Freud made a connection between the writing of Hamlet and the death of Shakespeare's father. Hamlet was written immediately after the death of Shakespeare's father in 1601. It is also known that, Shakespeare's own son died at an early age bore the name of "Hamnet", which is identical with "Hamlet."
The other issue is, Shakespeare is associated with the Ghost in the play. He is the one who comes as a revenant, authoritative. The Ghost's command is "Remember me", "Do not forget", Shakespeare wanted to be remembered. It is clear that he played the part of Ghost in Hamlet. As Marjorie Garber says, we do not yet seem quite able to give up that ghost.
Burcu
Maybe Shakespeare wanted to remember his father and wrote the play. But what about the revenge? Did his father murdered and Shakespeare wanted to get revenge like Hamlet does in the play?
ReplyDeleteBatuhan
It is understandable that the source Shakespeare uses for his plays is himself. It would be rather not understandable if we didn't somehow connected the stories with his life and certain sufferings he has gone through. Because I think subconscious has a way to show itself, and if you're an artist, manifestation happens through your art. So your work is always affected by the inner deep parts of your mind and they happen to be always about yourself.
ReplyDeleteBengisu
I'm a firm believer in the autonomous text, so I don't think a writer's identity figures into the written work as much as we normally presume, although in this case it could be that losing his father and his son lead Shakespeare to write a play that explores these relations. Would I agree that Hamlet is Hamnet and the Ghost is Shakespeare? Certainly not. I think what gets overlooked is Hamlet is as much a historical play as King Lear, Shakespeare didn't invent the story, he just made a bloody good play out of it!
ReplyDelete-- Idil
Is the Ghost in possession of a knowledge that is poisonous?
ReplyDeleteCE