IS HAMLET REMORSELESS AFTER KILLING POLONIUS?

W.H.Auden and others think Hamlet shows little remorse after killing Polonius. This means Gertrude lies to Claudius to cover for her beloved son (“he weeps for what is done” 4.1). Is remorselessness an effect of being tempted to revenge by the ghost? Or is the play imperfect, flawed?

What if Gertrude’s claims are evidence of how that text was first staged, and of Hamlet’s realization that he has killed Ophelia’s father?

In the closet scene, Hamlet says he “repents” of it, and that “heaven hath pleased it so,/ To punish me with this and this with me.”
- Couldn't this be spoken tearfully? (If I were "repenting" of a killing and felt heaven was pleased to punish me with my deeds as well as to punish others, I might certainly be tearful in saying so....)

Can we imagine a “mad” Hamlet, speaking a few of his closet scene lines broken by sobs, to the Ghost and his mother? Although he thought Polonius a meddling fool, he meant to kill Claudius.

Hamlet refers to hauling the body as “lug the guts” —very much in character for Hamlet, who often sets himself up as court fool, making sarcastic remarks.

BUT NOTE: Moving the body serves no practical purpose but to set up the later, loaded question (with a biblical allusion), “Where is the body?”
(More on that next week).


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[Originally posted around the week of 10/8/18
on LinkedIn]
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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
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#Shakespeare #Bible #Hamlet #Literature #LiteraryCriticism #Drama #Theatre #EarlyModern #religion #Renaissance #EnglishLiterature