Hamlets Delay

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Hamlets Delay

• 4 Theories

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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

Yes, those Swiss guards!
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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

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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.

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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

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Hamlets Delay, part 2

• The Coleridge and Goethe interpretations

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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•  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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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Coleridge and Goethe

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

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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

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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

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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. . .

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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