Hamlet delays to help Shakespeare write his play
Joking, of course. But absolutely serious.
We can say we're impatient because we love quick and bloody revenge plots.
ACTION FIGURE HAMLET!
But if that's what we want, we're at the wrong play.
Instead, we might choose not to be impatient because at least sometimes, we might prefer for princes to be careful to discern the truth about whether ghosts are honest, and whether kings are guilty, and whether princes who contemplate revenge are bound for heaven or “th’ other place”, as Hamlet calls it [4.3.38-9].
We might find that we like Hamlet humbly scolding himself for his own delay, and laugh at all the critics who take his impatient self-scolding too seriously, or too literally - as if Hamlet should act more quickly. Such critics may not notice how necessary it is for the play, to have Hamlet delay while Shakespeare explicates his character and that of others, and develops his plot.
THE STORY: Bottom line, delay was necessary for the story, to flesh out characters and details.
THE TIMES: But was Hamlet's delay perhaps especially necessary for the times in which it was written? What was happening in England in the years leading up to Shakespeare's writing of (or revision of) Hamlet?
What might have made Shakespeare especially careful in writing a character who kills a monarch? Who accuses a monarch and close relative of murder, based on the whisperings of a ghost?
What ghosts haunted Elizabethan England in the late decades of the 1500s, and first few years of the next century?
Aye, there's the rub.
IMAGE:
Portrait of William Shakespeare (1564-1616). from “hombres y Mujeres celebres”. Barcelona 1877 (engraving). Anonymous. Public domain/fair use, via https://www.meisterdrucke.us/kunstwerke/1260px/Anonymous_Anonymous_-_Portrait_of_William_Shakespeare_%281564-1616%29_from_hombres_y_Mujeres_celebres_Barc_-_%28MeisterDrucke-934261%29.jpg
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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.
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Thanks for reading!
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