Just like Hamlet, the Greek gods had relationships that were full of tension, deceit, and strife. There was revenge, lust, and humor in both worlds. Find one relationship between a Greek god/ess that you find fascinating, and compare it to another in Hamlet. Due April 23rd.
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12 comments:
The relationship that I found most satisfying including a GOD was that of Medusa - she was denied help from her patron goddess, she was raped, and was then punished by her patron goddess for being raped. No story better illustrates the inhumanity of the gods. However, this relationship does not compare well to Hamlet. The gods never "played nice" in the stories; they always cheated with their divine powers, and so it is difficult to find mortal counterparts. However, I do think that the story of Penelope was the inspiration for Gertrude.
Odysseus' wife Penelope was left at home in Ithaca for 20 years. He left at the day of his son's birth, and by the time he returned, his son was a grown man. And yet, even though for all intents and purposes he could be assumed dead, Penelope remained faithful to him. While he was cruising the Mediterranean, flirting with ladies like Circe and Calypso, Penelope fought desparately to reject her many suitors, eager to marry her and inherit the crown of Ithaca. She was a truly loyal woman.
This is a direct contrast to Gertrude: she remarried with her husband still warm in his grave, and to his brother no less. To the ancient greeks, this would have been a terrible sin, and the gods would smite her. However, Shakespeare was conscious that the gods did NOT exist, and so he left it up to humans to find a suitable punishment for her infidelity. Perhaps he thought that the gods should be real, to punish such evildoers.
Like most of the novels we've read this year, women in Hamlet could easily be interpreted as the causes of all the misfortune in the work. In Greek Mythology by Zeus as a means by which to punish Prometheus for his odd obsession with men that drove him to bestow fire upon the human race. She was given to Prometheus, and given to her was a box which she was told not to open under any circumstances. Eventually, however, curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, quickly shutting it as all the evils of the world such as plagues and epidemics, etc. All that was left in the box by the time the box was closed was "Hope." While her actions were not evil at heart, her feminine qualities (curiosity added to naivety, etc.) executed the evil-intentioned deeds of the male Gods. The women in Hamlet, Ophelia and Gertrude, are no exception to this realignment of blame from the conniving men to the oblivious women. Gertrude, in particular, is very much like Pandora. The evil Claudius, after killing King Hamlet, married her - placing the villain at the throne. Gertrude, unaware of the evil nature of Claudius, allowed for a number of evils to get out of the box in doing so. She deprived her son of the throne and the marriage certainly did not aid Hamlet's sanity. Hamlet, as expected, was very angry with his mother, as I'm sure Ancient Grecian Society was with Pandora. However Hamlet's anger is misdirected because like most of the people in the play, Gertrude is also unaware of the true nature of her vindictive second husband.
One of my favorite relationships between the deities is the relationship between Apollo and Artemis. The twins compliment each in both virtue or in Apollo's case, lack there of, and power. To me they resemble something of Laertes and Ophelia, also brother and sister. I believe the monologue Shakespear has Laertes giving Ophelia towards trusting Hamlet's intentions resembles something of the story of Artemis and Orion. Apollo began to feel threatened by his sister spending so much time with Orion, then an infamous Greek huntsman, now a constellation. So Apollo challegend Artemis to an archery contest where Apollo managed to trick Artemis into killing Orion. While Laertes did not trick Ophelia into killing Hamlet, I find it intrguing that Shakespear chooses to insinuate that Ophelia committed suicide shortly after this speech.
warning: i'm not doing a relationship between a god and someone else, but rather two people (a myth)
Although I wouldn't necessarily consider the relationship between Ophelia and Hamlet to be a particularly loving one, they are definitely fit the star crossed lover roles. Much like Pyramus and Thisbe, their relationship was doomed from the start because Hamlet was too consumed with revenge to pay much attention to her. And once again, even though there wasn't the confusion over "I'll kill myself because I think my lover is dead when he's really not and then he'll discover my dead body and kill himself" scenario, Ophelia going crazy with grief, over the death of her father & the exile of Hamlet, commits suicide or "accidently" drowns. If Hamlet had been there, maybe she would have been alive. Upon finding Ophelia died, as with Thisbe, Hamlet in a way sees no will to live & therefore devotes the rest of his short time remaining to seeking revenge. If Ophelia had been alive, there would have been a will to live and he would not have died as easily. So in some weird way, Hamlet and Ophelia's death reflects Thisbe and Pyramus.
Good job guys with the comments so far! For the remainder of the class who have yet to post- there is still a wide range of Gods/Godesses that can be touched upon. Also, feel free to talk about relationships between the Gods and relate those back to the characters in Hamlet.
Like Emily, I am not using a god or goddess, but rather a story of three mortals which greatly parallels Hamlet. The myth of Procne and Philomela is about two sisters who are manipulated by a cold-hearted man. Procne and Tereus are married, but Tereus falls in love with Philomela after she visits her sister and brother-in-law. In order to marry Philomela, Tereus tells her that Procne has died. However, soon after Philomela learns of his fabrication, she tries to expose his wickedness, which prompts Tereus to cut off her tongue to silence her. He then leaves Philomela to return to Procne and tells her that Philomela has died. Meanwhile, Philomela creates a tapestry depicting her story which she sends to Procne. Procne, infuriated and sickened by her husband, kills their son and feeds his body as supper to Tereus and then escapes with Philomela. Later, the two sisters are turned into birds to escape Tereus, who in turn is changed into a hawk.
When compared to Hamlet, Procne is like Hamlet’s father, Philomela is Gertrude, and Tereus is Claudius. Just as Tereus steals Philomela away from Procne and fabricates Procne’s death, Claudius steals Gertrude from Hamlet the king by actually killing Hamlet. Gertrude is silenced by subordination and selfishness just as Philomela is muted by Tereus once he cuts off her tongue. Gertrude is eventually assisted by the ghost of Hamlet via their son Hamlet just as Philomela is assisted by Procne. Procne’s murder of her son parallels the ghost’s asking Hamlet to kill Claudius which eventually leads to the prince Hamlet’s death. In both cases, the two heroes of each story (Procne and Philomela/Hamlet the king and Gertrude) are antagonized by a man of ill intentions through manipulation and deceit.
The relationship I would like to touch on is that of Zeus and Hera, as related to Hamlet and Ophelia. Both are the couple "in-charge" you might say, therefore they have much in common. Both couples lust for the power that is at their fingertips, and desire to be absolute rulers. Another common theme is that both couples have issues. Zeus and Hera have a long history of extra-maritial affairs, which even results in multiple bastard children. Although Hamlet and Ophelia have many issues as well, they dont quite compare to those of the gods.
The relationship between Hephaestus and Aphrodite was one based on unfaithfulness and betrayal, similar to the relationship of King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude. After the death of King Hamlet, Gertrude hastily began a marriage with the successor to the throne, Hamlet's brother, Claudius. Aphrodite similarly cheated on Hephaestus with a brother of Hephaestus, Ares.
Aphrodite's betrayal of Hephaestus was even more severe, because Hephaestus was alive when Aphrodite adultered. Hephaestus was the "lame" god of the Olympians, and thus was quite unsightly. However, he was the most steadfast and stable of the gods. Recognizing this, Zeus arranged a marriage between his son Hephaestus and Aphrodite. Aphrodite was put off by Hephaestus's appearance, and quickly began an affair with Ares, Hephaestus's brother.
The theme of usurpation between two people is a common thread between Hamlet and Greek mythology in general. King Hamlet usurping Hamlet (and vice versa) of the throne of Denmark could parallel to Zeus usurping Cronos.
Jason and the Argonauts starts with his brother Pelias usurping the throne of Volos from him. That whole story ended badly after he was boiled by his own daughers and Jason simply returned to pick up the pieces of his kingdom.
Even Theseus had encounters with usurpers. Aegeus's wife Medea wanted her own kin instead of Theseus to rule Athens, so he sent him off to get the Marathonian Bull, thinking it was suicidal. When he returns, Medea even tries to poison him, much like King Hamlet tries to poison Hamlet after his return.
One relationship between a Greek god and goddess that sticks out to me by being particularly full of tension and deceit is the relationship between Zeus and Hera. Zeus was always seducing women and having affairs and sneaking around behind Hera's back. In order to get back at him, because Zeus clearly was not very deceptive and Hera always knew what he was doing, Hera devised all sorts of plans to punish the women whom Zeus had been sleeping with. Their relationship had all the qualities mentioned in the post, Zeus's deceiving of Hera, the tension it caused on their marriage. And Hera had to take revenge on these women who Zeus had lusted after. In a way, Hera was like Hamlet, because they both sought revenge on someone who had wronged them. Hera was much more convinced that her revenge was the right thing to do, whereas Hamlet was a little more timid to fully avenge his father's murder.
David- an excellent foil!
Keely- good, detailed insight
Mary- a keen observation
Emily- I love the insight on the H/O relationship
Martin- interesting take
Gary- I love the use of a lesser known myth
Ray- an excellent parallel
Hunter- I like the take on usurpation
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