Activity 1.2
Denmark’s Royal Family:
There are many crises which affect Denmark’s royal family. The crisis around which the entire play revolves is that of Old Hamlet’s murder, committed by his own brother, Claudius. One could justify Queen Gertrude’s early remarriage to her deceased husband’s brother as a way to cope with her loss. In mourning, we are sometimes craving comfort and Claudius might have provided that for her, presenting her at the same time with someone to replace the man she so recently lost. Prince Hamlet at first does not really try to cope with this death. On the contrary, he mourns and believes that he has every reason to do so. Once he discovers that his father was actually murdered by his uncle, his way to cope is by plotting murder as well as ranting and expressing his emotions in order to relieve himself of his troubles. Another major crisis for the family is that of Gertrude and Claudius’s belief that Hamlet is going mad. The King and Queen first get his friends to try and find out what is troubling him. Then, when things start getting out of hand, Claudius’s way to cope with this is by plotting and succeeding in having Hamlet murdered, where as Gertrude agrees with what she believes is simply having him “go on vacation”, away from Denmark, risking her son’s life.
Polonius’s Family:
Being advisors to the Royal family, many of that family’s troubles end up affecting this one. Firstly, both Polonius and Ophelia are affected by Hamlet’s obsession with Ophelia. Hamlet’s “unstable” actions towards Ophelia frighten and sadden Ophelia, and trouble Polonius. Then, there is Polonius’s murder. Ophelia does not really cope with this, having first lost her lover, then her father, she simply goes over the edge, that is, she completely loses her mind. In the end, she kills herself. As for Laertes, his way of coping with both his father and his sister’s death is by plotting revenge against Hamlet, whom he believes is to blame by default considering he killed his father, which was the main cause of his sister going mad.
Norway’s Royal Family:
Although barely mentioned in the play, this family also faces a set of crises. The King, Fortinbras is defeated and killed by old Claudius, after making a deal which gave old Hamlet a right to his land. Prince Fortinbras is greatly troubled by this, and as a way to cope basically plots to ignore the agreements made between his father and old Hamlet, and plans an attack against Denmark. His father’s brother, now king, upon hearing of his Nephew’s behavior, is deeply upset. As a way to cope with his anger, he orders for his nephew’s arrest. As a way to cope with this, prince Fortinbras promises never to threaten Denmark again.
The Nuclear Family:
Given that a nuclear family is one composed of a biological mother and father and their children, living in a nice and loving environment, we can easily see that any concepts of such a family are destroyed in Hamlet. Prince Hamlet used to have this nice and stereotypical family, living with his mother and his father, until his uncle murdered his father and married his mother, making prince Hamlet’s uncle his new father figure. When this happens, all things start to unravel.
Although a wife is never mentioned for Polonius, we can assume that at some point the family was composed of Polonius, his wife, and their two children; Laertes and Ophelia. All is well until Polonius is murdered by Hamlet and Ophelia and Laertes both die.
Once again, although no mother is mentioned for Prince Fortinbras, we can assume that there was one, but when Old Fortinbras died, things quickly start going bad. Prince Fortinbras becomes determined to fight for his father’s honor by invading Denmark, even if this means defying his king.
In all situations, the biological father is murdered, no longer being part of the family, therefore destroying any concept of a nuclear family. All things begin to go downhill as these families cease being “nuclear”. It is as though these losses create a lack of love and destroy any sense of family unity, which always leads to no good.
