So, apparently, Gerard Way brought a skull (possibly named Heinrich?) onstage last night during the Long Live the Black Parade tour in Colombia. I don’t know much about this, other than that it produced this delicious, hamlet-esque photo, and that it seems to be he talked to the skull. This has inspired several tumblr users to draw parallels between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and My Chemical Romance. Friends, there has never been a trend I am better suited to.
Hamlet is very dear to me, as are all MCR songs. Now, some of these correlations and parallels might seem like a bit of a stretch. If you feel that way, shut up. The leading MCR/Hamletologist is speaking. If you cannot sense the connections between the two things I am showing you, you simply do not have your third eye opened wide enough. Do better I guess.
We begin with wacky relationships to gender.
Oh, this has got to be one of my favorite elements to explore! I’ve talked extensively about transgender Hamlet and his relationship to the feminine. But now I get to talk about MCR too!
I’ll start with a lyric from the recently leaked song ‘The Bike Thief’ off a scrapped album called ‘The Paper Kingdom’. The Paper Kingdom is very depressing, and is about parents who have lost a child (maybe two children?) to suicide. “The Bike Thief” features several references to the word ‘son’. We’ve got: “That you’ve done nothing wrong, Though you are not my son”, the deliciously transgender coded “That girl is not my son” and finally “Cause you are not my son, You’ll never be my son”. “Son”, within the context of Hamlet, is a pretty loaded term. The show highlights familial relationships. Being the son of a well loved and respected King comes with a lot of pressure, and of course the title of King should be passed down to Hamlet someday. Even pre-play, his relationship to being the son he is must have been complex. We see that things have really gotten complicated with Hamlet Sr. (Prince Hamlet’s father)‘s death, and Claudius’(Hamlet’s Uncle on his Father’s side) subsequent marriage to Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Hamlet’s new step daddy/uncle/king refers to Hamlet as his son in 1.2.64. Hamlet immediately bristles and delivers the baller line “A little more than kin, and less than kind” (1.2.65). WHEWEE! What an introduction to this family!
You can take Claudius a few different ways. I’m not sure which is my favorite. But a particularly delicious and painful interpretation is that he and Prince Hamlet had shared a close relationship pre-play, perhaps being even closer than Hamlet and his own father. But the abrupt marriage and usurpation changes things, even before Hamlet is charged by his father’s ghost to exact revenge. In this scene, Claudius seems to be stretching out an olive branch and attempting to paper over all that has happened and repair his family. There is, of course, the layer to it that this is public. That Prince Hamlet publicly disliking his Uncle/Father/King is not a very good look and that monarchy is all about looks. So, whether or not Claudius genuinely cares for Hamlet/ever did is up to the interpretation of the reader. But it’s fun to think about and explore!
Anyway, back to MCR. We can see that son implies a lot of things. It implies a familial relationship, love, responsibility, trust. Comparing ‘The Bike Thief’ to Claudius’ points of view regarding Hamlet is a nice connection to draw. Could Claudius struggle to think of Hamlet as a son? Is it possible that he wants to have that relationship with him but is unable to bridge the gap?
Let’s get onto the gender fuckery. I’ve spent too long talking about the word son without addressing the gender of it all.
“That girl is not my son” (MCR)// “‘tis unmanly grief” (Hamlet, 1.2.94)
Ok. We don’t know a lot about Hamlet and Claudius’ relationship yet. This is their first scene together. But they’re already giving us some JUICY STUFF!!! The King/Prince/Uncle/Nephew/Father/Son relationship is tense and complicated already. Now Claudius launches into disdainful criticism of Hamlet’s extended mourning – and, oh, look! He’s sprinkled in a reference to Hamlet’s unmanliness! Hamlet’s relationship with his own feminine traits and his own weakness is a deeply broken one. Throughout the play we see his major issues with self loathing, which I will address later. But his unmanliness seems to be a particular thorn in his side, a button that Claudius is aware of and choosing to push. Let’s BREAK IT DOWN!!!
In the very next moment that Hamlet is alone (1.2.129, the Sullied Flesh speech) Hamlet wishes that his “sullied” flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew. Or that he could kill himself without being damned. WHAT A RELATIONSHIP TO HAVE TO YOUR BODY!!! SULLIED FLESH? SULLIED FLESH? GET THIS MAN TO A PSYCHIATRIST!!! So. We know, from our very first private glimpse into Hamlet’s thoughts, that he views his body as dirty and wishes it did not exist. You might be asking “Lewis, what does that have to do with gender?” EVERYTHING, MY DEAR! I don’t have to tell you that transgender people usually have (or at least start their gender journeys with) a shit relationship to their body. It, like Elsinore, is a prison and a punisher. BUT WE’RE NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT TRANSGENDER HAMLET EXCEPT WE KIND OF ARE BECAUSE MCR IS KINDA TRANSGENDER TOO IM SORRYY. Ok ok so we know Hamlet doesn’t like his body. Moving further in Sullied Flesh. “Frailty, thy name is Woman”(1.2.146). Ah, that old chestnut! The line that gets Prince Hamlet mislabeled as the world’s worst misogynist. In my point of view, this line is not a critique of woman in general but of weakness. Of inaction, which Hamlet becomes famously guilty of. But here, before we see his resolve for revenge tested, he decries Gertrude for doing nothing to defend his Father’s legacy and for going with the past of least resistance and marrying Claudius. I also love to talk about Hamlet’s own feminine traits (physical softness and weakness, indecision, sweetness ((all of which were associated with women during this period, although they are not traits all women have or embrace))) and how much he hates them. Remember paragraphs ago where I said even before the play, Hamlet’s relationship to sonhood is LOADED due to the circumstances of his birth? He has a lot to live up to. Hamlet Sr. Is King, and a good King. He is loved by the people and a proven warrior. He is a good man. Prince Hamlet aspires to be this kind of man. This kind of man is not indecisive or physically soft. He is confident and battle-ready. I have a pretty crazy tumblr post in which I discuss that King Hamlet’s death leaves Prince Hamlet to defend his father’s work. It’s such a betrayal that the throne is handed to Claudius on a silver platter because Claudius a lesser man than King Hamlet and is not deserving of his title. Prince Hamlet himself isn’t up to the task either. He knows it cannot be Claudius, so it must be him, and his father must be avenged, and the tragedy is that Hamlet just can’t do it. And he hates himself for it. Anyway, that’s my take on Frailty, thy name is Woman. If you even care!
Ok last one for this post (but there will be more posts incoming of course). When Claudius asks, “How is it that clouds still hang on you? 1.2.66”, Hamlet replies “Not so, my lord, I am too much in the ‘son’ 1.2.67”. Some editions choose to emphasize the play on words here by spelling it son, while others use ‘sun’. Hamlet is definitely making a commentary on how he dislikes the term son being used to describe his relationship with Claudius. So, this all comes back to The Bike Thief because he is not Claudius’ son!!! The Bike Thief ends by switching to the child’s point of view, and it’s pretty Hamlet-y as well.
“You don’t know the things you did to me” would be soooo interesting coming out of Hamlet’s mouth. Are Claudius and Gertrude unaware of how their actions have tanked Hamlet’s life and doomed him to tragedy? “She don’t know the pressure that I’m under”. Hamlet is under immense pressure to be a Prince, to be in the public eye, and then is under even further pressure once he speaks to the Ghost to avenge his father. “Every day I miss you more” is about Hamlet Sr., or perhaps it’s about missing how Hamlet’s relationship with Claudius was pre-play.
Anyway. This has been feral hamlet MCR posting. Come back soon for more! – Lewis
Lewis’ letters 
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