Virginia Woolfe – “integrity”
In art we recognise something like truth, an accurate representation of life as
we have known it, but in such terms as teach us to understand such contexts
more fully and deeply.
It has the potential to awaken a consciousness of the relationship between the
self and the world.
Bodhichitta – “noble or awakened heart” (sanskrit)
HAMLET
CONTEXT
Elizabethan audiences would feel resonances with their own world:
• England, like Denmark was a troubled country. In 1588 England had
defeated the Spanish armada
• England was unstable and dangerously insecure as it is nearing the
end of the reign of Elizabeth I. Claudius speaks of sorrows coming
‘not in single spies, but in battalions’
• Claudius’ murder of Old Hamlet was a political assassination to
achieve political power.
• The use of devious Machiavellian methods and spies to maintain
control
• Shakespeare seems to completely accept and be dominated by the
conservative conception of order, an Orthodox doctrine – the great
chain of being
Philosophical Influences
• Hamlet is often perceived as a philosophical character, expounding
ideas that are now described as relativist, existentialist, and
sceptical.
• Hamlet reflects the contemporary scepticism that prevailed in
Renaissance humanism. Hamlet’s “What a piece of work is a man”
echoes many of Montaigne’s (Michel de) ideas. Montaigne was a
strong supporter of humanism. He believed in God but declined to
speculate about His nature.
• Montaigne exhibited a quite modern cultural relativism, recognising
that laws, morals and religions of the various cultures, while often
quite different, may be equally valid.
Relativist
• Relativism – people have different points of view
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depending on their historical or cultural contexts eg
“That’s true for you but not for me.”
“You can’t judge other cultures by the standards of your
own.”
Moral relativism is the position that moral or ethical
propositions do not reflect universal moral truths i.e.
there is no concrete right or wrong. Cultural boundaries
and individual contexts influence moral and ethical
decisions.
Existentialism & Scepticism
• Existentialism asserts meaninglessness in life but goes
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on to assert that it’s the responsibility of the individual to
give one’s life meaning
Scepticism loosely means a questioning attitude or some
degree of doubt regarding claims that are elsewhere
taken for granted
Scepticism is accepting, rejecting or suspending
judgement that requires new information to be well
supported by argument or evidence.
Humanism
• Humanism is a philosophy of life inspired by humanity and guided
by reason. It provides the basis for a fulfilling and ethical life
without religion. Humanists make sense of the world using reason,
experience and shared human values.
• a doctrine, attitude, or way of life centred on human interests or
values; a philosophy that rejects supernaturalism and stresses an
individual’s dignity and worth and capacity for self-realisation
through reason (Merriam webster dictionary)
( see Hamlet and Ideology – Heejung Cha)
Features of Revenge Tragedy
The revenge tragedy play is a form of tragedy which was extremely popular in the
Elizabethan era. It includes;
• A secret murder, usually of a benign ruler by a bad one
• A ghostly visitation of the murder victim to a younger kinsman, generally a son
• A period of disguise, intrigue, or plotting, in which the murderer and the avenger
scheme against each other, with a slowly rising body count
• A descent into either real or feigned madness by the avenger
• An eruption of general violence at the end, which (in the Renaissance) is often
accomplished by means of a feigned masque ore festivity
• A catastrophe that generally decimates the dramatic personae including the avenger
• Personal revenge was forbidden both by the state and the church so Hamlet was
trapped in a dilemma. There could be no justice from the state, because the
murderer himself was now king. To take personal revenge meant eternal damnation
Dramatic Structure
The play focuses on character, rather than action (this is the reverse of the norm). It is
through the soliloquies, not the action, that the audience learns Hamlet’s motives and
thoughts.
• There is no strong subplot, all plot-forks directly connect to the main vein of Hamlet’s
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struggle for revenge
The play is full of seeming discontinuities and irregularities of action.
It contains a favourite Shakespearian device, a play within a play which takes up the
heart of Act 3.
• Conventional 5 Acts – the scenes provide contrast between courtly and humble life,
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and tragedy and humour
The 1st Act gives us nearly all the elements necessary to drive the plot. The 2nd Act
accelerates the action until the formidable explosions of the 3rd Act, which leads to
the tragic denouement of the 5th Act.
• It shows time passing eg. The prompt actions of Fortinbras and the prolonged
inactivity of Hamlet
Seven soliloquies – are centred on the most important existential
themes: the emptiness of existence, suicide, death, suffering, action, a
fear of death which puts off the most momentous decisions, the fear of
the beyond, the degradation of the flesh, the triumph of vice over
Virtue, the pride and hypocrisy of human beings, and the difficulty of
acting under the weight of a thought ‘which makes cowards of us
all’.
• The density of Hamlet’s thoughts is extraordinary. The language is
beautiful and not a word is wasted. His soliloquies are pieces of
pure poetry, written in blank verse, sustained by a rhythm not
smooth, not rugged, by a fast or a slow pace, offering us surprises
in every line.
• They are in effect the hidden plot of the play because , if one puts
them side by side, one notices that the character of Hamlet goes
through a development which, in substance, is nothing other than
the history of human thinking from the Renaissance to the
existentialism of the 20th century.
Act
Act
Act
Act
1,
1,
2,
3,
sc2, 129 – 158 (sullied flesh)
sc 5, 92 – 112 (host of heaven)
sc 2, 501 – 558 (what a rogue)
sc 1, 56 – 89 (to be)
Act 3, sc 2, 351 – 360 (witching time of night)
Act 3, sc 3, 73 – 95 (goes to heaven)
Act 4, sc 4, 32 - 66 (all occasions)
Four of the seven deserve special attention
• The first soliloquy is an outraged man who, disgusted by his ‘sullied
flesh’, can see no outcome to his disgust other than death.
• H’s attitude is different in ‘to be, or not to be’. He asks himself
about death beyond religious considerations; the nature of his
dilemma has changed.
The other two soliloquies reveal the passionate nature of H’s
personality.
• In Act 2, sc2, H is enraged, furious and rude. he lays himself totally
bare but he is no fool. Recovering his spirits he devises a plan which
will lead the king to betray himself. Sh. stamps H’s language with
relentless changes in tone, the peaks of rage inter-cut with short
moments of profound depression or of incredulous questioning.
• In Act 4, sc4 H, on the edge of despair, asks himself why he, when
he has so many reasons, cannot stir himself to action, why he can’t
carry out the necessary act of vengeance
(see notes from www.ulg.ac.be/libnet/germa/hamleteng.htm
)
LANGUAGE
• Much of the play’s language is courtly, elaborate, witty discourse
• Hamlet is the most skilled of all at rhetoric. He uses highly developed
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metaphors, anaphora, puns.
Puns are used to express his true thoughts while simultaneously concealing
them eg. “nunnery” remarks to Ophelia as nunnery is Elizabethan slang for
brothel. Many of Polonius’s speeches also cannot be fully understood until
one untangles the puns
Bombastic language full of hyperbole recalls traditional revenge tragedy eg.
‘Now I could drink hot blood’
Verse mingles with prose/dialogue/soliloquy – this change in language
embodies the changing emotional climate of the play and the characters
‘O what a peasant slave’ moves from self-condemnation, amazement,
anger, agonised self-accusation, impassioned fury, mocking and criticism,
deep reflection and determination
•Claudius high status is reinforced by using the royal
“we”/”us” and anaphora mixed with metaphor to resonate
with Greek political speeches
• Imagery – hunting, war, corruption/sickness, evil, rank, worms,
maggots etc
• Social corruption is implied in images of inner bodily corruption
• Lists – add force to argument, enrich atmosphere, amplify meaning
DIFFERENT FACES OF HAMLET
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
To some Hamlet reiterates a social archetype of masculinity found
everywhere: a figure of feeling, Hamlet transforms his grief and the
sense of human vulnerability it provokes in him into rage and
vengeance. When women figure in discussions of Hamlet, they
figure in the Oedipal sense as figures of male anxiety.
But this is only one perspective
Another perspective is to understand Hamlet, as well as the other
characters of the play, in ethical terms – that is, as figures of
community who could have made different choices. Who then
decides when violence is appropriate? Does the play help us in
imagining alternatives to the violence represented in the play and
which forms its resolution? What is the purpose of a world in which
violence is the inevitable end? Is it one we wish to celebrate?
See notes on Hamlet and the Columbine mass murders (Metzger to
continue this discussion)
What do you think about this perspective?
He “raise a sigh so piteous and profound / that it did seem to shatter all his
bulk/ And end his being” (2.1, 95-97)
The Hamlet in these lines admits a deep sense of grief and the human
vulnerability it illuminates. Unlike the rage into which he metamorphoses his
grief, such feeling draws him toward others, for only in shared vulnerability
is comfort. He is a figure of grief and loss, as are other important
characters such as Ophelia, Gertrude and Polonius. Ophelia turns inward,
her inability to resolve the contradictions that structure her sense of what
love entails resulting in insanity, Hamlet turns outward, attacking the living
signs of his own vulnerability in others. Both are figures of deep despair.
(see p.63 Metzger)
Does Shakespeare make clear Hamlet’s desire for a world where the strength
of relationship, of love and compassion, rather than the power to dominate,
secures the meaning of our existence…?
Sh. is exploring the vulnerability and fragility of the human psyche. through the
characterisation of the protagonist he invites responders to investigate the
propensity of humans to be undermined by despair and melancholy, and to
recognise the debilitating effects of these.
Some words for Hamlet, by
William Stafford
Listen – I lived by the river a long time:
none of the fish ever said anything. Hamlet,
calm down: your ghost has led you
over an edge.
You filed your tongue, those quiddities
a haunted mind can find, your hand a shadow
about the brow that stopped the sun,
your skull a grave.
Look- even in summer, now and then a leaf will fall.
Every mind, when it comes to that, is a haunted
mind. And even if your skull is a grave
you can’t bury the stars.