Every story reflects the author's idea about a specific subject, being able to infer some characteristics of the author's life. In the article Hamlet and His Problems, T.S.Eliot focuses on the problems Shakespeare had, especially with making Hamlet. According to Eliot: "So far from being Shakespeare's masterpiece, the play is most certainly an artistic failure. In several ways the play is puzzling, and disquieting as is none of the others" (Hamlet and His Problems, Eliot). It is true that the rhyme and verses are not as perfect as in most of his other plays, but I don't think Shakespeare did a mistake. With this strange structure and puzzling events he created an environment of confusion in the reader, reflecting the state of Hamlet's mind. The constant confusion is present in Hamlet's mind and specifically in his relationship with women. He doesn't know whether his mother is in his side, supporting him like a mom is expected to, or in his uncle's side and being the accomplice of his father's death. If I was Hamlet in this case it would be very difficult for me to trust my mom. I know that she is my mom, but what I don't know is how much she prefers Claudius over me. It would be very confusing to be Hamlet, not being able to know who is in which side and ultimately who can he trust his secrets and be sure that they wouldn't be revealed to Claudius.
In this play there are only two women that constantly appear, Ophelia and Gertrude, and the way he interacts with them varies a lot. Hamlet when he talks to Ophelia he is in a constant tone change, talking smoothly to her about his problems and being kind to her, but rapidly shifting to an aggressive tone. While watching the documentary Discovering Hamlet,
the body language and tone the actors displayed when enacting certain roles, emphasized on their mood. 
The way the tone changed in the scene of Hamlet's soliloquy towards Ophelia was extreme. Starting by crying about his problems to her with a soft and gentle tone and rapidly changing by pushing her to the ground and shifting into an accusing tone. I don't really think that Hamlet should have pushed Ophelia to the ground because that is definitely not the way to treat a woman, but I do understand Hamlet's feelings. He has nobody to trust and just when he thinks that he has found that person, reality shows him that Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, one of the followers of his uncle. While facing his mother, he wields a dagger in his hand, making strong aggressive movements towards her as well as strong verbal attacks. In both occasions Hamlet has been blinded by anger and has simply forgotten that they are women, making him become more aggressive and menacing. On the other hand this could have been the natural way that Hamlet treated women, showing them his strength over them and making them obey his orders. Hamlet's actions towards women are not clear, but generally they could be described as aggressive and scarcely tolerant. If Ophelia wasn't the daughter of Polonius Hamlet's attitude towards her would be different because by the tone and corporal language he uses to talk to her, we can see that there is still some love towards her. The tone he uses towards Gertrude is very different, always aggressive and reproaching her actions.
We already know Hamlet's relationship with women, but how about Shakespeare's. If I were to predict Shakespeare's relationship with women I would say it would be troubled and a lot like Hamlet's. According to the article
The Material And Sources Of Dreams : "this as proof that he wishes any of them dead now. The theory of dreams does not go as far as to require this; it is satisfied with concluding that the dreamer has wished them dead at some time or other during his childhood" (The Material And Sources Of Dreams). According
to this theory, at any moment that one hates someone and wishes this person's death, this event could become reality but in a dream. Hamlet's relationship with death in the story is clearly directed towards Claudius. I wonder if at any moment he dreamed of his mother's death. Maybe Shakespeare had these kinds of dreams with his mother and didn't have a good relationship with women, expressing his relationship with his mother and women through Hamlet's relationship with Gertrude and Ophelia. After reading this article, there was a question that was left unanswered. Are there any cases where someone has killed a person, and prior to that dreamed about this killing? Did Claudius dream about killing his brother? The fighting of brothers is also expressed by saying "Let us first of all consider the relation of children to their brothers and sisters. I do not know why we presuppose that it must be a loving one, since examples of enmity among adult brothers and sisters are frequent in everyone's experience" (The Material And Sources Of Dreams). I think that this fact may answer my question, meaning that Claudius and Hamlet's father probably had fights in their childhood, wishing the death of the other. The difference in this case with most of the cases in the world is that Claudius did end up killing his brother. In fact I have experienced small fights with my sister when I was little, and a while ago I dreamed that one night that a tornado came destroying my house and taking my whole family with it. It is not a current wish I have but probably in my childhood I was mad one day at my whole family and that dream was born from that instant of anger.
Venturesome
Paranoia
Piety
Sporadic
Intractability
Bafflement
No comments:
Post a Comment