Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Part 7: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret: Toxic Masculinity Distracts While Ophelia Drowns ( Hamlet 4.7) This is the latest installment in a multi-part series examining how characters interact in Hamlet, offering opportunities, gifts, planting seeds for future inspiration, or for changes of heart & mind. It follows ideas from Lewis Hyde (“The Labor of Gratitude,” a chapter in his book, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property ). For an index of previous posts in this series, see the end of this post. Sorting Out Hamlet 4.7 The seventh scene of Act Four in Hamlet may seem packed with superfluous details that could be (and probably often are) cut: It’s a long play; usually, cuts are made. Laertes still has questions about his father’s death: if Hamlet intended to kill Claudius, then why didn’t Claudius take action against Hamlet? Claudius shares more flattery with Laertes, conveying to Laertes some things Claudius claims (truthfully or not) that Haml...

This is the latest installment in a multi-part series examining how characters interact in Hamlet, offering opportunities, gifts, planting seeds for future inspiration, or for changes of heart & mind. It follows ideas from Lewis Hyde (“The Labor of Gratitude,” a chapter in his book, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property ). See notes at the end for more details about the series, and for an index of other posts in the series. [Images from Act 4, scene 5 of Kenneth Branagh's 1996 Hamlet :  L: Laertes (played by Michael Maloney)& mob; R: Ophelia (played by Kate Winslet), Laertes, & Claudius (played by Derek Jacobi).] (Continued from the previous week's post) [Nathaniel Parker as Laertes in Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 Hamlet ] A Laertes to be Feared? The next time we see Laertes (4.5), his father is dead and his sister has gone mad. The Laertes who had an example of kings to fear and dread (and who referred to Claudius in 1.2 as his “dread Lo...

This is the latest installment in a multi-part series examining how characters interact in Hamlet, offering opportunities, gifts, planting seeds for future inspiration, or for changes of heart & mind. It follows ideas from Lewis Hyde (“The Labor of Gratitude,” a chapter in his book, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property ). For more notes on the series and an index of previous posts in this series, see the end of this post. [L: Julia Stiles as Ophelia, and Liev Schreiber as Laertes in Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet (2000), which starred  Ethan Hawke as the prince. R: Michael Maloney as Laertes, and Kate Winslet as Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).] Overview/Introduction Lewis Hyde’s idea of transformative gifts and labors of gratitude includes the understanding that gifts, however small or subtle, can sometimes change us, or change our course of direction. If we receive and are grateful for a gift, we sometimes labor to become like the gift or giver. ...

This is the latest installment in a multi-part series examining how characters interact in Hamlet, offering opportunities, gifts, planting seeds for future inspiration, or for changes of heart & mind. It follows ideas from Lewis Hyde (“The Labor of Gratitude,” a chapter in his book, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property ). For more notes on the series and an index of previous posts in this series, see the end of this post. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Some recent images of Laertes in film since 1990, images clockwise from upper left: Nathaniel Parker (1990), Liev Schreiber (2000), Edward Bennett (2009), Michael Maloney (1996)] In Shakespeare’s tragedy of Hamlet, the character of Laertes, son of Polonius and brother to Ophelia, illustrates a number of the subtleties of labors of gratitude as described by Lewis Hyde, and also similar labors of regret. These dynamics involve his interactions with Claudius, his father Polonius, Ophel...