The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.2096  Thursday, 30 October 2003

From:           Edmund Taft <
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Date:           Wednesday, 29 Oct 2003 09:29:44 -0500
Subject:        no spirit dares stir

Terence Hawkes writes that the Ghost in Hamlet presents a "direct and
unanswerable challenge to the sort of discursive logic we inherit."
That's right.

It's worth noting that Hamlet never solves the question of whether Old
Hamlet's command represents "the will of heaven." He can't; no one can.

But there are ways of interrogating the text that raise grave doubts (so
to speak) about the Ghost. For example, what loving father would put a
son in the position that old Hamlet puts young Hamlet in?

--Ed Taft

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