My Take - Hamlet

Is Shakespeare the greatest playwright that ever trod the earth? Well, this is a very contentious question and the answers oscillate between the extremities of the opinion spectrum. However, the bottom-line is not finding the absolute answer to the question rather the fact that Shakespeare continues to pervade the collective conscience even in the 21^st century. I have always found myself confused regarding the literary genius of Shakespeare, because I hitherto could not understand the texts which brim with plethora of voices. I have been trained to think in binaries, that is either the text is something or it isn’t. But Shakespeare is filled with the grey area, with an ambiguity that defies all the binaries. It is only when one acknowledges the ambiguity of Shakespeare does one truly begins to appreciate his literary genius.

Hamlet is not (literally) my first encounter with Shakespeare. Being an English major student, I have read a few of his other works. But, Hamlet is my first Shakespearean experience that I have truly appreciated and enjoyed. Shakespeare presents the reality of humankind, its triumphs, failures, follies, geniuses, flaws and perfection through the mirror of his words. I am amazed to discover that there are so many simultaneous voices throughout the play, sometimes drowning each other and sometimes strengthening each other but all waiting to be heard and acknowledged. That is why Hamlet or Shakespeare can never be obliterated by the scythe of time because he continues to speak to us. Shakespeare is unique to each of us just as Hamlet is.

What really amazed me about Hamlet was his thorough and penetrating insight. He can look right into the essence of things without being ‘distracted’ by the appearance of things. As we know that Renaissance glorified the human, human was the embodiment of perfection and human was the centre of the universe. Hence, it was a commending feat on Shakespeare’s part to break free of the fetters of humanist thought. The perfect specimen of creation: man is nothing more than a handful of dust to Hamlet. When the social and intellectual milieu prized the preciousness of human life, Hamlet did not shy away from proclaiming that human body after it ceases to live is nothing more than a meal to the worms, indeed a pathetic end to the glorious human life. In Hamlet there is a profound emphasis on the materialist view of life, that is death, the ultimate truth is seen as an absolute cessation of life rather than as a portal for afterlife. In emphasising the inevitability of death and its indiscriminating consequence, Hamlet proclaims the inherent equality of all human lives, by reducing Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to mere clumps of dust, a fate shared by the humblest of human beings.

I have read Hamlet and The Wasteland in close proximity and I am amazed to see the common concern, which is the desolation and meaninglessness of life being shared by both the texts which are separated by three centuries from each other. I think that is the essence and beauty of art. Here I would differ from Keats’ opinion that art is silent and frozen in time, I feel that art is dynamic and continues to mould itself according to changing times, and rather than being silent it is vocal in that it continues to speak for itself by changing its voice to suit the changing times. Hence, Hamlet and The Wasteland, the two literary gems are dynamic and speak to the conscience of each reader of different eras rather than being literary pieces frozen in time. And they are considered to be literary masterpieces because they dynamically mould themselves to resonate in each succeeding era.

As I said that there are plethora of voices in Hamlet and each reader hears and acknowledges the one that most appeals to them. I have come across many psychoanalytical criticisms of Hamlet which claim that Hamlet procrastinated because he suffered from Oedipus complex. While other readings eulogize the failed and tragic love story of Ophelia and Hamlet. But I felt that Hamlet procrastinated because he had an insight into the ultimate meaninglessness of life. Hence, all these tropes of revenge, honour, etc. are nothing but means of self-aggrandisement underlining the folly and narcissist tendency of humankind. Thus, one cannot expect an erudite and profound thinker to indulge in such self-aggrandising follies who can see the ultimate meaninglessness of it all. Also, instead of fawning over Hamlet and Ophelia’s tragic love story, the implicit yet profound love of Horatio and Hamlet appealed to me. Horatio’s final farewell to Hamlet is sure to rend everyone’s heart including those who dismiss their love as mere friendship.

“Now cracks a noble heart.—Good night, sweet prince,

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”

Hamlet is at his most ease when he is with Horatio. It is only with Horatio that Hamlet can speak his mind and be relaxed. Don’t we all let down our guards and be ourselves when we are with our loved ones? After all, it is only in love that we can afford the luxury to speak our mind without worrying about its consequences, just as Hamlet did when he was with Horatio. Hamlet and Horatio shared a relaxed, laid back, relation where they always got each other’s back, and if this beautiful reliance on each other is not love, then I know not what is.

That’s the beauty of Hamlet, everybody reads his story in their own unique way. And Hamlet’s last wish to let the world hear his tale is being fulfilled in myriad unique ways. His tale has been, is being and will be retold but no two tellings will be bear absolute resemblance to each other, perhaps except the fact that we all have loved Hamlet and felt pity for his being trapped in an ‘insanely’ cruel, selfish world. Hamlet will outlive all of us to tell his tale, but not as an obsolete character frozen in time rather as a dynamic man whose story will appeal differently to different people in different eras.

I end my review of this literary masterpiece with one of my favourite lines from the text:

            “There’s a special providence in the fall of a

sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come. If

it be not to come, it will be now. If it be

not now, yet it will come—the readiness

is all. Since no man of aught he leaves

knows, what is ’t to leave betimes?”

Reading Hamlet was an incomparable experience, one that is to be cherished forever. Though I agree with Hamlet that man is nothing more than a handful of dust yet reading it makes me proud of human genius. It makes me gloat, “What a piece of work is a man!”

My rating – A perfect 5 star to this literary gem.