The following post is incomplete, due to the fact, I've recently lost my college flash drive during my move to California. Nevertheless, I know this is a change from my other post on this blog; however, I feel this piece adds a needed element to my other writings that are posted on the blog. Enjoy!
Hamlet by William Shakespeare, is a story of revenge, betrayal and deception that takes place in a Danish court of King Hamlet who dies suddenly and is replaced by his brother Claudius, who then marries Gertrude, the king’s widow. The tale centers on the reaction of King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude’s son, Hamlet. The grieving young prince who is repulsed by his mother perceived incestuous marriage to his uncle and is further distraught when he discovers through the revelation of his father’s Ghost, that his father was assassinated by his uncle. The duration of the play is the account of deception between a guilty, murderous uncle and a grief stricken, cunning son who is seeks revenge for slain father.
In the analysis of the play, this paper will employ the theories of Simon de Beauvoir with the school of Feminism, Karl Marx and Marxist theory, Plato and Platonic views on madness and lastly, the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud. The uses of these theories and the views of the theorist associated with them, will help give analysis to ecstasy or madness of Hamlet, the misogynistic treatment of the women of Hamlet, particularly of the green maiden, Ophelia and lastly rampant moral corruption and deceit that lies in the Danish court donning of symbolic Fennel.
Throughout Hamlet, the protagonist Hamlet is portrayed as being in a state of insanity or madness; however, contrary to the belief of those around him, Hamlet appears very insane. In fact, one could argue that Hamlet has created a ruse of madness to disguise his true attentions of exacting revenge against his uncle Claudius. In the play, Hamlet states to Guildenstern in act two, “I am not but mad north-north west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw” (2.2.403). Here Hamlet clarifies that he is sane even if his behavior appears to be insane and with the expression, “mad north-north west,” and “I know a hawk from a handsaw,” he is declaring that if he is mad it is at certain times. In addition, Hamlet offers up a proverb with the “hawk and handsaw,” which is meant to illustrate he has the ability to discern the difference between objects that are false and ones that are true (Shakespeare 106).
Likewise, Hamlet’s alleged insanity could be inferred as a sense of awareness of deception and corruption around him, after he received revelation of his father’s betrayal from his father’s ghost. In Plato’s Republic, the in-historic Socrates explains that once an individual is exposed to knowledge or light, then he will appear different or even strange to individuals who are still in the dark or simply ignorant. The in-historic Socrates states:
Imagine someone returning to the human world and all its misery after contemplating the divine realm. Do you think it’s surprising if he seems awkward and ridiculous while he’s still not seeing well, before he’s had time to adjust to the darkness of his situation (Plato 63)?
Therefore, Hamlet’s madness through the Platonic lens is interpreted as insight into the true nature of his court and of his king. For example, when Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father and learns of his betrayal and assignation by the hands of Claudius, and of Claudius seduction of his mother. Here, he is brought into the light of the nature of his court and true character of his uncle. After Hamlet learns of his father’s murder, he states:
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables – meet it is I set it down
That one may smile and smile and be a villain.
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word
It is “adieu, adieu, remember me.”
I have sworn it. (1.5. 113-17).
In this passage, Hamlet express his revulsion with both his mother and his uncles, but more importantly, he reveals that revenge against his uncle is now his mission with the phrase, “I have sworn it.” By Hamlet, learning of the treacherous way in which his father died, he is freed from the ignorance of the lies of Claudius, and is now knowledgeable to the levels his uncle will take to have power.
In Hamlet, the women characters are frequently victimized, viewed with contempt and bounded to gross double standards by either male relatives or their lovers. Further, the treatment of the women of Hamlet allows for Feminist criticism, especially in understanding the gender dynamics in the relationships of Ophelia and her father, Polonius, in that of Ophelia and her lover, Hamlet and lastly, in the bizarre subtleties of Hamlet and Queen Gertrude’s relationship.
In the play, Polonius, a favorite of King Claudius, scolds his daughter Ophelia after he learns through court gossip, that Hamlet and her are having a sexual relationship. He states, “Affection, Puh! You speak like a green girl, Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. Do you believe his “tenders,” as you call them” (1.3.110-13)? In “Second Sex,” Simone De Beauvoir offers an explanation of the double standards in which the women of Hamlet are judged. In her treatise, she states that womanhood is shrouded in myths, and that these myths perpetuate the separation of humanity into two classes (De Beauvoir 1265). The purpose of mystifying women is to avoid authentic understanding of women as human with the same qualities and flaws of men. Further, the myths help perpetuate misogyny because it limits the roles that women can fulfill in society, mainly a woman is either a whore or saint. She states:
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| De Beauvoir is on the right. |
As group symbols and social types are generally defined by means of antonyms in pairs, ambivalence will seem to be an intrinsic quality of the Eternal Feminine. The Saintly mother has for correlative the cruel stepmother, the angelic young girl has the perverse virgin: thus it will be said sometimes that Mother equals Life, sometimes that Mother equals Death, that every virgin is pure spirit or flesh dedicated to the devil (De Beauvoir 1266).
This dichotomy of womanhood permeates all of Hamlet. Furthermore, Hamlet is the main perpetuator of this misogynistic altitudes towards Ophelia, but more importantly, his mother.
For instance, when Hamlet comes back from his encounter with his father’s ghost, he is suspicious of everyone in his court and of their actions, this is apparent in his ill-treatment of Ophelia, when she attempts to return love letters written to her by Hamlet, back to him. Hamlet either in attempts to further his reputation of madness or in his displeasure of Polonius trying to manipulate the prince via his daughter, launches into a tirade against Ophelia, that essential portrays her as a whore. Hamlet states:
I have heard of your paintings {too} well enough.
God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves
Another. You jig and amble, and you (lisp ;) You nickname
God’s creatures and make your wantonness {your} ignorance.
Go to, I’ll no more on’t. It hath made me mad.
(3.1. 154-9).
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