The Rabbit Hole

The Royal Family of Denmark:
The crises affecting this family provide the central themes of the play itself. Ultimately, they can be summed up as both betrayals, by a number of members, and a difference in family values.
King Claudius murders his bother and weds the newly widowed queen, which can be entitled betrayal by both participants. Claudius has clearly betrayed not only his brother and family but also the all-important chain of being, by killing the next in line after god. Arguably, Gertrude has also betrayed Old Hamlet, as she was very quick to wed after the death. Seeing as the situation greatly affects her son, it can be considered that she betrayed him as well.
Hamlet isn’t so innocent himself, as he later kills his stepfather, King Claudius. This is, again, a betrayal towards the chain of being, but can also be considered a betrayal against his mother, as she no doubt wished for her new family to live happily together. Hamlet destroyed that dream for her.
The central family copes using methods that can be described as both immoral and insane. Both Claudius and Hamlet plot murder against those who have ‘wronged’ them and succeed. Hamlet often results to rambling and spewing large bursts of emotion to purge him of the troubles affecting him. While Claudius and Gertrude tend to refrain from this, it is arguable that their position is the sole reason for it.

Polonius’ Family:
The family of the King’s advisor is faced with many problems caused by those faced by the royal family, as they are very involved in the workings of the royal family. For instance, Polonius is troubled by the struggle between Claudius and his stepson, and later the torment of his daughter by crazed Hamlet. Ophelia is in constant disarray because of Hamlet’s anger and then ‘crazed love for her’. Then she is then pushed over the edge by her father’s murder.
Laertes then faces the crisis is Ophelia’s death. While he is aware of Hamlet’s position within society he also believes that he is the cause of Ophelia’s assumed suicide. Thus, the struggles between Claudius and Hamlet that were mentioned earlier are used to gain leverage concerning his more recent crisis.
Ophelia copes with the destruction of both her lover and father by not coping. She goes mad, cries incessantly and eventually kills herself. Clearly, she has the worst coping methods out of her entire family. Laertes, like hamlet, plots revenge in order to ease his soul and though he dies in the process, ultimately succeeds in killing Hamlet.

The Royal Family of Norway:
While not much is discussed concerning the royal family of Norway it is clear that prince Fortinbras is greatly troubled by the defeat of his father and the loss of his conquered lands. As a warlord, this greatly shamed him, and thus was constantly devising a way to win back what he had lost and regain his father’s honor. The only real crisis affecting the uncle of Fortinbras is the actions taken by his son, which seem inappropriate to him and perhaps shame him.
In order to ease his mind Prince Fortinbras invades and conquers Denmark.

The Nuclear Family:
The typical nuclear family consists of descendants and their biological mother and father. It is known as the traditional family and does not include elements of one’s extended family such as grand parents. Traditionally, the nuclear family is viewed as a nurturing, low stress environment where the children are raised with love and stability. The family is generally in a stable economic position and much time is spent as a family, with the children.
The play expresses the destruction of the nuclear family. As can be seen from the family trees, each of the three families began as a proper, nuclear family but as certain catastrophic events began to affect them their representation as nuclear families began to crumble. Hamlet used to live in a love-filled and nurturing environment with his biological mother and father, but because of his father’s murder and his mother’s marriage to his uncle his family situation quickly becomes dysfunctional.
The father figured is killed in each situation, for Old Fortinbras is slain by Old Hamlet and Prince Hamlet murders Polonius. Without a biological father figure the nuclear family cannot exist, and when a family loses this position all of it’s other elements quickly fall out of place. The stress level elevates, there is a lack of emotional support and clearly there is a lack of love. The idea expressed is that without a father, there can be no nuclear family.