DRJ #4 Hamlet Act V

My initial reaction to this final act is: Wow. There is so much pain, irony, and loss. The King, in the book and in the Brannagh movie, displays the greatest grief when he watches his wife lift the cup and drink. He has lost everything when he watches her drink the poison. It was a very powerful moment and probably the most powerful lesson in the novel. Shakespeare shows us that if we covet something and then gain it by nefarious means, eventually, sooner rather than later, we will pay a price. Laertes learns this lesson as well, with his desire for revenge, on Hamlet, ultimately getting nothing for his efforts. Fortinbras, the most patient and cunning in the end gets everything.

Horatio, Hamlet's best friend, really does seem to me to be a genuine and honest human being. He tells Hamlet in the beginning of the ghost and helps him at every step along the way toward revenge. In reality, Horatio's blind loyalty is Hamlet's biggest blindspot. Perhaps if Horatio had been the greater kind of friend who could tell Hamlet that revenge may not be the best choice. If Horatio had refused to participate in the revenge plot, and instead counseled his best friend to choose the more magnanimous position of forgiveness, no one would die in the end. I don't think Horatio a sycophant, but, he was too loyal to Hamlet, and Hamlet needed someone to stand up to him. Hamlet needed someone to be the voice of reason, pointing out the long term rather than the shortness and futility of revenge.

The theme for this ending chapter is the futility of revenge. Both Laertes and Hamlet who wanted revenge end up dead along with all of their families, and the dethronement of the Danish crown to Fortinbras. Fortinbras the only of the three who had the long term vision to see what could be gained by not seeking direct revenge. Instead he entered into treaty with the King and gained the time and ability to move his armies into Denmark untouched. Fortinbras saw the bigger picture, is the big winner and yet has the smallest part in the play. Again he is the only person who did not seek direct revenge against an individual and yet ends up with the state.

What would the play have been like if Horatio had been a better friend to Hamlet? What would the play have been like if Fortinbras had had a greater part in the story; more background? Finally what if the story had divided into three parts, each about the three different sons?