Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ Alas, poor Kaito ❯ Forenotes ( Chapter -1 )

Forenotes

 

Hamlet is my personal favourite of William Shakespeare's plays. It was written sometime between 1599 and 1601- while the precise date is uncertain, it is almost certain that it was written for Shakespeare's son Hamnet, who died around this time. It is his longest play and one of the most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language. Generation after generation of actors and actresses on stage and screen have had great figures whose defining roles were in Hamlet.

I don't know where the idea came from, but I saw parallels between Kaito and Hamlet's quests for vengeance, though I can only pray that Kaito's has a happier resolution. I have adapted a number of characters from both Magic Kaito and Meitantei Conan as characters in this tragedy, from Kaito as Hamlet himself to Gin and Vodka as Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. This has, in some cases, resulted in a slight twisting of a character's personality to fit the role, and some odd familial associations (Hakuba, as Laertes, is now Aoko/Ophelia's brother; Snake, as the villainous Claudius, is Toichi/Old Hamlet's brother and Kaito's uncle/stepfather). I gave Kaito's mother the name Minami, the same name I give her in all my fics. Beyond that, the characters should be pretty easy to figure out to anyone familiar with the story; for those who aren't, there will be a synopsis below.

All dialogue is taken straight from the lines of the play, with only minor adaptations as befits the slightly altered scenario. It is now set in a theatre and playhouse in modern-day Kyoto called Elsinore, owned by the greatest magician in Japan, Kuroba Toichi- though he has died, of course, and his brother has taken over the playhouse, and is being challenged by the protégé of its previous owner to prove his skill at magic. Lines and names have been slightly adapted to this- “king” changed to “magician”, and other small things- but otherwise the lines are faithful, though slightly truncated since if I copied in the entirety of the dense prose, I might never finish typing and you will quickly get bored reading! The play was, of course, written to be heard rather than read, and I encourage you to do so if possible. Shakespeare rolls in his grave every time a student yawns while dissecting it in class- he's probably burrowed his way to China by now. Those who have done so, who have every aspect of the story now inscribed into their brains, can now read on. For those who don't know the story or are unclear on it, here is a synopsis.

The story begins as two guardsmen of Elsinore Castle in Denmark, Francisco and Marcellus, witness the ghost of the departed king, along with Horatio, a scholar and best friend of the prince Hamlet. We then see a meeting presided over by the new king, Claudius, who it is revealed it the brother of the deceased king and has married his widow, Gertrude, making him both Hamlet's uncle and stepfather. Hamlet visibly resents this, as he reveals when alone. Horatio then appears, telling him of his father's ghost, which he intends to see. We then briefly see the family of the court chamberlain, Polonius, his son Laertes advising his sister Ophelia to be careful, as Hamlet has sworn love to her but neither Laertes nor Polonius believes it. Polonius even forbids her from seeing him. Ophelia is upset but has no choice but to obey; Laertes leaves for France.

That night, Hamlet witnesses his father's ghost, which explains the circumstances of his murder by his brother's hand, and Hamlet swears revenge. To disguise his plans, he acts up a descent into madness, which is blamed on Ophelia's avoidance of him; two old “friends” of his, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, happily agree to spy on their friend for the king and queen to find out the truth. They try to entertain him with a group of actors, but Hamlet, to trap his uncle, secretly rewrites their play, so that the king the dies within the play dies in the manner that his father did, and the murderer marries his queen. Hamlet then meets with Ophelia, spied upon by Claudius, Gertrude and Polonius, and violently rejects her, which convinces all but Claudius that his madness is due to her rejection of him.

They watch the play, and it has the desired effect; Claudius can watch no more than the murder scene, proving his guilt in the eyes of Hamlet and Horatio. That night, Hamlet argues with his mother; he then stabs and kills Polonius, who had been hiding in the room, believing him to be a spy or even the king. Gertrude believes that her son has truly gone insane; Hamlet takes away Polonius' body and buries it secretly. Claudius orders his departure to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, secretly giving the latter two a royal commission for Hamlet's immediate execution upon arrival.

Once Hamlet has left, Ophelia, from a combination of his rejection, her brother's leaving and her father's death, goes genuinely insane; this breaks Laertes' heart when he returns from France, seeking vengeance for his father's death. Hamlet's voyage is interrupted by pirates, who are apparently a rather friendly lot who offered Hamlet a lift home to Denmark. Claudius and Laertes devise a plot to murder Hamlet upon his return, by challenging Hamlet to a fencing match where Laertes shall secretly have a poisoned sword; should he fail to scratch Hamlet, Claudius will offer him a poisoned drink. They are confident in the success of this plan when Gertrude appears to tearfully report that Ophelia fell into a river and drowned, which only cements Laertes' resolve to see Hamlet dead; however, this cracks at Ophelia's funeral, when Hamlet confronts him, claiming his true, deep love for Ophelia.

Hamlet accepts the match. Before the match, Hamlet explains to Horatio that he had in fact discovered the commission for his execution and had secretly altered it, so that it is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, not he, who will suffer execution upon arriving in England. During the match, which Hamlet is winning, Gertrude toasts Hamlet's good luck, accidently drinking from the poisoned cup and dying; Laertes wounds Hamlet, enough to draw blood and thus enough to set the fatal poison through his veins, but then drops his sword in horror of what he had done, and Hamlet grabs it up, also slashing him with the poison. With his dying breath, Laertes reveals the king's treachery; Horatio prevents Claudius from escaping and Hamlet forces the poisoned drink down his throat, killing him. Horatio too, surrounded by the dead and dying, attempts to take the last of the drink, but Hamlet stops him, begging him to live and tell the truth to the world. He then dies and the Norwegian army enters the castle; with no heirs remaining to the Danish throne, Prince Fortinbras of Norway claims it, ordering Hamlet to be buried as a soldier.

 

So in the end, pretty much everybody's dead except, alas, poor Horatio. Now please enjoy my adaptation. Updates will be made whenever I finish an act (there are five), but since it's gripped my brain and won't let go that'll probably be soon XD.