QUEEN of the NEIGHBORHOOD
Hamlet, 1996.
Before her marriage bed was even cold, Gertrude jumped vagina-first into bed with Claudius.
‘Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’ decorated by John Austen. Published 1922 by Selwin & Blount Ltd.
Design I made for my English class, representing Claudius from Hamlet.
Hamlet, 1996.
Hamlet leggings, coming soon to Black Milk Clothing.
In 1974, Monty Python’s Flying Circus made a sketch about Prince Hamlet going to a therapist. He lies back on the couch, despairing that everyone he meets asks him to perform one of his famous speeches— which the doctor immediately does. All the psychiatrists he turns to make the same demand, or else plunge into soliloquy themselves. It’s a joke with much truth in it: everyone knows a bit of Hamlet. Some have seen it a dozen times, others remember snippets from literature classes, and a great many have simply absorbed it through cultural osmosis. It’s a hugely influential play that crops up everywhere, from the classroom to The Lion King to, well, Monty Python.
Like the prince in the sketch, one may be excused for feeling quite finished with Hamlet, thank you. But one would be missing something special.
Inspiration for Ophelia
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
#i love love love the bottom left
#i’m reblogging for it alone
#look at the way that she’s drowning
#she’s staring at you challenging you even as she drowns
#yes she’s beautiful
#her hair still delicately fans out
#but she’s going headfirst
#arms outstretched
#she’s going to die and she’s going to make you watch the process
#she’s not staring blankly out of the water with her arms outstreched
#palms empty body empty textually empty
#nope not this ophelia
#and i love it
Alas poor Yorick! *holds up skull* *pauses* *holds up another skull & turns it to face the first* …………………. *whispers* now kiss
A dusty waste-plot by the cemetery,
Behind it, a river flashing blue.
You said to me: ‘Go get thee to a nunnery,
Or get a fool to marry you…’
Well, princes are good at such speeches,
As a girl is quick to tears,—
But may those words stream like an ermine mantle
Behind him for ten thousand years.
A one-color lithograph concert poster that I made a few years ago for Amelie Andrezel’s Hamlet-themed concept album.
You can hear one of the lovely tracks here.
Because Harry has expressed some interest, I’m bringing this back. Follow the link to hear the only full demo version I ever actually recorded. I’ll post the lyrics to the rest of this mess in a bit. They’ll be tagged #hot love on the wing if you want to sit this one out.
