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http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/LIFE/809030301 Sons of Anarchy TCV series "The family drama is loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet.[25] Clay is based on the role of King Claudius and Gemma as a Gertrude figure. Jax stands in for Prince Hamlet himself. Opie and Tara are also influenced by the characters of Horatio and Ophelia respectively. Jax's reflective questioning of the SOA culture, brought on by the birth of his son, references Hamlet's melancholy over the death of the king. Additionally, Jax "communicates" with his dead father by way of his late father's unpublished journal; Hamlet, of course, literally communicates with the ghost of his father.[26] As season three progresses and tensions rise, we begin to see the relationship between Jax and Tara begin to mirror that of Hamlet and Ophelia.[citation needed] Sutter has said of the Shakespeare element, "I don't want to overplay that but it's there. It was Jax's father who started the club, so he's the ghost in the action. You wonder what he would have made of the way it turned out. It's not a version of Hamlet but it's definitely influenced by it."[27] Ron Perlman believes "they’re going to stick to the structure of Hamlet all the way to the end (of the series)."[28] In the pilot episode, after they find the warehouse blown up Jax says to Clay "It's not easy being King" and Clay responds "you remember that". In "Fa Guan", Clay makes reference to Hamlet when he states "I'll handle the little prince", regarding Jax. Jax is also referred to as "the prince" by Agent Stahl on at least two occasions, including "Balm" and "The Push". In "Widening Gyre", Tara also refers to Hamlet when she is angry at Jax, telling him "The prince doesn't always get his way." Regarding the legacy of John Teller, Clay says that Jax is "...being haunted by the ghost of his father". There are also several references to Clay as king and Gemma as queen, including when the SAMCRO is in lockdown inside the clubhouse during "The Culling". During the episode "The Push", the film The King and I is on the television in Gemma's hospital room.[29]" Professor Richard Burt Department of English and Film and Media Studies Program 4314 Turlington Hall P.O. Box 117310 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611-7310 Phone: 352 373-3560 http://www.clas.ufl.edu/~burt/burtindex.html http://www.clas.ufl.edu/~burt/Citations.html