HAMLET

Hamlet

Hamlet

Hamlet, has remained the most perplexing, as well as the most popular, of Shakespeare's tragedies. This paper discusses this great play. Whether considered as literature, philosophy, or drama, its artistic stature is universally admitted. To explain the reasons for its excellence in a few words, however, is a daunting task. Apart from the matchless artistry of its language, the play's appeal rests in large measure on the character of Hamlet himself. Called upon to avenge his father's murder, he is compelled to face problems of duty, morality, and ethics, which have been human concerns through the ages. Yet the play has tantalized critics with what has become known as the Hamlet mystery, that of Hamlet's complex behaviour, most notably his indecision and his reluctance to act. (Hopkins 2005:22-51)

Freudian critics have located his motivation in the psychodynamic triad of the father-mother-son relationship. According to this view, Hamlet is disturbed and eventually deranged by his Oedipal jealousy of the uncle who has done what, we are to believe, all sons long to do themselves. Other critics have taken the more conventional tack of identifying as Hamlet's tragic flaw the lack of courage or moral resolution. In this view, Hamlet's indecision is a sign of moral ambivalence that he overcomes too late.

Both of these views presuppose a precise discovery of Hamlet's motivation. However, Renaissance drama is not generally a drama of motivation either by psychological set or moral predetermination. Rather, the tendency is to present characters with well-delineated moral and ethical dispositions who are faced with dilemmas. It is the outcome of these conflicts, the consequences, that normally hold centre stage. What Shakespeare presents in Hamlet, is an agonizing confrontation between the will of a good and intelligent man and the uncongenial role—that of avenger—that fate calls upon him to play. (Hopkins 2005:22-51)

The role of avenger is a familiar one in Renaissance drama. In the opening description of Hamlet as bereft by the death of his father and distressed by his mother's hasty marriage, Shakespeare creates the ideal candidate to assume such a role. Hamlet's despondency need not be Oedipal to explain the extremity of his grief. His father, whom he deeply loved and admired, is recently deceased and he himself seems to have been robbed of his birthright. Shakespeare points to Hamlet's shock at Gertrude's disrespect to the memory of his father rather than his love for his mother as the source of his distress. Hamlet's suspicion is reinforced by the ghostly visitation and the revelation of murder.

If Hamlet had simply proceeded to act out the avenger role assigned to him, the play would have lacked the moral and theological complexity that provides its special fascination. Hamlet has, after all, been a student of theology at Wittenberg, and his knowledge complicates the situation. His accusation of incest is not an adolescent excess but an accurate theological description of a marriage between a widow and her dead husband's brother. Moreover, Hamlet's theological accomplishments do more than exacerbate his ...