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.

The Beginning of The End

 
The book ends in a peculiar way since its last paragraph seems to be somehow different and disconnected from the story. On one hand, the story itself ends with the father's death and the son continuing his voyage with some people that claim to be good guys as well. Right after this happens, McCarthy closes the novel with the following paragraph:

Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them
standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in
the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional.
On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its
becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made
right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they
hummed of mystery." (pg 286 - 287)

I was fascinated by this last paragraph, both by its form and content. In terms of its form, I appreciated  the beauty of the language, which symbolized the underestimated beauty of the world we live in. The content of this last section also absorbed me because it marks a contrast between today's world and the one of the story. The world we live in today can still be saved by humans, if they become responsible and considerate with their actions.The book's ultimate message is portrayed through this final passage, which exemplifies how humans are exposing themselves to their destruction, but it also helps us reflect by showing that there's still time to change.

How Lucky is Lucky?

 Since I started to read "The Road" I wondered how the characters felt by being one of the last habitants of the earth. Did they feel blessed or cursed? As the sory advanced, I found the response to my question.

When the man and the boy encounter the old man walking down the road, they iniciate a conversation discussing their history and future, as well as their existance and purpose. McCarthy shows through the folloing quote how the old man questions the man about his place and importance in the world:

Suppose you were the last one left? Suppose you did that to yourself?
Do you wish you would die?
No. But I might wish I had died. When you're alive you've always got that ahead of you.
Or you might wish you'd never been born.
Well. Beggars cant be choosers." (pg 169)

After this conversation, the story moves on and the characters finally arrive to the coast, which represented hope for survival since it was easier to travel by. When they got there, dissapointment struck them since the landscape was nohing like they expected. The ocean was dark and cold, and the sand was gray and ashy. Fortunately, they found an abandoned boat that had food and clothes supplies, which saved them from freezing and starving. During these scenes, were the characters unexpectedly found  food and shelter, I thought the characters must feel very lucky for escaping death one more time. Contrary to my opinions, after the man found the food in the boat, he expressed the following:

That good luck might be no such thing. There were
few nights lying in the dark that he did not envy the dead." (pg 230)

The previous exemplifies how frustration build up in the man's heart, leading him to become ill and facing the fact that he was going to die. Moments before his death, he has a conversation with his son in which he reasures him that there are more good guys out there and that he should continue the journey since he was carrying the fire. During their final dialogue, luck is mentioned as a shield that will aid the boy to his destination:

You need to go on, he said. I cant go with you. You need to keep
going. You dont know what might be down the road. We were always lucky. You'll
be lucky again. You'll see. Just go. It's all right." (pg 278)

Through the previous examples, it is seen that in the character's perspective, luck was not being able to find food or escaping the bad guys. For them, luck was a tool that helped them move along the way, since it insipired hope and strenght to struggle. The man realized that even though he sometimes felt unfortunate and damned, his real luck was to have his kid by his side and to be able to prepare him for a life without his care and company.

Life Switch

In Estefania's post, "Ever is a Long Time - Close Reading" she analyzes the following quote:

Turns out the light and is gone. Ever is a long time. That ever is no time at all"(28)

 She says that the previous refers to the hope that lives in human's hearts and their desire to accomplish their dreams. Then she explains how the concept of time is subject to different interpretations since time can appear to run slowly or briskly, depending on the situation. I think her interpretation of the quote was very interesenting since it was very different from mine.

For me, the quote refers to human existence itself. "Turn out the light and is gone" shows how humanity may fall into oblivion in just a fraction of a second. "Ever is a long time. That ever i no time at all" means that once humans become extinct, time will stop exising and eternal rest would be the only thing ahead of them.

This sentence highlights the importance death has on the novel, as well as showing how the apocalyptic human actions can bring terrible consequences.