On my commute home this afternoon, the song "How Could You Want Him (When You Know You Could Have Me)?" came on my iPod. I have heard this song many, many times, but somehow until today have failed to notice the following lines:
I'm quite contented to take my chances
Against the Guildensterns and Rosenkrantzes
It's a matter of Cain and Abel
And I can feel your knee beneath the table
I was impressed that an alternative rock group would make an allusion to Hamlet...and that I had never noticed it before. (Indeed, the fact that I had just read Hamlet probably has something to do with it.) In addition to the blatant reference to two characters from the play (Guildenstern and Rosencrantz), Hamlet himself makes reference to the Biblical tale of Cain and Abel (just as Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, slew Hamlet's father to take possession of the throne and queen). I also like that "I can feel your knee beneath the table" has a whisper of the sexual repression simmering between Hamlet and Ophelia. Kudos, Spin Doctors. Kudos.
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