Hamlet's Delay, Penelope's Weaving, via M. Grenke - Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 4
Many people ask regarding Shakespeare's Hamlet, "Why does the prince delay for so long to kill Claudius?"
In a number of places in the play, Hamlet scolds himself for delaying his killing of Claudius. These include his "To be or not to be" speech (3.1.64-96), and also in his speech, "How all occasions do inform against me" (4.4.34-69). In 2.2 (577-634), he is especially harsh with himself.
By the end of the speech, he weaves his way to a solution. He is held back by conscience: He wants wants to be more sure that Claudius is guilty of murder, and that the ghost is being honest.
In the fall of 2016, Michael Grenke published an article about the character of Penelope from Homer's Odyssey, and about the significance of her patient weaving and unweaving. [1]
Some scholars [2] have suggested that Hamlet is right to delay, and at his worst when he impatiently scolds Ophelia, worried perhaps for her eternal fate, telling her to get to a nunnery; or when he blindly stabs Polonius through the arras, or impulsively changes Claudius' letter to send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths in England.
So one view is that Hamlet's flaw may be, not his delay, but macho impatience. It takes him too long to trust Providence.
Consider Grenke's reflections on Penelope, applied to Hamlet:
To be free one must be able to do what one wants. But in order to be able to do what one wants in the fullest sense, one must know what one is doing. Only those who are not concerned with the matters of the day, the week, the year are free to think about a problem for as long as the problem deserves. Only a thinker who is at leisure thinks about a problem with no limitations other than those that define sound thinking itself. Only such a thinker can delay their conclusion until the thinking itself merits a conclusion. All others are under the pressure of some deadline, the pressing down of the flowing water of time. This pressure distorts their thinking in one way or another. It makes them proclaim a finish to the thinking when more thinking is needed. It makes them proclaim a matter finished when more argument or more evidence is needed. This pressure leads to bad thinking, and according to Socrates it makes human beings “become small and not upright in their souls.”
Claudius is also guilty of an impatience similar to that of Hamlet: He wants to be king, and he wants Gertrude for his wife, so he impatiently kills his brother, instead of looking for another candidate for a bride, and finding better uses of his time.
Hamlet makes many mistakes of impatience, and also of trying to play God in the prayer scene (3.3) and be certain to condemn Claudius to hell. But in the end, perhaps he begins to learn both patience, and to trust Providence?
~~~~~~~
NOTES:
[1] “Penelope: The Odyssey’s Creative Thinker,” by Michael Grenke Fall 2016, The College https://www.sjc.edu/news/penelope-odysseys-creative-thinker
[2] For one recent example of such a scholar critical of Hamlet’s impatience rather than his delay, see Peter Lake, Hamlet’s Choice: Religion and Resistance in Shakespeare's Revenge Tragedies (2020).
Book cover image via Yale Books:
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300247817/hamlets-choice/
IMAGES:
Left: Penelope at her tapestry loom with a handmaiden picking apples. 1864, by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829–1908). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Roddam_Spencer_Stanhope_Penelope.jpg
Center: Penelope. 20th century (Prior to January 1, 1927). By Rupert Bunny. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Penelope_by_Rupert_Bunny.jpg
Right: Penelope, c.1575-1585, by Leandro Bassano (1557–1622), Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leandro_Bassano_-_Penelope.jpg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
1. Laertes in Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 1: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/laertes-in-hamlet-odyssey-part-1.html
2. Laertes in Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 2: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/laertes-in-hamlet-odyssey-part-2.html
3. Seeking Penelope in Ophelia & Hamlet: Laertes & The Odyssey - Part 3: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/seeking-penelope-in-ophelia-hamlet.html
4. Hamlet's Delay, Penelope's Weaving, via M. Grenke - Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 4: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/hamlets-delay-penelopes-weaving-via.html
5. Hamlet's Nietzschean madness, via M. Grenke - Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 5: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/hamlets-nietzschean-madness-via-m.html
6. Hyperion & Lazarus: Rich Men & Pitiless Gods - Hamlet & The Odyssey part 6: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/hyperion-lazarus-kings-rich-men.html
7. Sixteen Ways of Looking at Hamlet & Odysseus - part 7: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/sixteen-ways-of-looking-at-hamlet.html
8. Hamlet and Homer (Louden, Aguirre, Hornback) - part 8: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/hamlet-and-homer-part-8-louden-aguirre.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html
I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.
To find the subscribe button, see the = drop-down menu with three lines in the upper left.
In a number of places in the play, Hamlet scolds himself for delaying his killing of Claudius. These include his "To be or not to be" speech (3.1.64-96), and also in his speech, "How all occasions do inform against me" (4.4.34-69). In 2.2 (577-634), he is especially harsh with himself.
By the end of the speech, he weaves his way to a solution. He is held back by conscience: He wants wants to be more sure that Claudius is guilty of murder, and that the ghost is being honest.
In the fall of 2016, Michael Grenke published an article about the character of Penelope from Homer's Odyssey, and about the significance of her patient weaving and unweaving. [1]
So one view is that Hamlet's flaw may be, not his delay, but macho impatience. It takes him too long to trust Providence.
Consider Grenke's reflections on Penelope, applied to Hamlet:
To be free one must be able to do what one wants. But in order to be able to do what one wants in the fullest sense, one must know what one is doing. Only those who are not concerned with the matters of the day, the week, the year are free to think about a problem for as long as the problem deserves. Only a thinker who is at leisure thinks about a problem with no limitations other than those that define sound thinking itself. Only such a thinker can delay their conclusion until the thinking itself merits a conclusion. All others are under the pressure of some deadline, the pressing down of the flowing water of time. This pressure distorts their thinking in one way or another. It makes them proclaim a finish to the thinking when more thinking is needed. It makes them proclaim a matter finished when more argument or more evidence is needed. This pressure leads to bad thinking, and according to Socrates it makes human beings “become small and not upright in their souls.”
Claudius is also guilty of an impatience similar to that of Hamlet: He wants to be king, and he wants Gertrude for his wife, so he impatiently kills his brother, instead of looking for another candidate for a bride, and finding better uses of his time.
Hamlet makes many mistakes of impatience, and also of trying to play God in the prayer scene (3.3) and be certain to condemn Claudius to hell. But in the end, perhaps he begins to learn both patience, and to trust Providence?
~~~~~~~
NOTES:
[1] “Penelope: The Odyssey’s Creative Thinker,” by Michael Grenke Fall 2016, The College https://www.sjc.edu/news/penelope-odysseys-creative-thinker
[2] For one recent example of such a scholar critical of Hamlet’s impatience rather than his delay, see Peter Lake, Hamlet’s Choice: Religion and Resistance in Shakespeare's Revenge Tragedies (2020).
Book cover image via Yale Books:
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300247817/hamlets-choice/
IMAGES:
Left: Penelope at her tapestry loom with a handmaiden picking apples. 1864, by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829–1908). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Roddam_Spencer_Stanhope_Penelope.jpg
Center: Penelope. 20th century (Prior to January 1, 1927). By Rupert Bunny. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Penelope_by_Rupert_Bunny.jpg
Right: Penelope, c.1575-1585, by Leandro Bassano (1557–1622), Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leandro_Bassano_-_Penelope.jpg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
1. Laertes in Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 1: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/laertes-in-hamlet-odyssey-part-1.html
2. Laertes in Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 2: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/laertes-in-hamlet-odyssey-part-2.html
3. Seeking Penelope in Ophelia & Hamlet: Laertes & The Odyssey - Part 3: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/seeking-penelope-in-ophelia-hamlet.html
4. Hamlet's Delay, Penelope's Weaving, via M. Grenke - Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 4: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/hamlets-delay-penelopes-weaving-via.html
5. Hamlet's Nietzschean madness, via M. Grenke - Hamlet & the Odyssey - Part 5: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/hamlets-nietzschean-madness-via-m.html
6. Hyperion & Lazarus: Rich Men & Pitiless Gods - Hamlet & The Odyssey part 6: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/hyperion-lazarus-kings-rich-men.html
7. Sixteen Ways of Looking at Hamlet & Odysseus - part 7: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/sixteen-ways-of-looking-at-hamlet.html
8. Hamlet and Homer (Louden, Aguirre, Hornback) - part 8: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/08/hamlet-and-homer-part-8-louden-aguirre.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html
I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.
To find the subscribe button, see the = drop-down menu with three lines in the upper left.
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