Vol. 26 No. 17 · 2 September 2004
pages 19-23 | 7998 words
Whirligig
Barbara Everett on Hamlet
‘Hamlet’ is perhaps the most popular literary work ever put down on paper. This does not necessarily make it any easier to see clearly, or to come to terms with intellectually. This is especially so in a period when scholars say that there is no Hamlet, clear or not: there are only the incompatible early editions and the abundance of theatre productions ever since. I think myself that Hamlet exists; that Shakespeare’s first major tragedy has through all its forms a character so definite as to constitute something real and singular. Certainly, an event hit the English stage for the first time around 1600 that not only revolutionised revenge drama but made a difference to a powerful amount that has been written or staged since.
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Letters
Vol. 26 No. 18 · 23 September 2004
From Julian Rathbone
Barbara Everett suggests that the key word in 'To be or not to be' is 'nobler' (LRB, 2 September). Earlier she drew attention to Hamlet's status as a student, and I think that is relevant here, too. University students were accustomed to debate 'questions' as exercises in rhetoric and logic, and a case can be made that this speech is a performance, in the style of a student, perhaps put on for the benefit of Claudius and Polonius. The speech would not, then, be performed introspectively, but with relish at its formal but improvised cleverness, a presentation designed to demonstrate persuasiveness and logic and leading to a conclusion: 'Enterprises of great pitch and moment … turn awry.' He could thereby signal to the hidden listeners that he has no immediate plan against the king, perhaps to lull them into a false sense of security.
The conclusion 'Soft you now,/The fair Ophelia' has never struck me as being easily spoken to himself alone. A nod in the direction of the listeners – you knew she was here all along and so did I – would be a more interesting way of rounding it off than the usual sort of 'well well, what have we here?'
Julian Rathbone
Thorney Hill, Dorset
