The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.0120  Thursday, 15 January 2004

[1]     From:   HR Greenberg <
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        Date:   Wednesday, 14 Jan 2004 10:17:42 EST
        Subj:   Re: SHK 15.0100 Hamlet

[2]     From:   David Bishop <
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        Date:   Wednesday, 14 Jan 2004 20:17:14 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 15.0100 Hamlet


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           HR Greenberg <
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Date:           Wednesday, 14 Jan 2004 10:17:42 EST
Subject: 15.0100 Hamlet
Comment:        Re: SHK 15.0100 Hamlet

It seems to this landlubber that the various readings of "aughtness"
once again spring from the endless ambiguities in the character
Shakespeare has created. He is saying that no one knows where he goes or
what he leaves behind if he goes into the darkness -- at least according
to several interpretations -- so what is the point of tormenting
ourselves on any score in this world. Let be. It is part of the
seachange. And yet the point made by the ghost -- and elsewhere in
Shakespeare -- about this fell sergeant stymying what could be told --
had I but time  Henry IV Hotspur etc -- that in dyirng or dead knowledge
is revealed to us would seem to contravene the very point that the
stoical Hamlet is making in his 'aughtness'. I have a bad cold and am
not quite saying what I think I would like to say, but --- let be.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           David Bishop <
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Date:           Wednesday, 14 Jan 2004 20:17:14 -0500
Subject: 15.0100 Hamlet
Comment:        Re: SHK 15.0100 Hamlet

Hamlet does not deny but defies augury. His skepticism about the
afterlife clashes with what he says in other moods, and with the fact
that his father's spirit still walks the night. As I said, sometimes
Hamlet leans one way, sometimes the other. That's one reason this play
is so complicated, and interesting.

Best wishes,
David Bishop

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