Activity 1.2

Hamlet’s family tree
Gertrude- - - - - Late King Hamlet------ Claudius

Prince Hamlet

Hamlet’s family is one that seems to be very dysfunctional, this causing many problems among his family. Hamlet has suspicions that Claudius killed his own brother in order to take the throne and his wife. Hamlet thinks this because a ghost, who turns out to be his father’s spirit, approaches him and tells him that Claudius did in fact kill him. Claudius takes the throne and marries his brother’s wife Gertrude. Hamlet is very angry with his uncle and plans to kill him. He attempts to, but only ends up killing Polonius, who is the father of Prince Hamlet’s lover. In the end Claudius attempts to poison Hamlet, but ends up poisoning his wife as well. Gertrude dies, then Hamlet kills Claudius, then Hamlet dies while reciting a very moving speech. The family does not cope with their problems very well, because their only solution seems to be death and in the end everyone dies. This is appropriate though as it is a Shakespearean tragedy. The family that the reader is seeing is not a typical nuclear family because Hamlets father is not his real father. If Hamlet’s father would have still been alive then they would be categorized as a nuclear family, but since he is not, they’re not. However, even with Claudius not being Hamlets real father, all the roles are filled in the nuclear family, so it does somewhat resemble one. Polonius’ family tree

Polonius

Ophelia---------------------Laertes

The problems that this family faces are not really within the family itself. Each of the family members has their own problems, but they do look out for one another. For example, at the beginning of the play when you first find out that Ophelia and Hamlet are in love, Laertes is quick to warn his sister not to mess around or something bad will happen. When Palonius is killed by Hamlet, his children have very mixed emotions. Ophelia starts off being ridiculously sad and then later on goes insane. Once Laertes finds out that Hamlet is responsible for killing his father, he decides that the right thing to would be to kill Hamlet. In trying to kill Hamlet, Laertes ends up dying himself. Ophelia ends up drowning after going for a stroll one day(although this did not make much sense in the movie considering the movie was cast in the middle of winter). Again, the only outcome to all of their problems was death. They could have definitely coped with their problems better, by maybe taking less action and thinking things through. Considering it is a Shakespearean tragedy though, the outcome is appropriate. People went to go see Shakespeare’s plays to be entertained. If Ophelia and Laertes would of simply thought their problems through then Shakespeare would have been hearing crickets in the audience. If Ophelia and Leartes coped with their problems better, than maybe they wouldn’t have died. This family does not resemble a nuclear family because there is no mother in the family. There is simply Polonius and his two kids. There is never any mention of their mother throughout the whole play.