Hamlet Behind Bars

In 2002, the radio program "The American Life" made an hour long show on a very particular performance of Hamlet's Act V. The show begins with a small compilation of Hamlet death scenes performed in different parts of the country and then introduces the place where the extraordinary performance was excecuted: Missouri Eastern Correctional Center.

This is a high security prision where criminals are motivated to participate in a different prodution of Hamlet. The director, a woman called Agnes, has been producing individual acts since December of 1999 (it is illegal to congregate prisioners for the 4 hours that last the entire play so she breaks it up in acts every six months)

The play and the actors have a win-win interaction since the emotions portrayed by the actors fit perfectly those intended by Shakespeare. They are people who have felt desire for revenge, hate, assasin impulses and who have committed crimes worse than the ones in Hamlet. Their past allows them to personify the characters perfectly and give the play accuracy and vividness.

On the other hand, the play gives them contact with the literary world, as well as it demonstrates them that violence is not the only was out and proves them that even though many of them don't have a high school degree, they are still smart and capable people.

Sanity Within Insanity

Is Hamlet really crazy or does he use his insanity as a tool to justify his actions? Accoriding to Samuel Taylor, the answer to this question lies on the equilibrium bewteen he impression of the external world and the interpretations of ones own mind.

In Hamlet's case, Taylor explains, there is an overbalance in his intellectual ide, which makes him a "creature of pure meditation". This also affects his external world impressions since they enter his mind and are instantly modified by his outstanding brain, which impedes him from acting quickly. 

The ultimate consequence for his lack of  determination is decribed by Taylor:

He mistakes the seeing his chains for the breaking them, delays ction till action is of no use, and dies the victim of mere circumtance and accident"

According to this, Hamlet is not really insane since his intelligence remains untouched and he still conserves his basic human needs (in contrary to Macbeth who becomes crazy and starts losing sleep, hunger, etc...). On the contrary, Hamlet only appears to be crazy to the outside world since his external perception is altered by his inner conflict of thoughts.

Hamlet: The Early Definition of Psychoneurosis

Ernest Jones' essay explains how Hamlet's phsycological state is a connection between his mind and thoughts when he was an infant, and the ones he has as an adult. His unconsciousness (or "id" as it was later named by Sigmund Freud) stores emotions and desires that Hamlet developed during his childhood. These reserved feelings are what drive Hamlet's insanity and act upon his head without him being aware of them.

The abhorrence he feels towards his uncle is, according to Jones, a consequence of Hamlet's jealousy of the affection he and his dad used to receive from his mother (when he was an infant, Hamlet felt jealousy to his dad who captured his mother's love) As Hamlet grew older and the Queen married another man, his envy was directed to his uncle. This controversial perspective leads us to a very important question. Why does Hamlet insist in revenging his father if he viewed him as competence to win his mother's heart?

Jones states that his desire for revenge comes from the barbaric nature of his uncle's crime:

...[E]ndeavour to fulfil his father's demand for vengeance is that to Hamlet the thought of incest and parricide combined is too intolerable to be borne."

His inner mental struggle between doing "good" or "evil" is currently known as psychoneurosis, which was previously defined by Hamlet's story since he's portrayed as a character that is neither a heroe nor a villain, but rather a simple human.

Hamlet's Complex

In Sigmund Freud's interpretation of Hamlet, he draws a fascinating parallel between Oedipus Rex and Hamlet. Through this comparison, Freud expresses how Hamlet's true self (his being) is repressed by the rest of the characters. This repression of feelings innevitably leads him to insanity. This is also the case of Oedipus, whose destiny was unsuccessfully intervened by his parents. This also lead him to "neurosis", as stated by Freud.

In relation to the story's plot, Oedipus' incentuous actions are being contrasted with Hamlet's secret intentions. His incapability of murdering his uncle and revenging his father symbolize the sympathy he feels towards "the sinner" (his uncle), since occupying his father's position was something he desired since little. This is exemplified by Freud through the following sentence:

Thus the loathing which should drive him on to revenge is replaced in him by self-reproaches, by scrupules of conscience, which remind him that he himself is literally no better than the sinner whom he is to punish"

In addition to his own analysis of the play, Freud opposses Goethe's elucidation of Hamlet's state of mind, which states that Hamlet's actions are limited by his excessive intelligence, which makes him a doubtful, analytical and paralysed man. To contradict this statement, Freud gives two examples of how Hamlet is capable of acting according to his impulses, but that his state of mind (defined as neurasthenic) prevents him from accomplishing his main goal.