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Historic Hamlet Criticisms

Historic Hamlet Criticisms. Voltaire (1748). Vulgar and barbarous drama Imagine it the work of a drunken savage Parts worthy of genius. Samuel Johnson (1765). Hamlet is barbaric The barbarity expressed in the prayer scene is unworthy of any human being.

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Historic Hamlet Criticisms

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  1. Historic Hamlet Criticisms

  2. Voltaire (1748) • Vulgar and barbarous drama • Imagine it the work of a drunken savage • Parts worthy of genius

  3. Samuel Johnson (1765) • Hamlet is barbaric • The barbarity expressed in the prayer scene is unworthy of any human being.

  4. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1795-1796) • “a heavy deed placed on a soul which is not adequate to cope with it.” • “an oak tree planted in a precious pot which should only have held delicate flowers. The roots spread out, the vessel is shattered.” • Hamlet is unable to cope with the news. • When he realizes this, he breaks the “pot” in which he is confined. • Is Hamlet the pot? • Fine, pure, noble, highly moral person • Lacks emotional strength • The impossible is asked of him – not impossible for all, just impossible for him

  5. August Wilhelm Schlegel (1809) • Tragedy of thought • Highly cultivated mind • Weakness: compares himself unfavorably to Hercules • Hercules’ physical strength • Hamlet’s lack of physical/real strength • Hamlet has “no firm belief either in himself or in anything else”

  6. Hartley Coleridge (1828) • Hamlet is “a habitual dweller with his own thoughts.” • He prefers “the possible to the real.” • “More a thinker than a doer.”

  7. Herman Ulrici (1839) • Hamlet is a character “beset with moral doubts” • “Struggle between Christian and Natural man” • Saw both Goethe and Schelgel as too extreme

  8. Victor Hugo (1864) • Hamlet = Adam • Hamlet is Hesitation • Hamlet’s obstacle is internal; he seeks to conquer self. • Prince/demagogue; sagacious/extravagant, profound/frivolous, man/neuter • “In it man is the world, and the world is zero.” • “Hamlet is the supreme tragedy of the human dream.” • Hamlet conceals his person. • Hamlet represents all. – “I recognize a brother.”

  9. Friederich Nietzsche (1872) • German philosopher – very pessimistic • Rejects Coleridge’s view • Instead, Hamlet’s a Dionysian character – someone who resists reason • He’s aware of the futility of action in a world that is “out of joint”

  10. Sigmund Freud (1900) • Hamlet suffers from the Oedipus complex • “Hamlet is himself no better than the man he wishes to kill” • Revenge is replaced by “samples of conscience” • He identifies with Claudius, can’t kill him

  11. Rebecca West (1957) • Hamlet has been misread. (218) • There is no sign in the text that he was averse from any action even in the most violent kind. (218) • Hamlet is universal. (218) We all sympathize with Hamlet because we all recognize an attribute of his in ourselves? • So Hamlet is ourselves at our most attractive. (218) • Hamlet was, indeed, an exceptionally callous murderer. (219) • He can kill only on his own behalf. (219) • Only when an offense is against him (219) Hamlet is a bad man in a bad world.

  12. West (cont.) • Ghost = Ridiculous • Inconsistency of world – Polonius doesn’t have a Ghost (BUT IS THE WORLD CONSISTENT?) • Tradition is the distillation of human experience, and it must be condemned if humanity is condemned, and Hamlet was disgusted by his own kind. (219)

  13. Not a chaste young woman (219) • Tolerance of Hamlet’s obscene behavior (219) • Disreputable young woman, not scandalous, though • “card that can be played to take several sorts of tricks” (219) • Model for other young not-so-innocent martyrs • Axe never knew chivalry • Ophelia lost her integrity • Court robbed her of honesty • She found herself without protection (father dead by Hamlet) • She did not kill herself at all Each of them has helped to dig the girl’s grave She was a victim of society.

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