Bue
Markchner circa 1848.
At 08:04 AM 2/3/2003 +1000, you wrote:
>At 8:31 PM +0000 2/2/03, Robin Hamilton wrote:
>>My own overall take on the play is that it's about revenge vs. justice, with
>>a bit of politics thrown in. The triumvirate of Hamlet, Laertes, and
>>Fortinbras, all with dear slaughtered dads but with very different ways of
>>of engaging with their situation, shows a bit of this.
>
>I've read essays exploring the notion that Hamlet is the beginning of
>"modern" consciousness, a shift from the feudal notions of authority
>and self to individuality. It's interesting to compare Hamlet with
>the Oresteia, where action takes place clearly and is exterior. The
>cycle of murder/revenge murder /revenge murder goes all the way back
>to Tantalus, and the question of legitimacy is an engine for all the
>struggles in the house of Atreus - because they all have competing
>and valid claims - until the Eumenides are propitiated by Athena's
>justice, Orestes is relieved of his torment and the rule of
>patriachal law is instated in the play's resolution. In Hamlet, the
>revenge action is stymied by Hamlet's modern doubt, which extends to
>language, to the existence of his father's shade, the legitimacy of
>his revenge, and so on, questioning the whole basis of the feudal
>economy of action on which he is urged to act: and the tragedy moves
>inward. The result is of course catastrophe and there is no
>resolution. If you move further forward to Buchner, c. 1700, tragedy
>becomes wholly psychological - Lenz's imaginary murders and real
>madness; Woccek's madness, the result of his being "experimented" on
>by the doctor, his poverty and illiteracy, and his jealousy: an
>interior tragedy of implosive inaction. And the tragedy in Beckett
>is wholly interior and wholly negative: "There is no more painkiller".
>
>Best
>
>A
>--
>
>
>
>Alison Croggon
>Home page
>http://www.users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
>
>Masthead Online
>http://au.geocities.com/masthead_2/
|