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Story [Hamlet] Sins of the Mother (Victorian Quote Roulette / drama vignette / Gertrude's death in V-ii)

Discussion in 'Non Star Wars Fan Fiction' started by Idrelle_Miocovani, May 23, 2011.

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  1. Idrelle_Miocovani

    Idrelle_Miocovani Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2005
    Title: Sins of the Mother
    Author: Idrelle_Miocovani
    Fandom: Shakespeare?s Hamlet
    Timeframe: Right near the end of V-ii
    Genre: Drama
    Characters: Gertrude, Claudius, Hamlet
    Summary: The queen must make a tragic decision to save the one she loves.
    Notes: This vignette is from the same series as the Hereafter Trilogy (To Thine Own Self, In My Memory Locked and the forthcoming All My Sins Remembered), and the two one-shots Moment and That Which Love Compels. Written for the Victorian Quote Roulette Challenge, I had #43.

    Enjoy! :)



    [b]Sins of the Mother[/b]

    [blockquote][b]?The shadows are as important as the light.?
    ~ Charlotte Brontë, "Jane Eyre"[/b][/blockquote]

    My world is destroyed with four small words.

    There comes a time when just before the final fall, providence tricks one into believing that all will be well in the end. The fog will loft, the new day will dawn, and memories of the darkness will fade to grey as new memories of happier times come to prominence.

    It is not so. It is never so ? and I have been a fool to think it.

    Mankind will always believe in the best, struggling to hold on to the hope of a better time, choosing to view harsh life as a test of trials, at whose end holds the treasure of peace and happiness. I believed it once. How could I not? A princess in a foreign land married to a man I could not love, fallen into an affair that stirred my heart?s passion but clawed at my mind?s frailties.

    My life is one of sin and egregious faults, one for which I will pay dearly ? not by God?s will, but my own.

    I am standing at the front of the great hall, one hand resting upon my throne, the other clutching the heavy goblet from which I am about to drink. My eyes are turned downwards, observing the red wine sifting back and forth innocently, oblivious of its more malicious purpose.

    [i]Gertrude, do not drink![/i]

    Those were my husband?s words. They were harsh, loud, echoing from one side of the hall to the other, ringing out with caution and genuine fear.

    Even now, when I know my fate is merely moments away, I cannot help but smile at the absurdity of human senses. I am not a warrior, but I have heard of men on the battlefield for whom time slows and they become more aware of the events circling them.

    So it is for me.

    The moment Claudius ? my dear, wretched Claudius ? spoke, the action ceased across the hall. I saw my son and Laertes turn, rapiers lowered, faces red and slick with sweat from their efforts, and observe me. As has happened many times throughout my life here in Elsinore, all eyes are on the queen.

    I clutch the goblet. My hands begin to sweat and I fear I may drop it.

    Claudius takes a step toward me. I can see him shaking, from head to toe; his body seemingly wants to charge forward and take the cup from me, but the great effort of his mind holds him in place.

    He has destroyed me, for he would destroy my son. His plan was divulged the moment he spoke, the moment he strove to take the cup from me.

    He will kill my son in this duel, I have no doubt. Claudius is no longer been the prince I once fell in love with; I know what he is capable of, what lengths he would go to protect himself and what he desires. A poisoned goblet is bears the taste of his shrewd mind, and the thought makes me ill.

    I love my son more than my husband, and if it costs me my life to protect him, I will. It is the little I can do for him, after causing him great pain with my own reckless decisions and personal whims. It could be the greatest of apologies any mother ? any horrible mother ? has ever offered their progeny,
     
    Idrelle_Miocovani, May 23, 2011
    #1
  2. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    Woah! This is intense stuff!! I feel bad for Gertrude--loving and hating Claudius at the same time--but it's nice to see her finally step up and protect her son (or try to, anyway).

    I will not live to see the outcome.

    :(

    Hamlet will make a greater king than you ever will, my love.

    :_| :_| So true; too bad it never comes to pass. (And I'm glad she doesn't live to see her son die.)

    Awesome viggie!!
     
    NYCitygurl, May 23, 2011
    #2
  3. Mira_Jade

    Mira_Jade The (FavoriteTM) Fanfic Mod With the Cape star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2004
    Oh, I am so happy to see this up! :D

    Your writing for Hamlet never ceases to be amazing, and this one goes above and beyond the call of duty once more. =D= You make me sympathize with Gertrude - again. [face_laugh]



    I love my son more than my husband, and if it costs me my life to protect him, I will. It is the little I can do for him, after causing him great pain with my own reckless decisions and personal whims. It could be the greatest of apologies any mother ? any horrible mother ? has ever offered their progeny, but I also know this: I cannot continue to live if I know my son is dead at the hands of my own husband.

    This. :cool:

    You show Gertrude wonderfully here - as both a mother and a wife. There's a moment where the one will trump the other in the right circumstances, and her reaching that point was beautifully shown. =D=


    I am about to set the goblet to my lips when I pause. For the briefest of moments, it seems as though Claudius will spring at me, all pretences and plans torn asunder by the deep, primal desire to save my life from the poison he himself has planted. But then the moment passes and he is still once more.

    I never thought about it this way - he had a chance to save her life, at the cost of his own plan, but still - he would still have her alive. Oh, what a crushing moment that must have been for her! :(


    We had once shared so much. How I could ever come to regret the joys he once gave me in my youth? He showed me how to appreciate Denmark; he was the reason I had eventually come to love this impassive country of sea and stone and sand, seeing past the gritty outside to the harsh, majestic beauty it did possess. I was happy once. We have shared the blood and the sweat of royalty, and now it is plunging towards and end.

    Oh. [face_love]

    The sad thing is that I can easily see where she and Claudius would form such a deep attachment. It's hard to blame her for where she found love - just for the path that that love took her down.


    He does not voice concern, but I can see it within his face. I briefly touch his arm, my eyes still locked with his, desperately trying to tell him what I know. I have done this for him; if the cup is truly poisoned, I will fall ? and my life will save his.

    Yep - the whole aching heartstring line and more.


    Then, I submit to the darkness, ready to journey to God?s judgement for my deeds, knowing my last action has done perhaps a little good in this world of blood and vengeance.

    This whole end scene - nay, the whole thing - was powerfully written. So very powerful. :eek:


    Bravo! =D=


    ~MJ @};-
     
    Mira_Jade , May 23, 2011
    #3
  4. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Brilliant! =D=

    Absolutely brilliant! =D=

    Heart wrenching and intense.

    Bravo Idri!!!

    [:D]

     
    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, May 23, 2011
    #4
  5. Valiowk

    Valiowk Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 23, 2000
    Great to see another Hamlet fanfic from you, Idri! [:D]

    I love your interpretation here, that Gertrude realised the drink was poisoned from the moment she heard Claudius' warning and made the decision to save her son's life at the cost of hers. Of course, it's even more heartbreaking to know in advance that this will not suffice to save Hamlet eventually. :_|

    Surely Gertrude has earned her redemption with this decision. Yet how terrible it is that it has to come at the cost of her own life!

    Like Mira, I'd never thought about things from this angle before. But indeed, how heartwrenching it is at the end to see that things have come to such a pass, when it comes to a choice between two things close to one's heart - in Gertude's case, her son and her lover; in Claudius' case, his lover and his hold on his power... Chilling, indeed, what the taste of power can do to a person!

    It really broke my heart at this point that all of Gertrude's efforts still came to naught eventually - how correct her suspicions were, and what an effort she made to protect Hamlet!

    How true that last thought of Gertrude's is, and how tragic that such a future could not come to pass. Did Gertrude's action eventually do a little good? Perhaps, it matters not, and all that matters at the end is the love of a mother for her son...

    Great job! =D=
     
    Valiowk, May 23, 2011
    #5
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