Sam Lien
Sam Lien asked Andrea Chapin:

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

Andrea Chapin Hi Sam,

In “Hamlet,” the family dynamic is between the son—Hamlet—his mother, his stepfather and the ghost of his father, who “visits” his son to tell him that his stepfather (who is also is uncle and now king) poisoned him. As Hamlet struggles with this news and what to do about it, we see his hatred for his stepfather/uncle grow and his confusion and ambivalence for his mother deepen--why did she remarry so soon and is she guilty of the murder as well? So you have a son who despises his stepfather and has a love/hate relationship with his mother. And he feels his mother has not only betrayed him my marrying his uncle, but that she might have been having an affair with his uncle before his father was murdered. Also, Hamlet is the only child and the only son and is used to his mother’s focus and affection; now that she’s married to his uncle, much of her attention is placed on her new husband, the new king, and this also enrages Hamlet.

In “King Lear,” the patriarch of the family is used to having his own way—as ruler of the land and as the head of his family. As with his subjects, he expects his three daughters to follow his orders. Lear’s wife is dead, and from the start of the play his rigidness and his boundless need for adulation and flattery get him into trouble. Two of his daughters, Goneril and Regan are filled with jealousy and ambition; his third daughter, Cordelia simply loves her father.

Shakespeare is a master of portraying royal dysfunctional families and the ambition, competition, power plays, love and hate that go along with them. What is intriguing, of course, is the type of characters he develops and the family dynamics he explores connect and are continually relevant to aspects of human beings and society in every age—whether in the Roman times or now.

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