Blog Post Number 17: Hamlet Post 5 (Extra Credit)

"The Funeral" by Band of Horses

I'm coming up only to hold you under
And coming up only to show you're wrong
And to know you is hard; we wonder...
To know you all wrong; we warn.

Ooooooooh Oooooooooh
Ooooooooh Oooooooooh

Really too late to call,
So we wait for morning
To wake you is all we got
To know me as hardly golden
Is to know me all wrong, they warn.

At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
At every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral
At every occasion, oh, I'm ready for the funeral
At every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral

I'm coming up only to show you're down for
And coming up only to show you're wrong.

To the outside, the dead leaves lay on the lawn
For they don't have trees to hang upon.

Ooooooooh Oooooooooh
Ooooooooh Oooooooooh

At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
At every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral
At every occasion, oh, I'm ready for the funeral
Every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral

Argument:

They have spoken as if they think me to be weak, Saying "Poor Ophelia," pitying me (IV.5.2954). They think I have suffered, they know I have struggled. Is that not obvious? Have we not all struggled? I think that to be quite obvious, quite obvious indeed.

"To the outside, the dead leaves lay on the lawn for they don't have trees to hang on" (Band of Horses). The leaves have lost their foundation, just like me. My father and brother have always told me what to believe. I have told my father "I do not know, my lord, what I should think" (I.3.594). He told me to "think [myself] a baby/That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay" (I.3.597-598). When I grew fearful, he told me what to do. As Hamlet grew angrier I spoke to my father; when asked why my love has grown to be so upset all I could say was "My lord, I do not know,/But truly I do fear it" (II.1.1045).

"He is gone, he is gone,/And we cast away moan./God 'a'mercy on his soul!/And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God b' wi' you" (IV.5.3064). God b' wi' me... If I were to die at this very moment, "The Funeral" by Band of Horses should be played. It would sing out my every emotion at this moment. I am truly finished. The mind tricks have been played. Without my father to guide me, without Hamlet's love, I know not what to do. Hamlet, the devil once said to me "I did love you once" (III.1.1812). But he did not! I believed him, I spoke with him that very day and said that "[he] made me believe so" (III.1.1812). Only moments later he spoke again, saying that "[I] should not have believ'd [him]; for virtue cannot so/inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it." and that "[He] loved [me] not" (III.1.1814). 

My father passing has only made me fall more so. "And will he not come again?/And will he not come again?" (IV.5.3066-3067). I sit here, whispering the lyrics of "The Funeral", reciting the lyrics: "I'm coming up only to prove you wrong" (Band of Horses). I wish I could have proved everyone wrong, my father, Hamlet... I wish I could be strong. But as I said before, I am merely a fallen leaf. I have no direction. I have no purpose; not anymore. "He is dead and gone;/At his head a grass-green turf,/At his heels a stone" (IV.5.91-93). I am dead and gone; "I am ready for the funeral" (Band of Horses).

I will not come again