Some Thoughts on Hamlet

Currently in my Literature and Visual Arts class we are watching a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I haven’t read the play in a while so watching the movie—especially this excellent adaptation by Kenneth Branagh—just rekindles my wonder of it. What struck me this time, more so than before, is how similar the questions and ideas are to the 20th century paradigm of Existentialism. It is not merely the famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy that conjures up existentialist ideas; but especially Act 5, Scene 1 in the graveyard where Hamlet considers the fate of such greats as Alexander and Julius Caesar:

To what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why may
not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander,
till he find it stopping a bung-hole?

He continues:

Alexander died, Alexander was buried,
Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of
earth we make loam; and why of that loam, whereto he
was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel?
Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away:
O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the winter flaw

We all, even history’s giants, die and “returneth into dust,” which in turn becomes clay that “Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.”

The existentialist seeks personal meaning in his life. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, reflects on Alexander the Great, the once Prince of Greece. Few, if any, princes achieved what Alexander achieved, so it makes sense that Hamlet would look up to Alexander. The Grecian Prince models all that a young prince should be: brave, decisive, determined. Qualities Hamlet struggles with. But even with these princely virtues, the Great Alexander still died. What’s the ultimate meaning Alexander achieved, if all that his remains are good for is to “stop a beer-barrel?”

I’m considering writing an essay on “an existentialist reading of Hamlet”; probably for pyp online. I’m also curious about the references to Protestantism, in what seems to be a setting coloured mostly by Catholicism. Is the reason for Hamlet’s pensive disposition the fact that he attended university in Wittenburg – the university where Martin Luther was a doctor?

Should we read something from this allusion to Protestantism? Is Hamlet in his sphere paralleling Luther in his? As Luther was a reluctant protester against the corrupt Church, so Hamlet is a reluctant protester against the corrupt Danish monarchy. In both cases events and circumstances push these protagonists to action.

Just before Hamlet agrees to the dual with Laertes, he states this haunting phrase: “There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” Haunting, yes, but it also reveals a certain trust—an acceptance of his fate, be it ill or fortunate. This sparrow reference is an allusion to the words of Jesus: “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God . . . Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 5:6, 7). That a prince should compare himself to sparrows, and yet find comfort in it!

I’m anew roused to the mastery of Shakespeare—and of this play. Here I am in the year 2010, and I stand at awe before something written 400 years ago, long before antibiotics, cars, the microchip, aeroplanes, typewriters or keyboards, or any of the things we think so crucial to our lives. Yet this play has the ability to resonate with me in ways that little of these current necessities have the capability of doing.