Laertes gives Hamlet more importance
Than almost anyone else.
Mostly, Hamlet’s treated like a rebellious teenager or
in the case of his friends and subjects, as nobility – sure – – –
But here, the idea that his choices matter –
Well, we don’t see that much elsewhere.
Having been supplanted by his uncle,
He feels devalued
A less than market-weight prince.
No fanfare royal wedding would seem to wait for him.
The safety and wealth of this whole state seems quite disconnected
from the prince himself.
It feels like he could do what he wants
Because no one’s really paying him much mind.

O, but he’ll try.
He’ll wield the knife ahead of him
Hoping to shave off a bit here and hack
His way through there –
Like tunneling through a mountain
Bit by bit
Cutting his way through the world.

In the training this weekend
Our teacher quoted Beckett
Over and over again.
The one where he says something like
“You were born and there is no cure for that.”
We are all subject to our birth
to the where
and the when
Taurus or Virgo
To whom.
Born to privilege
Born to poverty
Born with the will to drive forward
Or with the desire to lay back.
The bestseller businessman says
We don’t really change
That we are born with certain strengths
And certain weaknesses
And these will always be so in some measure.
We are subject to our own make-up –
To our own genes and patterns.
We keep beating our fists against who we are
Not wanting to be subject to anything
Not even ourselves.

Is this why we fear greatness?
That once we achieve it
Or have greatness thrust upon us,
We will watch our will slip away?
If we think of greatness as fame
Or fortune
Or power
All those things come with some strings
That could tie up our desires
Such that we can no longer have them.
Like a movie star
Suddenly unable to go out for a coffee
Without creating a stir. Shackled to a sheltered privacy
Everywhere she goes. Greatness can expand
And contract,
Can make us lighter
Or weigh us down.

First, I’m not sure what a cautel is and I’m on a train away from Lexicon
Or even a dictionary so the answer is not forthcoming.
Second, this sentiment is extraordinary.
Now now he loves you
He loves you purely
Deeply
Honestly
Whatever. . .
But hidden in that “Now” is a “But.” The “but” follows exactly, in fact.
Now he loves you but. . .
And later, Hamlet will say almost the same “But” later with his “You should not
Have believed me.”
And “We are errant knaves, all, believe none of us.”
In a way, it’s pointing at Hamlet’s own belief in himself, in his word, in his love
All are subject to the world around him
And everyone around him is headed for a fall.
Funny how that doesn’t turn out to be true.

This is how a brother speaks to his sister –
With thews and bulk
And waxing temples.
Like father, like son, I suppose.
No plainspeaking runs in this family –
It’s either overblown, convoluted speechifying
Or nothing at all.
(Although occasionally, upon dying or in the face of tragedy, the words boil right down.) This line is usually cut
because – what? What are you trying to say Laertes?
He breaks it down
Eventually
But he starts here
Is he attempting a really broad innuendo?
Something about wide-ness and growing and opening makes me think maybe he’s headed gingerly in that direction.
It’s actually quite impressively confusing.
If someone said it to me,
I’d be making one heck of a confused face in response.

I can’t decide if Laertes’ advice is terrible or actually pretty astute.
None of us knows how much Hamlet loves Ophelia
Or even
If he does.
And many a girl I know
Has lost her heart and faith to a man she gave everything to and then regretted it after.
A little temperance in love
A little healthy suspicion
At least in the beginning
Might actually be just the cushion a besotted girl needs as she’s falling
Or else
Laertes has here set off a chain of distrust
That leads to the downfall of them all.

A toy in blood?
I picture a white stuffed kitten
Paw deep in a pool of blood.
Or a tiny wind-up boat
Sailing through veins and arteries.
None of which would seem
To indicate affection.
Is a toy in blood meant to suggest lust?
I can’t quite wrap my head around it.
Violets and perfumes and fashion –
These words cleave together,
Can suggest the fleeting quality of something precious,
Something to be enjoyed quickly before it changes and is gone.
But a toy – – –
A toy in blood
I suppose one can toy with blood with touch –
The way a touch can bring blood
Rushing to the fingers
Particularly with the more sensitive parts of the body.
One could send blood hither and yon
Perhaps very quickly, with fleeting connections
Between them all.