The Marxist Hamlet
In his article "'Funeral Bak'd Meats:' Carnival and the Carnivalesque in Hamlet," Michael D. Bristol mingles Marxism and Bakhtin's notion of double discoursed textuality into an unique reading of Shakespeare's drama as a struggle between opposing economic classes. Bristol opens with a two paragraph preface on Marxism, highlighting Marx's own abnegation of Marxism: "Marx is famous for the paradoxical claim that he was not a Marxist" (Bristol 348). While he acknowledges some of the flaws inherent in Marxist criticism, Bristol uses the introductory paragraphs to assert the "enormous importance" of "the theory of class consciousness and class struggle" which Marxist theory includes (349). Having prepared readers for a discourse whose foundation lies upon "the most fundamental idea in Marxism," Bristol recasts Hamlet as a class struggle.
A strange, mutli-faceted mingling pervades Bristol's argument, and, according to his thesis the drama of Hamlet as well. According to Bristol, two contrasting texts, two opposing social worlds, flow past one another in the drama, forming a strange suspension "of grief and of festive laughter" (350). This odd juxtaposition of opposites becomes the basis for Bristol's introduction of the carnivalesque. The echoes of Carnival within Hamlet, according to Bristol, ceaselessly evolve throughout the play until they reach their most perfect representation in the grave-diggers' scene of the fifth act. Bristol assigns Carnival a function that immensely strengthens his thesis: "Carnival opens up alternative possibilities for action and helps to facilitate creativity in the social sphere" (351). Bristol's discussion of Carnival expands in order to include the theories ...
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...istol concludes his article by explaining the ultimate end of the Carnivalesque, "the dissolution, and finally the extinction of identity, the annihilation of the individual in the historical continuum" (365). The bodies of the festival-makers, the court of Hamlet, lie on the stage like "slaughtered 'meat'" (364). Bristol concludes that the second culture, or the second language, of Carnival within the drama of Hamlet, supplies an alternate reading for the drama by "uncrowning the shifting rationales used to explicate political intrigue," by transforming the play into a struggle between social classes as expressed by the carnivalesque (365). The doubleness of Hamlet, the mingling of tragedy and the comic, sheds new light on the drama as an ambivalent and grotesque Carnival which diametrically contrasts the power and propriety typically associated with the play.
Described as an “image-based play” that “harmonizes” the usage of physical acting, light, and sound, Yang’s Hamlet aims to limit the usage of dialogue, and to instead focus heavily on symbolism and sensory experiences (OzAsia, 2). This is evident in the artistic design of the production – from the barren stage and the simple and dull costumes, to the exaggerated actions and expression of the actors and the constant rhythmic beating of the drums. The play is filled with a sense of urgency, desolation, and violence, reflecting of the raw emotional state of the characters – a world that is harsh and devoid of warmth. This contrasts starkly with the staging of the shamanist rituals, which while simple, seems to be filled with life and elements of nature – from the bed of rice that surrounds the stage, the usage of water and candles, to the elaborate and colorful traditional costumes. This contrast supports Yang’s production concept: Shamanist rituals as a constant source of warmth and solace, unaffected by however grim or gray the world becomes. It represents the only path characters of the play can regain their harmony in a discordant world, whether they are in emotional anguish, on their deathbeds, or even after
They present the idea and significance of Carnival. "practical consciousness of the common people" (359) is the argument I believe Bristol is trying to get at. The grave diggers give us another view of the play. They have a different take on death and wealth. The fact that social class matters so much is completely irrelevant, because once death has cast upon you then it will no matter who you were. Your body will decay and the worms will have at you not matter what walk of life you decided to take, its actually quite hilarious. The skull is the "blunt and fearless acknowledgment of death as a process of social leveling" (363). Although having money and status means something while you’re living, it isn’t everything. The "'funeral bak'd meats . . . which furnished the marriage tables'" (356). This is where Bristol began speaking about the union and burial of the king and his widow and
Suspense and Tension in The Red Room by H.G.Wells and The Signalman by Charles Dickens
Corum, Richard. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport: Greenwood, 1998. Print. Literature in Context.
Boklund, Gunnar. "Hamlet." Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.
Goldman, Michael. "Hamlet and Our Problems." Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ed. David Scott Kaston. New York City: Prentice Hall International. 1995. 43-55
In Blake’s work “The Lamb,” he shows innocence through sheep and their nature. Blake describes sheep’s nature by saying that they “Feed/By the stream & o'er the mead/ have thee clothing of delight/ Softest clothing, wooly, bright” (Blake 4-6). This passage shows that sheep are providers to man and show no harm. Blake says that sheep has a, “tender voice/ making all the vales rejoice?” (Blake 7-8). Blake makes sheep seem to have a joyful emotion and wants to share it with others. The sheep has a tender voice which means it is not intimidating. Natoli, who is the author of the novel William Blake, says that,
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably one of the best plays known to English literature. It presents the protagonist, Hamlet, and his increasingly complex path through self discovery. His character is of an abnormally complex nature, the likes of which not often found in plays, and many different theses have been put forward about Hamlet's dynamic disposition. One such thesis is that Hamlet is a young man with an identity crisis living in a world of conflicting values.
Hamlet makes use of the idea of theatrical performance through characters presenting themselves falsely to others – from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spying on Hamlet to gain favor with the King, to Hamlet himself playing the part of a madman – and through the play within the play, The Mousetrap. This essay will discuss the ways in which Hamlet explores the idea of theatrical performance, ‘acting’, through analysis of the characters and the ‘roles’ they adopt, specifically that of Hamlet and Claudius. The idea, or the theme of theatrical performance is not an uncommon literary element of Shakespearean works, the most famous of which to encompass this idea being As You Like It. This essay will also briefly explore the ways in which Hamlet reminds its audience of the stark difference between daily life and dramatization of life in the theatre.
Mack, Maynard. "The World of Hamlet." Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967.
not see any muscles on her at all. Yet as virtuous as this film is, I
It was in the beginning of the 18th century when women roles begin to change and there began a
“The Shepherd” is a very short two stanza poem in which Blake tells about a shepherd who stays with his flock morning and night praising them. The second stanza consists of the shepherd hearing the lamb’s innocent call and the ewe’s soft reply. The shepherd watches the lambs in peace and they know that he is not.
Hamlet is one of the most often-performed and studied plays in the English language. The story might have been merely a melodramatic play about murder and revenge, butWilliam Shakespeare imbued his drama with a sensitivity and reflectivity that still fascinates audiences four hundred years after it was first performed. Hamlet is no ordinary young man, raging at the death of his father and the hasty marriage of his mother and his uncle. Hamlet is cursed with an introspective nature; he cannot decide whether to turn his anger outward or in on himself. The audience sees a young man who would be happiest back at his university, contemplating remote philosophical matters of life and death. Instead, Hamlet is forced to engage death on a visceral level, as an unwelcome and unfathomable figure in his life. He cannot ignore thoughts of death, nor can he grieve and get on with his life, as most people do. He is a melancholy man, and he can see only darkness in his future—if, indeed, he is to have a future at all. Throughout the play, and particularly in his two most famous soliloquies, Hamlet struggles with the competing compulsions to avenge his father’s death or to embrace his own. Hamlet is a man caught in a moral dilemma, and his inability to reach a resolution condemns himself and nearly everyone close to him.
...World of Hamlet.” Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967.