Sam Lien asked Christopher Moore:

In your opinions, how are family relationships portrayed differently in King Lear and Hamlet? Thank you!

Christopher Moore First, every Shakespeare tragedy is set off by someone making a boneheaded decision, so the two stories have that in common. The difference, I think, initially, is that Lear isn't being malicious when he first divides his kingdom among his daughters, he's just being a nitwit when he disowns Cordelia (and banishes Kent.) The Glouchester family is a bit of mess, though, isn't it, with Edmund being horrible and ambitious and Edgar being a bit naive. But it all begins rather innocently.

Hamlet, on the other hand, begins with betrayal, murder, and adultery, although all of that happens off stage. There is still the innocent caught up in the madness (Ophelia), and Hamlet's indecision followed by what can only be madness, is what really sucks the rest of the characters into the tragedy, but there is a sense of love and duty among Polonius' family, although the lesson seems to be, "love and duty will get you jack-squat when there's a lunatic with a sword around." So neither play is a portrait of healthy family life, I guess.

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