]

Modern Hamlet adaptation where instead of being born through c-section Macduff was born from a trans dude and thus is not a “man from woman born”

#is this anything? #hamlet #the hamlet fandom is dieing reblog if you’re a true hamhead #spoilers #hamlet spoilers #macduff #macbeth #shakespeare

[dreams-shape-the-world]

I love Shakespeare, and I love Hamlet, compound that with the fact that they had Aziraphale and Crowley at the Globe Theater while they were playing Hamlet put me over the moon.

What I find most amusing, is that both Michael Sheen and David Tennant have both played the part of the Danish prince.

So we have our favorite angel and demon, meeting at the Globe because of their new "arrangement" to do miracles or temptations that are just plain and simple, a pain in the ass to do, but management wants them to do anyway.

They also discuss the fact that if either one of their sides knew about the "arrangement" it would be abysmal for them. We know what eventually happens to Crowley later on in the future, when he saves Elspeth from attempting to take her life.

I think the one thing that is key with this part of their history, is how much concern Aziraphale has started to show for Crowley. Even though he denies ever knowing Crowley, he is nonetheless worried about his wellbeing. These are the early stages of their relationship, with Aziraphale voicing his distress at the possibility of Crowley being destroyed if caught by his superiors.

During their conversation, Hamlet is playing on stage, and Aziraphale loves this play. Unfortunately, it's not that popular and it concerns him very much. They then have their coin toss to see who get to do the good and bad thing in Edinburgh.

Poor Aziraphale loses that toss and get stuck having to go there. At this point, Aziphale hears Shakespeare bemoan the fact that no likes Hamlet. This is where Aziraphale gives Crowley the, what has been called, his "heart eyes" looks. I call it the, "oh please my dear, can you do this for me?" look and Crowley just can't say no to him.

It doesn't even take him a second to agree to his angel's request, so much for putting up a fight. He never has a chance, Crowley already has it bad and doesn't even know it.

I will say, that to me, Crowley fell in love first with Aziraphale. The debate is, when, at Eden or during Job minisode? We can debate that forever, but in the end, he is already in love.

I adore how happy it makes Aziraphale, when his demon capitulates to his wishes. Look at him, he is beaming with happiness, how can anyone not love him.

Crowley makes it like, yea, whatever, but you can't tell me he wasn't smiling as he walked away, knowing that he made his angel happy.

Anyway, I love this whole minisode as I said earlier. It is adorable in their interactions over one of my favorite plays. Plus, Elizabethan Crowley is just gorgeous!

#aziraphale #crowley #neil gaiman #terry pratchett #good omens #innefable husbands #good omens spoilers #aziracrow #good omens season 2 #good omens season 1 #david tennant #michael sheen #shakespeare #shakespeare plays #hamlet #elizabethan era #elizabethan crowley #elizabethan aziraphale #globe theatre #crowley good omens #aziraphale good omens #crowley x aziraphale #aziraphale x crowley #anthony j crowley #crowley loves aziraphale

[waitingforthesunrise]

Hamlet doesn’t believe his fate is ordained. He doesn’t know what to believe. He wants to matter, he wants to believe he has a fundamentally just purpose and his sins can be absolved. What bliss, then – to fall towards an inescapable destiny full of power and divinity. He has been a victim of things outside his control  – his father’s death, his mother’s remarriage, his uncle’s election – and all along his pain had meaning. It was not for nothing. There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will. He’s terrified that his pain was fundamentally useless. What is a man, if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more. Sure, that he who made us with such large discourse, looking before and after, gave us not that capability and god-like reason to fust in us unused. He longs to know that his violence and his desires for revenge and his dream of meaning something more than a prince who couldn’t sleep is part of a grand destiny. 

And yet he doubts himself – at the core of his being he wants to matter, not to die. To die, to sleep - To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub, For in this sleep of death what dreams may come. He’s so desperately afraid, and relentlessly shames himself for it. He expected death to be peace and yet it is not; he is afraid that he will never find it. There’s a dread of a new unknown; a hatred of the known presence. In my heart there was a kind of fighting that would not let me sleep. What if it was all meaningless, and he was in agony from his own thoughts, in his own mind, for no purpose or reason? He so desperately clings to a destiny he convinces himself to believe in. And he’s still so afraid.

#Ari reads hamlet #hamlet prince of denmark #hamlet analysis #Hamlet #Hamlet spoilers #Tw hamlet spoilers

[scoobhead]

hm. so. how does dulcinea know hamlet. how does palamedes not know hamlet. why is it complicated. what is going ON

#rip sexpal you would be OBSESSED with hamlet #tlt #the locked tomb #the unwanted guest #tug spoilers #nat og

[ultimate-tragic-couples-showdown]

Revival Round - Poll 10

Vax'ildan & Keyleth of the Air Ashari (Critical Role) vs Hamlet & Horatio (Hamlet) vs Anakin Skywalker & Padme Amidala (Star Wars)

#polls #tumblr polls #tragedy main polls #vax'ildan #critical role #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #cr #keyleth of the air ashari #keyleth #vaxleth #hamlet #hamlet spoilers #hamratio #horatio #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #star wars #star wars spoilers