Critics across time: family relationships Flashcards
Discuss critical responses to family inter-relationships in 'Hamlet'
“The scenes of Ophelia’s madness are to me very shocking, in so noble a piece as this. I am not against her having been represented mad; but surely it might have been done with less levity and more decency.”
George Stubbes, 1736
Writing in what is sometimes known as the Neoclassical era (late 1600s/early 1700s), so called because of its resurgence of interest in the art and politics of the ‘classical’ ancient Rome, Stubbes shows some of the very formal and morally conservative attitudes of his age, complaining that Ophelia’s final ‘mad’ scene lacked dignity; this may be useful to argue against by suggesting that without such unrestrained performance her true grief for her father Polonius, and the idea that it is mainly that which is causing her insanity, would not be adequately communicated to the audience. Refer to the Godwin production where, far from inducing “levity” (=light-hearted amusement), her performance is deeply poignant and moving, for example where she stretches out Polonius’ clothing on the stage.
“Shakespeare was thoroughly a master of the mixed motives of human character.. Queen Gertrude…criminal in some respects, not without sensibility and affection in other relations of life. Polonius.. talks wisely at one time [advice to Laertes] and foolishly at another [advice to King and Queen].”
William Hazlitt, 1830
Hazlitt’s Romantic-era interpretation is predictably more focused on the intricacies of individual characters and the emotions that drive them. Useful for either side of an argument on these characters, whether you are arguing that Gertrude is presented in a more ambiguous way re: her allegiance to both Claudius and Hamlet (Godwin production showed her publicly questioning Hamlet’s grief in 1:2; contrast with her more tender, private appeal in the Branagh), or arguing that Polonius’ role as father is more natural and convincing than his role as courtier. Refer to a number of productions’ versions of Polonius: loving and sanguine in Godwin’s 2016 RSC version, but clipped and authoritarian in Farr’s 2011 RSC production; proud, conceited and cunning in Branagh’s version.
“Hamlet is plunged into anguish at the thought of his father being replaced in his mother’s affections by someone else. It is as if his devotion to his mother had made him so jealous for her affection that he found it hard enough to share this even with his father and could not endure to share it with another man.”
Ernest Jones, 1949
Jones’ Freudian reading suggests that it is Hamlet’s psychologically conflicted state of emotions towards his parents that effectively paralyses him and prevents his action of revenge. Jones suggests that Old Hamlet’s death released Hamlet’s formerly repressed memories of childhood feelings of resentment against his father, exacerbated by the new reality of Claudius marrying Gertrude; this brings about a state of melancholy and depression, as “an obscure aftermath of his childhood’s conflict”; acting on the childish impulse as an adult, and using it as a motive to kill Claudius, impeded by his adult-learned sensibilities and ethics, thus thwarting his attempts to heed the Ghost’s command. Both the Olivier and Zeffirelli film productions present readings of Hamlet’s motivations and behaviour that are heavily influenced by Freud.
