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Hamlets Delay

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Hazard so dangerous as doth hourly grow. Out of his lunacies. Act 3, scene 3, lines 1-6 ... inaction in a world which prizes action [like Claudius, Laertes, and ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Hamlets Delay


1
Hamlets Delay
  • 4 Theories

2
1 George Lyman Kittredgelegendary Harvard
professor
  • Hamlets excuses are the real reasons
  • While Ss audiences believed in ghosts they
    also associated them with Satanic influence
  • Hamlet acknowledges this before he encounters the
    ghost

3
The ghost may be the devil
  • Angels and ministers of grace defend us!Be thou
    a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,Bring with
    thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,Be thy
    intents wicked or charitable,Thou comest in such
    a questionable shapeThat I will speak to thee
    I'll call thee Hamlet,King, father, royal Dane
    O, answer me!
  • Act 1, scene 4

4
Kittredges theory
  • It is not until the conclusion of the play with
    the play in Act 3, that Hamlet can be sure that
    Claudius is guilty
  • But thats the same impetus which tells Claudius
    he needs to be careful.

5
He speeds up Hs departure for England
  • I like him not, nor stands it safe with usTo let
    his madness range. Therefore prepare youI your
    commission will forthwith dispatch,And he to
    England shall along with youThe terms of our
    estate may not endureHazard so dangerous as doth
    hourly growOut of his lunacies.
  • Act 3, scene 3, lines 1-6

6

Kittredges theory
  • Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety, --
    Which we do tender, as we dearly grieveFor that
    which thou hast done, -- must send thee
    henceWith fiery quickness therefore prepare
    thyselfThe bark is ready, and the wind at
    help,The associates tend, and every thing is
    bentFor England. Act 4, scene 3

7
And, He makes his departure permanent
  • And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught --
    As my great power thereof may give thee
    sense,Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and
    redAfter the Danish sword, and thy free awePays
    homage to us -- thou mayst not coldly setOur
    sovereign process which imports at full,By
    letters congruing to that effect,The present
    death of Hamlet. Do it, England
  • Act 4, scene 3

8
  • He hires new Swiss guards
  • Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door.
  • Act 4, scene 4

Yes, those Swiss guards!
9
So. . .
  • Hamlet has only a short time between the
    mousetrap which reveals Claudiuss guilt and
    his departure for England. By the time he
    returns, Claudius has taken special precautions
    to protect himself.
  • But even within that narrow window of
    opportunity Hamlet has a perfect chance to kill
    Claudius

10
The scene while hes praying
  •  Now might I do it pat, now he is prayingAnd
    now I'll do't. And so he goes to heavenAnd so
    am I revenged. A villain kills my father and
    for that,I, his sole son, do this same villain
    send to heaven.O, this is hire and salary, not
    revenge.Up, sword and know thou a more horrid
    hentWhen he is drunk asleep, or in his rage,Or
    in the incestuous pleasure of his bedAt gaming,
    swearing, or about some actThat has no relish of
    salvation in'tThen trip him, that his heels may
    kick at heaven,And that his soul may be as
    damn'd and blackAs hell, whereto it goes. My
    mother staysThis physic but prolongs thy sickly
    days.

11
Kittredges theory
  • So once again, he is deflected from his purpose
    if you believe his words here are sincere
  • And has no other chance until his return from
    England by which time the situation has spun out
    of his control

12
Hamlets Delay, part 2
  • The Coleridge and Goethe interpretations

13
Hamlets Delay, part 2
  • Logical as it seems the Kittredge explanation has
    some serious weaknesses.
  • While its true Hamlet acknowledges the
    possibility that the ghost may be a demon, he
    never mentions this again after the ghost appears.

14
Hamlets Delay, part 2
  • Actually, the ghost seems to have banished all
    doubts and H. is resolute when it leaves
  • Remember thee!Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory
    holds a seatIn this distracted globe. Remember
    thee!Yea, from the table of my memoryI'll wipe
    away all trivial fond records,All saws of books,
    all forms, all pressures past,That youth and
    observation copied thereAnd thy commandment all
    alone shall liveWithin the book and volume of my
    brain,Unmix'd with baser matter yes, by heaven!
  • Act 1, scene 5

15
Hamlets Delay, part 2
  • Hamlet doesnt mention the ghost-devil nexus
    until Act 3 (2 months later on) after he has hit
    upon the idea of tricking Claudius with the
    actors performance.
  • The spirit that I have seenMay be the devil and
    the devil hath powerTo assume a pleasing shape
    yea, and perhapsOut of my weakness and my
    melancholy,As he is very potent with such
    spirits,Abuses me to damn me I'll have
    groundsMore relative than this the play 's the
    thingWherein I'll catch the conscience of the
    king.
  • Act 2, scene 2

16
Hamlets Delay, part 2
  • In other words, theres no questioning the
    ghosts authenticity until after Hs thought of a
    new test
  • And the musing over the defenseless Claudiuss
    soul also falters under close examination

17
  •  Now might I do it pat, now he is prayingAnd
    now I'll do't. And so he goes to heavenAnd so
    am I revenged.
  • Then H explains about not sending C. to heaven.
    But notice the verb might its actually a past
    tense of may. To say now I may do it allows
    that the action is potential in the future. But
    when might is used it means the action has
    already been foreclosed, as in I might have done
    it, but Im not gonna
  • So again H. rules out killing C. then gives a
    reason, a rationalization of why he hasnt acted
    and isnt.
  • And how convincing is Hs concern for Cs
    damnation? his obligation only extends to this
    life.

18
Coleridge and Goethe
  • Two 19th century poets/critics find the answer in
    a defect of Hamlets character
  • He is too sensitive, civilized
    philosophical, intellectual, too fragile,
    or contemplative, or gentle, oranalytical.
  • Whatever term is used the idea is that H. is just
    not the right personality to commit cold-blooded
    hands-on murder even if its justified.

19
Coleridge and Goethe
  • At the same time, H. is not ready to challenge
    the traditional mores of the time which demand he
    seek retribution for the murder of his father
  • He is trapped, then, between a medieval culture
    which demands revenge, and a modern Rennaisance
    sensibility which is squeamish about violence

20
Coleridge and Goethe
  • More accurate than saying H. has a defect in his
    character, we may say theres an incongruency
    between the job to be done and the personality of
    the man designated to do it
  • He is a man of inaction in a world which prizes
    action like Claudius, Laertes, and especially
    Fortinbras
  • The only main character less active than H. is
    Horatio, who listens and watches but never really
    does anything effective

21
Coleridge and Goethe
  • So, according to this theory, one little voice
    says, I must, and an exactly equal voice says,
    I cant.
  • So there is vacillation forth and back, promise,
    then paralysis, then re-dedication, then
    frustration and self reproach, then more
    commitment, more procrastination, and before you
    know it

22
Coleridge and Goethe
  • Its 3 hours later, Act 5, two months, and 8 dead
    bodies before
  • Coats, please!

23
Coleridge and Goethe
  • The problem with these interps of H. lies in the
    claim that H. is not given to quick, decisive
    action.
  • And while theres plenty of evidence to
    illustrate that, theres also some contradictory
    evidence that cannot be ignorede

24
Coleridge and Goethe
  • sselH. rushes after the ghost in Act I with great
    impetuosity
  • He is quick to see the use to which he can put
    the actors and acts swiftly to implemetn his plan
  • When aroused by his mother in Act 4, he stabs the
    intruder to her bedroom
  • He is quick and certain when he changes the
    orders R G deliver to England

25
Coleridge and Goethe
  • When the pirates attack his England-bound vessel,
    he acts with bravery and celerity to make his
    escape.
  • So it seems that at least some of the time he can
    act expeditiously, even recklessly, but at other
    times he seems frozen into non-action.
  • How might we explain this? Hmmmm. . .

26
A. C. Bradley
  • For this theory we turn to the late 19th century
    Shakespearean critic, A. C. Bradley
  • Bradley introduces the modern psychological
    condition known as manic-depression or as it is
    commonly know today bipolar disorder
  • Bi-polar sufferers have wide seldom predicatble
    mood swings sometimes manic, meaning active,
    talkative, impulsive, hyperactive

27
A. C. Bradley
  • But at other times the bipolar patient swings low
    into depression withdrawn, lethargic,
    uncommunicative, sad
  • This theory explains H.s variation of mood and
    his vacillating behavior with respect to killing
    Claudius

28
A. C. Bradley
  • The usual objection to the Bradley thesis is that
    psychological pathologies were not available in
    1600, so how could S. have known about manic
    depression?
  • But this begs the question He need not have
    known a medical disagnosis to be able to discern
    a characteristic human behavior

29
A. C. Bradley
  • Shakespeare merely observed human behavior and
    wrote about what he saw.
  • And there have always been manic-depressives
    around it just took until the 20th century to
    put a scientific name on what S. saw around him

30
A. C. Bradley
  • Actually, bipolar disorder is pretty common in
    the US alone in one year (2005) doctors wrote 118
    million prescriptions for Prozac, Zoloft and
    other anti-dpressent medications.
  • To me this is the best explanation around to tell
    us why Hamlet is Hamlet, the prince of
    procrastination

31
A. C. Bradley
  • The national expert on bipolar disorder is a
    Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison.
  • One of her books, Touched with Fire, theorizes
    that many of the greatest creative minds in
    history manifested symptoms of bipolar disorder,
    going a long way toward understanding what has
    long been thought of as the artistic temperment.

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