HAMLET & THE NECESSARY COMPOST OF THE IMAGINATION
In early variorum editions of Hamlet, one finds that some readers/critics took an approach to the plays that tried to decipher which single historical figure seemed to be represented by which character in the play:
Many thought Hamlet a stand-in for Sir Philip Sidney, or Essex, etc.
But it seems more accurate to say that Shakespeare made composite characters, combining features of various historical figures; he also split up qualities of historical figures among various characters.
So “decoding” usually falls very short, plagued by a kind of celebrity-reductionist mentality, a People Magazine approach to interpreting the plays.
This sense of fracturing and combining elements from sources and historical figures (as I’ve mentioned before) seems to represent better how the compost of the imagination works in the plays.
It’s also how the imagination may *need* to work in a harsh climate of censorship, where not masking things well enough can have dire consequences for an author.
In other words, in a territory occupied by Rome you might risk writing a gospel that has a demoniac’s demons say “My name is Legion,” and the legion of demons relocate into pigs, but not openly write that the occupying forces are demons and swine….
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Links to a description of my book project:
On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV
On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html
[Originally posted around the week of 1/22/18
on LinkedIn]
In early variorum editions of Hamlet, one finds that some readers/critics took an approach to the plays that tried to decipher which single historical figure seemed to be represented by which character in the play:
Many thought Hamlet a stand-in for Sir Philip Sidney, or Essex, etc.
But it seems more accurate to say that Shakespeare made composite characters, combining features of various historical figures; he also split up qualities of historical figures among various characters.
So “decoding” usually falls very short, plagued by a kind of celebrity-reductionist mentality, a People Magazine approach to interpreting the plays.
This sense of fracturing and combining elements from sources and historical figures (as I’ve mentioned before) seems to represent better how the compost of the imagination works in the plays.
It’s also how the imagination may *need* to work in a harsh climate of censorship, where not masking things well enough can have dire consequences for an author.
In other words, in a territory occupied by Rome you might risk writing a gospel that has a demoniac’s demons say “My name is Legion,” and the legion of demons relocate into pigs, but not openly write that the occupying forces are demons and swine….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Links to a description of my book project:
On LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV
On this blog: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html
[Originally posted around the week of 1/22/18
on LinkedIn]
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