Could Hamlet Be the "Other Shakespeare?" (5)

---

Given the nature of his environment, it would be unreasonable to expect Hamlet to come on like John Wayne or Rambo.  In fact, Hamlet deserves quite a bit of credit for coping as well as he does.

The scheme with the altered play is, after all, bold, ingenious, and effective.  Other techniques and stratagems work in less dramatic but no less important ways, enabling him to retain his life and freedom of movement in a situation that is precarious at best.

His "madness" may be the most adaptive piece of behavior of all.  Remember, Hamlet's every gesture takes place under the jealously watchful eye of a man ruthless enough to murder his own brother, marry his wife, and assume his throne.  If this king were to learn Hamlet's innermost feelings and suspicions, it is a foregone conclusion that somehow, something would "happen" to Hamlet.  Yet for Hamlet to attempt to protect himself by shutting off all acknowledgment of the torrent of natural emotions within him seems more than likely (at least to this layman) to drive him truly, clinically insane.  His "mad" act may thus provide his emotions their only safe form of expression.

It also enables him to retain his grip on reality, in a way that simply mouthing the socially-expected phrases could never do.  For though his words are filled with riddles and what at first appear to be dissociations from reality, they have a way of ending up dead on target for whoever or whatever needs lampooning or exposing.     In their own way, Hamlet's words depict reality more clearly than ordinary, everyday language could hope to.

The king finds "method" in this madness.  Perhaps a better word, though, would be "art."

(c) COPYRIGHT 1992 ROBERT WINTER.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

---