PRINCE OF DENMARK
CONSCIENCE AND THE KING, a study of Hamlet, by Bertram Joseph; Chatto and Windus, English price 12/6. "HEY are still trying to read the riddle. The latest attempt, a brave one, goes back to the Elizabethan context. Mr. Joseph says that we cannot understand Hamlet unless we _ take notice of Renaissance attitudes. The heart of the matter, he believes, is Hamlet’s dealings with the ghost. If the phantom is genuine, the prince can avenge his father with a free mind; but if it is an evil spirit, leading him towards a crime, his soul wil] be in peril of damnation. Doubts are resolved in the "mousetrap" scene, and any delays after that are explained as proper hesitations. The King cannot be killed at his prayers, for instance, because an Elizabethan would believe that a man who died in that posture would go straight to Heaven-the last thing that Hamlet wants for his uncle. Mr. Joseph makes out a good case. Under his treatment, Hamlet ceases to be the man with the divided mind, and becomes instead the man of action, sane and resolute, who is restrained only by religious scruples. There are, however, the usual loose threads. Mr. Joseph ignores the fact that the ghost is seen by others at its first appearance, but is seen only by Hamlet in the third act, when he is with his mother. Can this be reconciled with the view that the madness is feigned throughout? There is still more in.Hamilat than .te*Araam~ of ‘in
any single philosophy.
H.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540205.2.22.5
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 759, 5 February 1954, Page 13
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258PRINCE OF DENMARK New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 759, 5 February 1954, Page 13
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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