And The Beat Goes On--Hamlet Blog #5

It is a sad day in Denmark. I lost all of those whom I have ever considered important to me, and I am in utter loneliness. Thank you all for gathering today for the burial of my dear friend Hamlet, and his loved ones. I know that many of you are still confused by Lord Hamlet's unusual actions, and so I would like to play a song in an attempt to honor his memory, and to clear up any misunderstandings. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Lyrics: All Fall Down--by OneRepublic
 Step out the door and it feels like rain
That's the sound (that's the sound) on your window pane
Take to the streets but you can't ignore
That's the sound (that's the sound) you're waiting for

 If ever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
That's where you'll find me

 Yeah God love your soul and your aching bones
Take a breath, take a step, meet me down below
Everyone's the same our fingers to our toes
We just can't get it right
But we're on the road

If ever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
That's when you find me. (Yeah)

Lost till you're found
Swim till you drown
Know that we all fall down
Love till you hate
Strong till you break
Know that we all fall down

 If ever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
If ever your world starts crashing down
That's when you'll find (find) me

Lost till you're found
Swim till you drown
Know that we all fall down
Love till you hate
Strong till you break
Know that we all fall down

All fall down, we all fall down, all fall down
We all fall down, all fall down, all fall down

Lost till you're found
Swim till you drown
Know that we all fall down
Love till you hate
Strong till you break
Know that we all fall down 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamlet, from the very beginning of his Uncle's rule, took "to the streets" and could not "ignore [...] the sound [he was] waiting for" (All Fall Down). He was waiting for a sign from his deceased father, the King. We tried to stop him from visiting the ghost of his father, but "It wave[d] [him] still" (1.4.79). He explained that "[his] fate cries out" (1.3.82). Hamlet accepted the challenge that his ghostly father gave to him; he told his father "I have sworn't" (1.5.112), and he meant it.

 And thus began "Hamlet's transformation; so call it" (2.2.5). Gertrude was at a loss, eventually describing Hamlet as her "too much changed son" (2.2.36), and thinking him mad. His deceiving Uncle was no better, forcing others to believe that Hamlet did not have an "understanding of himself" (2.2.9), and sending for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on him. "Strong till you break" (All Fall Down) is how the saying goes, and he was; Hamlet was a strong man, but the shocking death of his father, his role-model, was not one he took lightly. He became crazy, fixed on only one thing, making those around him think that "Whenever your world starts crashing down [...] That's when you'll find [Hamlet]" (All Fall Down).

"Know that we all fall down" (All Fall Down). Hamlet knew, and the first to go was Polonius, "a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead" (2.4.24). All his spying did not serve him well, for he ended up tangled in the arras. Poor Hamlet begged his mother to see what she has done, for he cannot comprehend that his mother is able to "kill a king, and marry with his brother" (2.4.30) in such a short time. "Love till you hate" (All Fall Down). Gertrude is Hamlet's mother, and his only parent, so he has no choice but to love her unconditionally. This does not, however, mean that his thoughts of Gertrude have from high respect to very little respect.

 Poor Ophelia. Hamlet's lover, not given a chance to love. She went absolutely mad with the death of her father, singing of only death and disgrace of love. She too, had reached the point of breaking, and she "Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;/And, mermaid-like" (4.7.173-174), and she drowned. "Swim till you drown" (All Fall Down). Much like her lover, "her own distress" (4.7.176) led to her downfall, and Ophelia was but a memory.

 And so, "We all fall down" (All Fall Down) "Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,/Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters,/Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd cause,/And, in this upshot, purposes mistook/ Fall'n on th' inventors' heads: all this can I/Truly deliver" (5.2.345-350). Hamlet was an honorable man, and if you learn of nothing else in this burial, remember that it was all in the noble name of our "sweet prince" (5.2.323) Hamlet.