2011-04-12
Explanation
This comic compares Shakespeare's Hamlet with its source material, the medieval Danish legend of Amleth from the Gesta Danorum. It lays out a checklist of plot points shared by both stories: the uncle kills the father and marries the mother, the main character acts strangely to avoid suspicion, the king tries to have the main character killed by sending him away with two men, and the main character returns to kill the king.
The key difference, the comic explains, is the ending. In Hamlet, the protagonist dies tragically on Laertes' poison sword after prolonged existential anguish. In the original Amleth legend, however, Amleth nets his enemies in wall hangings, sets them on fire, and triumphantly becomes king. The comic then imagines a "hybrid" that combines Hamlet's philosophical introspection with Amleth's violent pragmatism, resulting in a version where the prince begins the famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy but then abruptly decides to just net his enemies instead. The joke highlights how Shakespeare transformed a straightforward revenge tale into a brooding tragedy, and how much more entertaining the original ending might have been.