Hamlet in Brentwood

Hamlet begins in Denmark on a castle guard duty platform. It has been two months since a love triangle made up of Prince Hamlet 's mother Queen Gertrude, his father the King, and Claudius his uncle ended in "murder most foul." Claudius is the jealous brother of the king who believes he has won everything the king valued in life by killing him and making the cause of his death look like a poisonous snakebite. No one in the world of the living suspects him. Even Hamlet, who is appalled by the one month interval between his father's death and the marriage of his mother and uncle, does not contemplate his uncle's base villainy until the spirit of his dead father appears to him, tells him how he was killed and who did it.

The ghost could not have been a product of Hamlet's imagination. Hamlet's best friend Horatio and two castle guards on midnight watch saw it before he did. Moreover, not even the victim could have known the strange way he was killed until the dastardly deed was done. The ghost was real.  But was it really the spirit of his father? Or was it the Devil in disguise setting him up to murder an innocent man (as Iago did to Othello)? Before Hamlet could exact the vengeance demanded of the ghost, he had to know the truth.

When you understand Hamlet's dilemma, the method in his madness becomes evident He is truly upset and confused. But you know his derangement is an act because you "hear him thinking" rationally in soliloquies and asides. Dashing around erratically, spouting non-sequesters and making abrupt changes of mood and meaning in ambiguous language, is a good cover for covert investigation. It's a good strategy for slip-of-the tongue protection and buying time to sort things out.  Hamlet didn't know what to do other than beat himself up for not knowing what to do until his conversation with the leader of an acting troupe evolves into a plan to rewrite a few key lines and actions of a play. Those few changes were enough for Hamlet to aptly tell his uncle that the play was called, "The Mouse-trap." It was the thing wherein Hamlet did "catch the conscience of the king."

Mel Gibson's Hamlet is a pigeon-toed rage killer who leaves behind a heart-shaped pool of blood. He wears leather gloves, attacks with a sword in both hands and  bleeds on a murder scene. This 1990 screenplay doesn't always follow Shakespeare's Hamlet in order, but most of the key pieces are there somewhere.

Combining Mark Fuhrman's notes, observation, discoveries, theories, photo-ops, strained analogies and misplaced metaphors, gives you something you can't get from another single source. Among other things, it gives you Iago in Brentwood as well as Fuhrman and O.J. in four of William Shakespeare's greatest television hits.

Strictly speaking, the "heart" is a Valentine.  The Hamlet '90 screenshot is not cropped. It fills the screen for 3 seconds as you see it. 

In Act IV scene V, Hamlet's girlfriend Ophelia has truly gone around the bend after Hamlet stabbed her father to death by mistake.   She is so disconnected from the world that she cannot carry on a coherent conversation with anyone. She makes sense only when she sings, although the songs are grossly inappropriate. She begins one bawdy song in the company of the king and queen with these words: "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day..." 

Saint Valentine's Day is February 14 − 214. The first three digits of Mark Fuhrman's LAPD badge number are 214. Vic Morrow, the father of Jennifer Jason Leigh (who shares Mark Fuhrman's birthday) was born on St. Valentines Day. He was killed in an accident while making a segment of The Twilight Zone movie in 1982.

● The King's Toast ●

Hamlet is in a fencing match with Laertes, the son of the man hiding behind the curtain (drapes ? tapestry ?) who Hamlet killed by mistake. The object of the contest  is to score points by striking or stabbing the opponent in a protected place or inflicting a superficial wound.  comes the closest. The dialogue of the referee, the contestants and the spectators tell you that it's a sporting event divided into rounds. Shakespeare's only instruction for how the contest proceeds is, "They play."

Hamlet is too popular with the public to kill outright. Furthermore, Claudius does not want to get caught doing anything that will alienate him from Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude. So, Claudius devises a plan to kill Hamlet in a way that looks like an accident. He and Laertes conspire to do it with lethal poison on the tip of Laertes' sword, so that the slightest cut will have a deadly result. As a back-up, Claudius poisons the wine in a chalice for Hamlet. Laertes had a reputation of being so good with "rapier" and "foil" that Claudius figured he could wear him down with such exertion that he would call for a drink. But Hamlet wins the first round quickly. The referee calls it "a very palpable hit." Acting pleased at Hamlet's early success, Claudius drops a pearl into the cup to show Laertes that the fix is in. Although no one figured on Hamlet being as good with a sword as he is, there seems to be no way, in the long run, for the Prince of Denmark to escape the poison on his opponent's blade or the poison in his uncle's cup.

Claudius toasts to Hamlet's health and  tries to get him to drink from the goblet but Hamlet declines. The swordplay resumes. During a referee break, Laertes cuts Hamlet's arm from behind. Hamlet gets pissed. In the Mel Gibson version of the play with Glenn Close as his mother, Hamlet hits his opponent in the face with his fist. Stunned by the blow, Laertes drops the sword. Hamlet picks it up and bashes Laertes in the back with the butt. In any version of the play, Hamlet picks up the dropped sword and attacks Laertes in anger. Meanwhile,  Hamlet's mother has made a life-ending choice. Like Polonius, the father of Ophelia and Laertes, Hamlet's mother is killed by accident. She drinks from the poisoned chalice meant for her son. Only King Claudius and Laertes know what's happening but they are helpless to do anything about it. She was as good as gone when she insisted on taking the drink.

Overkill

Hamlet does not know that the slightest cut with the weapon he now holds will result it certain death. He chases down the terrified Laertes in anger and thrusts the poisoned sword tip into his chest. He is not so angry that he forgets to hold back from driving the blade deep.  But Laertes, knowing that he has only moments to live, confesses all. He falls dead. The queen falls dead. Hamlet knows that he, too, will travel to "the undiscovered country" in seconds. He rushes his defenseless uncle with the poisoned sword and thrust it deep into his chest. After that, he pours the rest of the poisoned wine into his already dying uncle's mouth.

The wicked king dies.

The tormented son dies.

The true friend cries.

The End.

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