The Hamlet Project

It’s funny to see something that I associated with Sir Toby Belch in the mouth of King Claudius. Weirdly, I feel like I was equally exposed to these two plays – as they were the ones I performed in rep at my first job out of college. But if I had to match a phrase to a character, a stoup of wine would go direct to Toby Belch and miss Claudius entirely. It’s not necessarily a sign of character, this “stoup” business. It’s pretty much just a cup. Well, it’s a big cup. It’s a tankard. Which does feel like a Toby Belch thing. Though, if Hamlet’s perspective is accurate – Claudius does have a bit of Toby in him. He does seem to have brought back some intense drinking rituals to Elsinore – so his calling for stoups, as opposed to a glass or a cup or a dram, may indeed be a sign of character.

Are there any characters who refer to stoups of wine that aren’t big drinkers?

What a curious sentence! It sort of rounds on itself, with since and therefore pretty much doing the same job. There’s something kind of clunky about it, in a way that is unusual for Claudius.

The deal of this wager is very curious. This Laertes having to get more points to beat Hamlet than Hamlet will have to get to beat Laertes business is very curious.

It’s like making it clear to everyone that this game has been rigged.

And it has, in fact, been rigged.

It’s been rigged to get Hamlet killed, several ways.

But the appearance is that the game is rigged for Hamlet, rather than against him.

I cannot help but think of how 45 kept proclaiming the election was rigged against him while it was, in fact, in the process of being rigged in his favor.

The way Claudius says this, it sounds as if he’s watched both these guys in a show or something. Granted, I have a heavily theatrical sensibility – so of course it sounds like he’s seen them both onstage to me.

Sports are also a thing people go see. It is a spectator experience. It’s not entirely impossible that Claudius could have watched both these guys compete.

However.

When?

When have either Laertes or Hamlet had time to participate in sparring? Hamlet’s been to “England” and Laertes has been in France. Previously, it was funeral and wedding time at Elsinore. Were there games as part of those celebrations?

When exactly has Claudius seen them both?

I wonder if murderers, on the whole, are not particularly fearful people. Like, has there been a comprehensive study of the personalities of murderers? I would think they probably aren’t ruled by fear – because fear would surely prevent them from doing something as risky as murder. Like, a fearful person may really want to murder his brother but he’d be afraid of being caught, or going to hell, or failing at it, or or or. Maybe murderers are an odd kind of optimist – the kind that assumes their actions will have no unwanted consequences.