 | Hamlet: Encyclopedia II - Hamlet - Hamlet as a Problem Play
Hamlet - Hamlet as a Problem Play
Hamlet as a play is without doubt the most discussed play in the whole of Shakespeare's oeuevre, or, to quote from Harry Levin, "the most problematic play ever written by Shakespeare or any other playwright". Few will dispute that the body of criticism of the play is the most extensive in the history of world literature, and that almost every critic of note has had their say on the work.
Hamlet - Hamlet as a character
Like the play itself, Hamlet the character is possibly the most discussed and contentious character in the whole of world drama and indeed in the whole of Western literature. While conceding he is one of Shakespeare's greatest creations, critics are at loggerheads over the inner motivations and psyche of this character. His relationships with the various characters of the story, including his father, his uncle Claudius, his mother Gertrude and his beloved Ophelia, have all been subjected to multiple speculations, including modern psychological theories. Critics as varied as Goethe, Coleridge, Hegel, Schegel, Nietzsche, Turgenev, Freud, T. S. Eliot, and Asimov have written essays on him, all with their own special insights. J. Dover Wilson produced one of the most influential readings of the first half of the 20th century; Harold Bloom was dominant in the second half. Besides being Shakespeare's most demanding role (with over 1,400 lines), Hamlet is also the most introspective. Actors have traditionally struggled with this role, and it can be safely said that any one performance can capture only some of the many facets of the creation.
The plot summary above presents perhaps the simplest view of Hamlet, as a person seeking truth in order to be certain that he is justified in carrying out the revenge called for by a ghost that claims to be the spirit of his father. The most standard view is that Hamlet is highly indecisive, which is the view as proposed by Coleridge and a number of other critics. "Shakespeare wished to impress upon us the truth, that action is the chief end to existence". The 1948 movie with Laurence Olivier in the title role is introduced by a voiceover: "This is a story of a man who could not make up his mind."
Others see Hamlet as a person charged to carry out a duty that he both knows and feels is right, yet is unwilling to. In this view, all of his efforts to satisfy himself of King Claudius' guilt or his failure to act when he can are evidence of this unwillingness, and Hamlet berates himself for his inability to carry out his task. After observing a play-actor performing a scene, he notes that the actor was moved to tears in the passion of the story and compares this passion for a fictional character, Hecuba, in light of his own situation:
"O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wan'd;
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing!
For Hecuba?
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her?" [...]
And he acknowledges to himself the terrible deed he must avenge, yet responds only with words:
"Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
[...]
But I am pigeon-liver'd, and lack gall
[...]
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words"
[Act II, sc. ii]
Hamlet's verbose and painful analyses of his situation and actions encourage many others to see his struggle as something far more existential in nature, having less to do with the revenge drama than with the human condition.
"The time is out of joint: Oh cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right."
[Act I, sc. v]
Another view of Hamlet, advanced by Isaac Asimov in his Guide to Shakespeare, holds that his actions are attributable not to indecision, but to multiple motivations: his desire to avenge the wrong done to his father, coupled with his own ambition to succeed to the throne. The tragic error committed by Hamlet, in Asimov's view, is his overreaching wish to see Claudius damned, and not merely dead, which prevents him from killing Claudius at the opportune moment.
Hamlet's hesitations may also be rooted in the religious beliefs of Shakespeare's time. The Reformation had generated debate about the existence of purgatory (where King Hamlet claims he currently resides). The concept of purgatory is a Catholic one, and was frowned on in Protestant England. A devout Protestant might therefore presume the Ghost to be a spirit from Hell that must be ignored.
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 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Hamlet as a Problem Play", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
