The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0430 Friday, 10 November 2010
From: Donald Bloom <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: November 9, 2010 9:43:36 AM EST
Subject: Re: Allusion to Shakespeare in Poe's The Tell Tale Heart
>>"What I see in Poe's allusion is a veiled interpretation by Poe of Hamlet,
>>in which Poe is, implicitly, suggesting that Hamlet HALLUCINATES the ghost!"
>
>Hmmm. Except that Hamlet is not the only one to see the Ghost, though it
>only speaks with him. What about the watch, Marcellus and Bernardo, and
>Horatio?
>
>Marcellus: "What, has this thing appear'd again to-night?" [They've seen
>it twice before.]
>
>Horatio tells them it's "their fantasy" and won't believe them until he sees
>it for himself, which, or course, he does. And then he sees it again with
>Hamlet. The fact that a character like Horatio -- skeptical and trustworthy -
>sees it ought not to be ignored.
>
>It seems that the Ghost cannot be Hamlet's HALLUCINATION if others see the
>Ghost, too.
>
>Or do you mean that they see it but Hamlet's experience it is a HALLUCINATION
>in spite of the other witnesses?
>
>In the context of the play, I think, rather, that it is meant to be an actual
>supernatural presence.
>
>Maybe Poe was HALLUCINATING!
>
>Nicole Coonradt
>University of Denver
"What I see in Poe's allusion is a veiled interpretation by Poe of Hamlet, in which
Poe is, implicitly, suggesting that Hamlet HALLUCINATES the ghost!"
Actually, Hamlet hallucinates not merely the ghost but the entire play.
As his mother accurately notes, "This is the very coinage of your brain."
What's more, this magnificent theory not only explains all the difficulties of the
eponymous play but resolves the authorship question once and for all.
If you need help with anything else, just let me know.
don
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