The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 9.0264  Friday, 27 March 1998.

[1]     From:   Sean Kevin Lawrence <
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        Date:   Thursday, 26 Mar 1998 09:52:24 -0800
        Subj:   Re: SHK 9.0261  Oath

[2]     From:   Albert Misseldine <
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        Date:   Thursday, 26 Mar 1998 14:09:11 -0500
        Subj:   Hamlet's Oath

[3]     From:   Douglas Abel <
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        Date:   Thursday, 26 Mar 1998 13:03:49 -0700
        Subj:   Re: SHK 9.0261  Re: Oath


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Sean Kevin Lawrence <
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Date:           Thursday, 26 Mar 1998 09:52:24 -0800
Subject: 9.0261  Oath
Comment:        Re: SHK 9.0261  Oath

Could Hamlet's shuffling relocations around the stage have to do with a
general effort to escape the influence of his father?  On the one hand,
he's charged with a task by the old man, but on the other, he's finally
given a role, (metadramatically enough) as not just be the son of the
late king, which allows him to assume a level of independent agency.

He also skewers the elder Hamlet in some of his lines:  'yon fellow in
the cellarage', 'ye old mole,' 'O worthy pioner!'  Both insulting the
old man and trying to get away from him are of a peice, and both
indicate something that Freudians might relate to an Oedipus complex,
and Bloomians might call an "anxiety of influence."

Cheers,
Sean.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Albert Misseldine <
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Date:           Thursday, 26 Mar 1998 14:09:11 -0500
Subject:        Hamlet's Oath

Bill Godshalk wants to know the dramatic meaning of the oath scene in
Hamlet. Harold Goddard suggests that this scene is a microcosm of the
play.  Hamlet is trying to get away from his father's influence, but the
old man keeps pursuing him until he accepts his authority. This seems
persuasive to me, but I'm sure the questioner has read that offering, so
obviously it isn't persuasive to him. The scene is so long, and so
insistent on what it is doing, that some explanation seems necessary.
What are the others?

Albert Misseldine

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Douglas Abel <
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Date:           Thursday, 26 Mar 1998 13:03:49 -0700
Subject: 9.0261  Re: Oath
Comment:        Re: SHK 9.0261  Re: Oath

In Marlowe's Edward II Edward swears "by my father's sword" when vowing
revenge against Warwick and Mortimer for the murder of Gaveston.