George Washington University

A Thing of Nothing: The Catastrophic Body in Hamlet

Author(s): John Hunt
Source: Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Spring, 1988), pp. 27-44
Published by: Folger Shakespeare Library in association with George Washington University
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A Thingof Nothing:The Catastrophic

Body in Hamlet
JOHN HUNT

IF HAMLET

ACTUALLY WRITES DOWN MORAL LESSONS on his tablets as he

studieshis revenge,manyof themsurelyhave to do withhow life is lived,

and lost, in bodies. Far moreeven thanin Macbethor Coriolanus,thehuman
whichmen
bodyinHamletformshumanexperience,beingthemediumthrough
suffer
and act. Butthebodyalso deformshumanbeingsand threatens
ultimately
to reducethemto nothing.The nonbeinglurkingat thematerialcenterof being
announces itselfeverywherein the play's corporealimagery,and occupies
Hamlet's mindas he triesto findhis way fromthe regal death thatinitiates
theactionto theregaldeaththatconcludesit. This essay examinestheproblem
in two parts, using an analysis of the imageryas an approachto the great
of theplay, Hamlet'squandaryabouthow to act. It suggeststhatHammystery
let cannotadequatelyrespondto theGhost'scommandsuntilhe learnsto accept
physicality,withall its dissoluteinconstancy,as the image of mentality.Not
untilhe findshis way out of a despairingcontemptforthebodycan he achieve
the wish of his firstsoliloquy and quietlycease to be.
I
At the end of Hamlet, all theremainingmembersof the two greatfamilies
of Denmarklie crumpledabout the stage. Meta-theatrically
doublingthistabto "give orderthatthesebodies /Highon a stage
leau, Horatioasks Fortinbras
be placed to theview" (V.ii.379-80)-an orderthatis carriedout as theplay
ends.1 Polonius's "guts" have alreadybeen hauled offthe stage less ceremoniously;Ophelia's body has been broughton withtruncatedceremonyand
loweredintothepit beneaththe stage, fromwhichskullshave come flyingup
to make room forit; and all the carnagehas been set in motionby the pale,
glaring"dead corse" of King Hamlet.The eyes of themind,if theyare open,
beholdin theplay's languagea spectacleof ruinedbodies fullyas grimas what
theirphysicalcounterparts
behold on stage. Beforehearingof and seeing the
in
we imaginean unorthodox
demise
the
body's
autopsywhenone
churchyard,
tellstheothertheresultsoftheinquiryintoOphelia's suicide: "The
gravedigger
crownerhathsate on her, and findsit Christianburial" (V.i.4-5). Grotesque
visions arise when he respondsto the suggestionof his companionthatthe
thateverborearms."
originalspade-wielder,Adam,was a gentleman,"the first
"Why, he had none," the clown objects, only to be refutedin a mannerthat
makes his statementmonstrous."What, art a heathen?How doest thou understandtheScripture?The Scripturesays Adam digged. Could he dig without
1 All
quotationsare fromtheSignettexteditedbyEdwardHubler(1963; rpt.New York:Harcourt
Brace, 1972).

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28

SHAKESPEARE
QUARTERLY

arms?" (V.i.30 ff.). Amputeegardeners,corpses used as sofas (perhapstwo

of thethousandnaturalshocksthatfleshis heirto), and manykindredfigures
drivethe play's physicalviolence deep intothe mindsof the audience.
The bodythusrepresented
is no merevehicleor Platonicinstrument
forthe
soul; it incarnatesspirit,as Christ,His Church,and the Host incarnateGod.
figures
go to eerylengthsto showmandeeplyrooted
Shakespeare'smetaphorical
in a materialsubstrate.Thus Hamlettakesthe sayingof Genesis and Matthew
thatman and wife become one fleshas authority
forhis mockingvalediction
to Claudius:
Ham.
Farewell,dear Mother.
King. Thy lovingfather,Hamlet.
Ham. My mother-fatherand motheris manand wife,
man and wife is one flesh,and so, my mother.

(IV.iii.50-53)

Claudius himselfimpartsa corporealfacticityto theold figureof horsemanas

Centaur,tellingLaertesof a Normanriderwho "grewuntohis seat" and seemed
to have been "incorpsedand deminatured
/Withthebravebeast" (IV.vii.85And
not
Laertes
warns
his
sister
to
love
theprincebecause his ambitious
88).
mindgrows along withhis youngbody and, as lord of the kingdom,he will
be "circumscribed/ Untothe voice and yieldingof thatbody/ Whereofhe is
the head" (I.iii.22-24).
The bodypoliticis morethana metaphorforsocial organizationin thisplay;
it describesa tightlyintegratedworld whererealitystemspalpablyfromthe
FrancisBarker,describingthepubcentersof politicaland religiousauthority.
lic, spectacularqualityofHamletand otherJacobeantragedies,has arguedthat
the abundantcorporealimages used in textsof thisperiodwere notthe "dead
metaphors"thattheyare now, but "indices of a social orderin whichthebody
has a centraland irreducibleplace." "With a claritynow hardto recapture,"
he says, "the social plenumis the body of the king,and membership
of this
is
the
form
of
all
in
the
secular
structural
realm."2
The
being
anatomy
deep
extravagantidea, examinedby ErnstKantorowiczthreedecades ago, thatthe
kingin facthas two bodies-his own plus a superbodyequivalentto the corto revertto a mysticalabstraction,
poratelifeof his nation-always threatened
and eventuallydisappearedfrompoliticaltheory.Discussingitsrole in Richard
II, Kantorowiczobservedthatif the conceit "still has a veryreal and human
meaningtoday,thisis largelydue to Shakespeare.It is he who has eternalized
thatmetaphor."3Thereis nothingin RichardII to matchthereallyastonishing
concretenessthatthe metaphoracquires in one passage of Hamlet,whenRosencrantzand Guildenstern
accede to Claudius's plan to "dispatch" Hamletto
England:
We willourselves
provide.
fearit is
Mostholyandreligious
To keepthosemanymanybodiessafe
ThatliveandfeeduponyourMajesty.
(III.iii.7-10)

2 FrancisBarker,The TremulousPrivate
Body: Essays on Subjection(London and New York:
Methuen,1984), pp. 23, 31.
3 ErnstKantorowicz,The
King's Two Bodies: A Studyin Mediaeval Political Theology(Princeton: PrincetonUniv. Press, 1957), p. 26.

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A THING OF NOTHING: THE CATASTROPHIC BODY IN HAMLET

29

Callingup picturesof a bloatedinsectqueen coveredbyhersuckingattendants,

or a convocationof politicwormsfeastingon a corpse,or a communionmore
imagelocates theking
literallycannibalisticthanmost,thisviolentlyarresting
at the dark centerof a worlddense withmaterialsignificance.His universal
over a commonality,
does nothoverin
Body, symbolizingreligiousauthority
some libraryof legal abstractions,but pulsateswithgrislyvitality.
The imagerythatShakespeareinventsto establishman's corporeality
startles
most when isolated partsof the body functionas metonymicor synechdocal
equivalentsforactions and statesof being. Everyaudience remembers"The
harlot'scheek,beautiedwithplast'ringart"; Hecuba's "lank and all o'er-teemed
/
loins"; Fortinbrassharkingup men "For food and diet to some enterprise
That hatha stomachin't"; Osric complyingwithhis dug beforehe sucks it;
Hamletbeatinghis brains;and countlesssimilarfigures.This usage pervades
so muchof theplay thatone can hardlyread or heartwentyconsecutivelines
it. To maintainthe motif'simpactin the midstof such
withoutencountering
copious use, Shakespeareoccasionallyresortsto violentlypressuredand improbableimages. "Let thecandiedtonguelick absurdpomp," says Hamletto
so suggestivelylewd thateven the
Horatio in an indictmentof the flatterer
compleatcourtiermightblush to hear it, "And crook the pregnanthingesof
theknee /Wherethrift
mayfollowfawning"(III.ii.60-62). Shortlyafterwards
he asks Horatioto watchClaudius carefully,"For I mineeyes will rivetto his
face" (1. 85). Afterthisanatomicaloutragehas beenperformed
uponhim,Claudius decides thatwithHamletin Denmarkhe is notsafe fromthe "Hazard so
near's as dothhourlygrow/ Out of his brows" (III.iii.6-7). In such images,
transformed
glazed tongueand pregstrangely
partsof thebody-the flatterer's
nantknees,Hamlet's boltedeyeballsand malignantly
foreheadhypertrophic
figureforthmorbidstatesof mindtypifiedin the pursuitof some compelling
in the lowerreachesof Dante's Inaction. One thinksof certainpunishments
riven
Mohammad's
trunk
fulfillinghis schismaticmischief,Ugolino
ferno:
gnawinghis enemy's malevolentskull. Indeed, the Ghost hintsthat,were it
not for the intolerableeffectsthatsuch a tale would have on the living, he
of the body's partsin his purgatory:"But this
could tell of such a treatment
eternalblazon mustnot be / To ears of fleshand blood" (I.v.21-22).
It has, I believe, never been observedthatthese images of body partsin
Hamlet add up to a virtualanatomicalcatalogue (or, to use the Ghost's grim
littlejoke about dismemberment,
"blazon") of thehumanform."Considered
considersthe dust of Alexander,the play
as
Hamlet
as
curiously," curiously
looks like a dissectingroom,stockedwithall of man's limbs,organs,tissues,
and fluids.Certainpartsare mentionedincessantly:eyes, ears, heads, hearts,
hands,faces, tongues,brains.These majormelodiesin thecarnalconcertoare
accompaniedby numerouslesser themes.We hear (in varyingdegreesof fre("brows"),
quency)ofmouths,noses,lips,cheeks,jaws, teeth,eyelids,foreheads
thecrownof thehead ("pate"), theskin,hairin general,beards,necks,limbs
in general,arms,legs, knees, feet,heels, toes, fingers,the thumb,thepalm,
the wrist,the shoulder,the back, the loins, the waist, the breastin general
("bosom"), the mammaryorgan (Osric's "dug"), genitalsin general("privates"), male genitals("cock" and the "long purple" flowerswhose common
namehas beeneuphemizedto "dead men's fingers"),femalegenitals("country
matters"),and the anus ("bunghole").4 Of internalorgans,thereis mention
4 The OED identifies
sense of "bung-hole,"citingan entry
theanus as a contemporary
figurative
in Cotgrave'sDictionarieof theFrenchand EnglishTongues(1611) forthe cul de cheval or sea

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30

SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

not only of the heartand brain,but also the throat,lungs, stomach,spleen,

liver,guts,bones, marrow,nerves,sinews,spinalcord ("pith"), and arteries.
Of the fluidproductsof thebody, we hearof blood and tearsincessantly,and
also of sweat, milk, fat, and gall. The play also refersto variouscorrupting
growthsin the body-moles, cankers,warts,ulcers, abcesses, sores, scabs,
and "contagious blastments."Finally, it alludes to such bodily functionsas
speech, hearing,sight,touch,taste, smell, eating,drinking,chewing,digestion,vomiting,evacuation,sleep, dreaming,hallucination,yawning,weeping,
suckling,pulse,disease,fever,death,
copulation,pregnancy,
laughing,breathing,
and decomposition.
More thansimplypaintinga bloodybackdropforhis tragedyof revenge,in
the mannerof Webster,Shakespeareseems to be methodicallydeconstructing
thebody. His universalcataloguingof particularsdoes to thehumanbodywhat
HamlettellsOsric it wouldbe hardto do to Laertes:"divide himinventorially"
(V.ii.114). Like Montaigne,who soughtto examinethe unknowntotalityof
humanexperiencethroughits genesisin manyparticular,irreduciblephenomena experiencedby the organism,Shakespeareseeks to reducelife to its corporealelements.His charactersin thisplaythinkofeverypsychologicalquality,
everyrationaldeliberationor spiritualchoice, in termsof the physicalequipmentthatlocates themin a worldof action. Claudius's unsuccessfulattempt
as it does the limitationof human
to prayis a good example, demonstrating
his soliloquy in
possibilityimpliedby this procedure.He thinksthroughout
the face of
his
on
the
blood
his
of
the
smell
hand,
offense,
corporealimages:
a reprobateand a penitent,"stubbornknees" thatwill notbow down,a "bosom
of steel," and so forth(III.iii.36 ff.).
blackas death"hidinga "heartwithstrings
Claudius's "limed soul" reflectsconditionsof corporeallimitationthatMontaigne suggests,at the end of "Raymond Sebond," man can overcomeonly
throughthe extensionof divine grace:
Forto makethehandful
biggerthanthearm,and
biggerthanthehand,thearmful
andunnatural.
morethanthereachof ourlegs,is impossible
to hopeto straddle
forhe can see onlywith
andhumanity;
abovehimself
Norcan manraisehimself
hisowneyes,andseizeonlywithhisowngrasp.
lendshima hand.5
He willrise,ifGod byexception
None of the angels whomClaudius begs to "Make assay" offershim an incorporealhand;caughtwithintheparalyticcompoundofhis heart,hands,brain,
face, voice, he looks in vain fora way out of the dwellingthathe has made
a prison. Nor do any of the othercharactersin Hamlet find"exceptional"
release fromtheirnaturalcondition.In theirvariouslyless desperateways, all
struggleagainsttheweb of matterthatlifehas wovenroundthemand in which
everytimetheyact.
theyimplicatethemselvesfurther
after
skepticallyweighingthe particularsof human
Montaigne'schallenge,
back
was
to
them
togetherin a livingtotality.Shakespeare's
experience,
put
to presentthe
Far fromeven attempting
intentionappearsto be verydifferent.
life of thebodyas an organicallyfunctioning
entity,he portraysit morein the
mannerof Donne's Devotions, as a collectionof pieces whose morbidityinanemone:"a small and ouglie fish,or excrescenceof the Sea, resemblinga mansbung-hole,and
called the red Nettle."
5 Donald Frame, trans.,The CompleteWorksof Montaigne(Stanford:StanfordUniv. Press,
1957), p. 457.

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A THING OF NOTHING: THE CATASTROPHIC BODY IN HAMLET

31

timatestheirultimateviolentdissolution.The play's countlesspartsand functions, linkedwithvariousextremeand unhealthystatesof mind,engendera

sense of ontologicaldislocation.Thingsfallapartin Hamlet-or are
disturbing
tornapart.Shakespearedoes notuse thecurrently
popularmetaphorof anatomy
here (as he does, forinstance,forJaques's laceratingintelligencein As You
Like It), butthroughout
theplay we are made to thinkof thefragmented
state
of a bodythathas been cut open, probed,dissected.When,in thefirstline of
theplay, Barnardoinappropriately
demandstheidentityof Francisco,thesentinelhe is replacing,Franciscoresponds,"Nay, answerme. Standand unfold
yourself."In the claustrophobicheartof Elsinore,thepoliticianstryto make
Hamletstandstillso thattheycan unfoldhimand findwhatlies within.Seeing
Hamlet's disturbedbehavior,Claudius resolves to discover (surgically,as it
himthus,/Thatopenedlies within
were) "Whetheraughtto us unknownafflicts
our remedy"(II.ii. 17-18). Polonius, supposingthathe has foundtheanswer,
points(accordingto thecommonesteditorialreading)to his head and shoulders
and says:
Takethisfromthis,if thisbe otherwise.
lead me,I willfind
If circumstances
it werehidindeed
is hid,though
Wheretruth
thecenter.
Within
(II.ii. 156-59)

Rosencrantzand Guildenstern,
Fortune'sprivates,who makelove to theiremployment,who would play on Hamlet's stops as on a pipe, reachingforthe
heartof his mystery,
are themselves
groundup in theirobsceneprobings,doomed
own
The king keeps them,as Hamlet tells
their
insinuation"
(V.ii.59).
"by
Rosencrantz,"like an ape, in the cornerof his jaw, firstmouthed,to be last
swallowed" (IV.ii.19-20). Finallytheybecome inertmatterin Hamlet's own
perversionof Claudius's plans.
come in reference
to "parts"
of partition
or dismemberment
Otherinsinuations
lines thatopen the play. When two more
or "pieces," as in the fragmented
figuresenter,Barnardoasks, "What, is Horatiothere?"and Horatioanswersperhapsin numbnessat the frigidweather,perhapsin disdain forthe spooky
proceedings,butcertainlystrangely-"A piece of him" (I.i. 19). Laertes,"the
continentof whatpart a gentlemanwould see" (V.ii.112-13), suffersoften
fromsuch usages, severalof themin the scene in whichClaudius reduceshim
to a tool of his murderousintentions(IV.vii.57 ff.). Laertes agrees to obey
Claudius on the conditionthat "you will not o'errule me to a peace," and
Claudius replies"To thineown peace." Laertesis content,butwishesit could
and Claudius
be arranged"That I mightbe theorgan" of Hamlet'spunishment;
will
one
he
use
of
"sum
of
Laertes's
"part," his
parts,"
courtly
agrees that,
fencing,to enticeHamletto his doom. The ideas of incisionand partitionare
combinedin the closet scene, whereHamlet's promisenot to let Gertrudego
untilhe has made hersee her "inmostpart" makesherfearthatshe is literally
to be carvedup (III.iv.20 ff.).Afterherhastyexclamationhas caused thatfate
to befall the vigilantPolonius instead,and afterHamlethas thrusthis merely
verbaldaggersin herears, thequeen lamentsthatherhearthas been "cleftin
twain" and is told, "0, throwaway theworserpartof it, / And live thepurer
withtheotherhalf" (III.iv. 157-59). Hamletteemswithsuchfiguresof a body
thathas been dislocated,brokeninto its parts. "The timeis out of joint" in

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32

SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

Denmark,and the youngprincehas been called upon to planthis footin the

socketand violently"set it right"-an actionthatinvolveshimin causingstill
moreviolationand dislocation.
All thisimagerypertainingto theunmakingof thebodybears some resemblance to the imageryof theHenryIV plays, whichNeil Rhodes discusses in
the courseof his studyof theElizabethantraditionof isolatingand distorting
effects.6Food metaphorsin parpartsof the body forcomic and admonitory
ticularattachthemselvesto the personof Falstaff,alternately
evokingjoyous
physicalityand miserablecorporealdegeneration.A similaremphasison what
. . . of existence"inheresin thesomewhat
Rhodes calls "the meremateriality
fromtheGhost
of
whichderiveultimately
different
Hamlet,
corporealmetaphors
who hoversbehindthescenesand impelstheaction.Despitehis relativelybrief
timeon stage, the Ghost fillsthe linguisticfabricof his play withimages of
brokenbodies, muchas thefatknightgeneratesimagesof sensorygratification
and discomfort."Somethingis rottenin the stateof Denmark,"and he symbolizes it. Since WolfgangClemen's book on Shakespeare's imagery,it has
becomea commonplacein Hamletcriticismthatthemotifof ulcerousinfection
the play centerson the speech in which
and corruptionthatrunsthroughout
Hamletis told how poison was pouredintohis father'sears, coursedthrough
his blood, and ate away his bodyfromwithin,coveringit withsores.7It could
be added to Clemen's important
observationthatthe figureof the dead king
also organizes corporealimageryimplyingdislocationand dissolution.The
physicalundoingof King Hamlet accountsultimately-in termsof both the
of imageryand thoseofplot-for thephysical,psychological,moral,
structures
and politicalundoingsuffered
by the play's livingcharacters.
As thekingwas "cut off" (I.v.76) fromall thathe loved, so Ophelia finds
herself,in Claudius's words, "Divided fromherselfand her fairjudgment,/
Withoutthewhichwe are picturesor merebeasts" (IV.v.86-87). Deprivedof
the coherentformof reason, but still obscurelyintelligible,"Her speech is
nothing,/ Yet the unshapeduse of it doth move / The hearersto collection;
theyyawnat it, / And botchthewordsup fitto theirown thoughts"(IV.v.710). Claudius correctlysays of thispsychicmutilation,"0, thisis thepoison
of deep grief;it springs/ All fromher father'sdeath" (IV.v.76-77)-just as
he discernedearlierthatsomeruinous"matter"in Hamlet'sheartwas distorting
his appearanceandbehavior(III.i. 165 ff,).Claudiuscan see thatthesamepsychic
is takingplace in Laertes,
of King Hamlet'spoisoneddisfiguration
recapitulation
who "wantsnotbuzzersto infecthis ear /Withpestilentspeechesofhisfather's
death,/Whereinnecessity,of matterbeggared,/Will nothingstickourperson
to arraign/ In ear and ear" (IV.v.91-95). Notingall these changes,and the
politicaltroublethattheyare bringing-Hamlethas just been sentto England,
"For like the hecticin my blood he rages," and Laertes is about to burstin
upon the innersanctumof thepalace "in a riotoushead"-Claudius too succumbs to a feelingof violentpsychologicaldisruption.The swellingdisaster
in his kingdom,he tellsGertrude,"Like to a murd'ring
piece, in manyplaces /
Gives me superfluousdeath" (11.96-97).
In thecloset scene, Hamletanalyzesin termsof corporealdisfigurement
the
moraldepravitythatreaches out fromClaudius to all those who come under
his sway. Gertrude'svice appears in her havingabandonedthe physicalar6 Neil Rhodes,ElizabethanGrotesque(London: Routledgeand Kegan Paul, 1980).
7
WolfgangH. Clemen,TheDevelopmentofShakespeare'sImagery(Cambridge,Mass.: Harvard
Univ. Press, 1951).

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A THINGOF NOTHING:THE CATASTROPHIC

BODY IN HAMLET

33

rangementof partsthatwas King Hamlet-"a combinationand a form"that

inferior
form(III.iv.56 ff.). "Have
proclaimedmanliness-for a demonstrably
you eyes?" Hamletasks, suggestingthatonly some physicalmutilationcould
accountforsuch blindness.To choose Claudius indicatesnot merelysensual
weakness,but sensoryderangement:
Sensesureyouhave,
Else couldyounothavemotion,
butsurethatsense

Is apoplexed ...
Eyes withoutfeeling,feelingwithoutsight,
Ears withouthandsor eyes, smellingsans all,

Or buta sicklypartof one truesense

Couldnotso mope.
(11.72-74, 79-82)
Hamlet continueshis indictmentof Claudius with a comparisonto the dismemberedbodyof thedead king.The new rulerof Denmark'sgovernment
and
Gertrude'saffectionsis, he tells the queen, a sum of partsthatdo not make
he is
up a whole, a livingbody thathas alreadybeen reducedto fragments:
"a kingof shredsandpatches," "not twentieth
partthetithe/Of yourprecedent
lord" (11. 103, 98-99).
The physicalimitation
of King Hamlet'sundoingthatculminatesin theplay's
finalscene withfourdeathsby poisoning-five ifHoratiocould have his waybeginswiththedeathof Polonius,whosecorpseis madean emblemof physical
decay. AfterHamlet has renderedthe old courtier"most grave" and lugged
his gutsoffstage,Claudius asks whereHamlethas gone and Gertrudereplies,
withechoesofdismemberment:
"To drawapartthebodyhe hathkilled"(IV.i.24).
Claudius sends Rosencrantzand Guildensternto "bring the body/ Into the
chapel" (11.36-37), but theirpersistentinquiriesare parriedby Hamlet,who
makes the absentcorpse a kindof absentpropfordramatizingthe mystery
of
undoingrevealedby his father'sghost:
Rosen. Whathaveyoudone,mylord,withthe
deadbody?
it withdust,whereto
Ham. Compounded
'tis
kin.
Rosen. My lord,youmusttellus wherethebody
is, andgo withus to theKing.
Ham. The bodyis withtheKing,buttheKing

is not withthe body. The King is a

thingGuilden. A thing,my lord?
Ham.
Of nothing.Bringme to him.
(IV.ii.5-6, 26-31)

The deathof kingsis thebeginningand theend of Hamlet's studyin thisplay.

Polonius offershiman imaginativelinkbetweenthelive kingwho attachesso
muchimportance
to bodies and thedead kingwhoknowshow littletheyamount
to. BroughtbeforeClaudius and asked once more "where the dead body is
bestowed," Hamletwaxes philosophicalabout kings,beggars,and the worms
double
thatconsumethemboth.Consideringthateven a king,whosemystically
Body representsthe corporatebeing of all his subjects, "may go a progress

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34

SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

throughthe guts of a beggar," he recitesthe lesson of the play's corporeal

botha form
images. The body personaland politicis a provisionalstructure,
thatsustainshumanbeing and a shadowthroughwhichnonbeingbeckons. As
a compositionof partsthatwill inevitablyfall apartand decompose, human
lifeis paradoxically"a thing. . . of nothing,"an existenceconstructed
around
the void.
II
In his famoussubtilizationof theRomanticidea thatHamletis unnecessarily
and morbidlyreflective,T. S. Eliot arguedthatShakespearehimselffailedin
Hamletto establishanyclear correspondence
betweenthoughtand action,idea
and image. The play is "full of some stuffthatthe writercould not drag to
light,contemplate,or manipulateintoart," Eliot suggested;and since nothing
in the fictionaloccasion is sufficient
to accountfortheprotagonist'sgreatapprehensionand disgust,his thoughtsand feelingscannotbe expressedby "a
skilfulaccumulationof imaginedsensoryimpressions."8The morbidcorporealityof theimaginedsensoryimpressionsdescribedin thefirstsectionof this
essay mayprovidean answerto Eliot's charge,in thattheyconstitute
something
like an "objective correlative"for Hamlet's obsessive withdrawalfromthe
worldof action. The attitudetowardcorporealexistenceinherentin theplay's
in theprotagonist'sthinking
as well; it contributes
imageryfiguresprominently
to his inabilityto "act" by challengingwhathe regardsas theintegrity
of his
being.
Insofaras Hamlet suffersfroma psychologicalProblemdistinctfromthe
formidablemoraland practicaldifficulties
presentedby his situation,it consists
in questioninghis own being;and thisin turnhas muchto do withhis inability
to identify
himselfwiththatwhichdecays, "passing through
natureto eternity"
of dramatictimemustpass beforeHamletcan think
(I.ii.73). A small eternity
of himselfas a creatureof fleshwithoutexperiencingparoxysmsof anguish
and disgust.His observationthata kingmaypass throughthegutsof a beggar
is intendedas a thinlyveiled threatagainstClaudius's life, but it attacksalso
his sense of himselfas a dignified,purposeful,heroicbeing. Fearingthatphysical actions may neveradequatelyembodyvirtuousintentions,he makes the
doubt self-fulfilling
by shieldinghis high sense of himselfwithinan overfor
action.
whelmingcontempt thebody-a contemptthatsabotagesmeaningful
MarkRose has observedhow Hamletis "bound" to certaincoursesof action
by his birth,by his uncle's calculatingrefusalto let him leave the corrupt
"prison" of Denmark,and by his loyaltyto theGhost("I am boundto hear";
"So artthouto revenge,whenthoushalthear"); he rebels againsttheseconRose argues,by becoming"obsessed withtheidea of freedom,with
strictions,
the dignitythatresides in being masterof oneself."9 But Hamletis bound as
well to his body, and obsessed withhis contemptfor it. Even beforehe is
called upon to "set right"the unnaturalmurderand the incestuousmarriage,
he lamentshis connectionto theroyalcouple's physicality.His mother'slascivious "appetite" promptshimto wish fora way out of thehatefulbody that
8 T. S. Eliot, Selected Essays: 1917-1932 (London: Faber and Faber, 1932),
pp. 144-45.
9 Mark Rose, "Hamlet and the Shape of Revenge," EnglishLiteraryRenaissance, 1 (1971),
132-43, esp. pp. 132-34.

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A THING OF NOTHING: THE CATASTROPHIC BODY IN HAMLET

35

can lead people to forgetso quicklythespiritualgoods thathave sustainedthem

fora lifetime:
O thatthistootoosulliedfleshwouldmelt,
Thaw,andresolveitselfintoa dew,
Or thattheEverlasting
hadnotfixed
His canon'gainstself-slaughter.
(I.ii.129-32)
Claudius's rowdybehaviorwiththe boys becomes the occasion for another
meditationon corporealsubversionof virtue.Denmark's "heavy-headedrevel," he tells Horatio,has taken"fromour achievements. . . / The pithand
marrowof our attribute"(I.iv.17-22)-hollowing out the bones, enervating
of nobleDanes.
builtup fromtheachievements
thespineof a nationalreputation
If an irruption
of physicalimpulsecan so damage the reputationof an entire
nation,it is not surprisingthatsome "vicious mole of nature"or "the o'erof individualmen,
growthof some complexion"can underminethereputation
/
to sucha degreethattheirvirtues"Shall in thegeneralcensuretakecorruption
Fromthatparticularfault" (11.23-36).
The Ghostcalls Hamletdeep intothisworldof disruption.Its invitationto
decapitatethebodypoliticseems a horrific
charge("O cursedspite"), and by
theend of theplay it will manifestly
be so: Ophelia will have been emotionally
brutalizedand lost to lunaticdistraction;the king and queen will have been
to reconstitute
a harmonious
piercedwithhatefulinsight,theirattempts
political
entityshattered;thepopulace will have been raisedto thebrinkof revolt;Polonius,Rosencrantz,Guildenstern,
Laertes,andHamlethimOphelia,Gertrude,
self will have fallenas moreor less innocentvictimsbeforeClaudius finally
does; and Denmarkitselfwillbe putin thehandsoftherecklessyoungmarauder
whose hostileapproachthe sentriesanticipatedat the beginningof the play.
In settingrighttwo injustices,Hamletwill cause physical,psychological,
moral,
and politicaldislocationson a universalscale.
Nothingabouttheapparitiongives Hamletanyconfidencethatthepurposeful
needed to perseverethroughthe play's violence is groundedin
determination
the
Oresteianfutility.On thecontrary,
substantial,lastingvirtuetranscending
mementoof all thatrots,
and a horrifying
Ghostis simultaneously
insubstantial
seemingto embodytheveryforcesof corporealruinthatHamletfearsmaybe
inimicalto virtue.It recalls in appearanceand dignitythe majesticking who
won honordestroyingthe Poles and conqueringambitiousNorway. But the
to by Horatio
fortheking,referred
Ghostis a weak and ephemeralsubstitute
and theguardsas his "image," "this thing," "illusion," "this portentous
fig"like theKing."
ure," a "horribleform,""a figurelikeyourfather,"something
beforeit in thecloset scene contrastswiththe
Hamlet's astonishedprostration
thatherson is gazingwildlyinto"vacancy"
astonishment
queen's equallygreat
air" (III.iv.118-19). The Ghostseems
and holdingdiscoursewith"th'incorporal
verymuch"a thingof nothing"whenHamlet'sappeals forGertrudeto confirm
its existenceelicit only fearsthather son is a victimof schizophrenichallucination:
Queen.To whomdo youspeakthis?
Do yousee nothing
there?
Ham.
at all, yetall thatis I see.
Queen.Nothing

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36

SHAKESPEARE
QUARTERLY
Ham. Nordidyounothing
hear?
butourselves.
Queen.
No, nothing
Ham. Why,lookyouthere,lookhowit stealsaway!
in hishabitas he lived!
My father,
Look wherehe goes,evennow,outat theportal!
Exit Ghost.

Queen.Thisis theverycoinageof yourbrain.

Thisbodilesscreation
ecstasy
Is verycunning
in.
(III.iv.132-40)

Hamlet answershis mother'schargeof "ecstasy" convincingly.We cannot

believe thattheGhostis a figment
of his imagination:Horatiohas raisedprecisely thisissue in the firstscene of theplay, and has been quicklyconvinced
that the apparitionis "somethingmore than fantasy" (I.i.54). But Shakemakes us feel poignantlyhow littleHamletis able to rely
speare's stagecraft
on theGhostas his justification
fora murderouscourseof action. Cast on the
defensive,forcedto justifytherightof a lunaticto catechizea sinner,Hamlet
is in no way aided by theencoreappearancethattheGhostmakesto whethis
"almost bluntedpurpose."
In additionto being "incorporal," insubstantial,the Ghost dwells on the
of
terrifying
processesby whichcorporealcreaturesare reducedto fragments
themselves.Its firstwordsseemcalculatedto plungeHamletdeep intothoughts
of undoing."My houris almostcome, / When I to sulf'rousand tormenting
flames/ Must renderup myself,"it begins, evokingvisions of humanflesh
"rendered"to its elementslike animalfat(I.v.2-4). The Ghostmaybe Hamlet's "father'sspirit," but it is a spiritbound by "foul crimes," doomed to
wear away by fastingand firethe impuritiesthatit acquiredin nature(11.9of its "prisonhouse" are notless intensethanwhatflesh
13). The punishments
is heirto; in fact,theyare so muchmoreintensethathearingof them
Wouldharrow
up thysoul,freezethyyoungblood,
Makethytwoeyeslikestarsstartfromtheirspheres,
andcombined
locksto part,
Thyknotted
hairto standan end
Andeachparticular
Likequillsuponthefearful
porpentine.
blazonmustnotbe
Butthiseternal
To earsof fleshandblood.
(11.16-22)
The GhostsparesHamletthe sympathetic
undoingthatwould befallhimif he
heard this tale of the Almighty'spurgingfires,but it treatshim to the next
worstthing,an accountof the effectsof Claudius's poison. When he is told
fromlife, wife,and crown,
themannerof his father'sdeath-cut offinstantly
withvenomcoursingthroughhis body,his blood congealingand skincrusting,
and unrepented
sinsweighinguponhis head-Hamlet hardlyrequirestheGhost's
accompanyinginjunction:"0, horrible!Most horrible!/ If thouhastnaturein
thee,bear it not" (11.80-81). Reelingas beneatha physicalblow, he feelsthat
his own bodymayno longercohere,no longersupporthis consciousness:"Hold,
hold, my heart,/ And you, my sinews, grow not instantold, / But bear me
stiffly
up" (11.93-95).
Earlier,the sightof the Ghosthas leftMarcellusand Barnardo"distilled/
Almostto jelly withtheact of fear" (I.ii.204-5). The tale of how his father's

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A THING OF NOTHING: THE CATASTROPHIC BODY IN HAMLET

37

in an instant,and
body sank fromadmirablebeautyto horrifying
monstrosity
how in the same instantinvisiblesins overwhelmedhis father'ssoul, plunges
Hamletintoa horroras muchontologicalas physical,intoa worldwhereman
the effectualethicalagentseems distilledto utterinconsequence.Is ambition
a shadow,as RosencrantzandGuildenstern
to broach
suggestin a feebleattempt
the topic of Hamlet's politicalintentions?"Then are our beggarsbodies, and
our monarchsand outstretched
heroesthe beggars' shadows" (II.ii.267-69).
Justas a king's body mightbe imaginedgoing a passage throughthe gutsof
a beggar,his ambitious,"outstretched"spiritmaybe nothingmorelastingthan
a ghostlyshadow. In this world,thoughtsmay be no more capable of transcendingruinthanare bodies. The earthnow seems "sterile" to Hamlet,the
firmament
a morbidexhalationof infectious"vapors," and godlikemana handful of dustwaitingto returnto its disorganizedstate(II.ii). The best thingsin
himself-his fidelityto his father,and the love of Ophelia-are seen now as
compromised
bytheold corrupt"stock" of mankindthatvirtuecan "inoculate"
but never supplant(III.i). Linkinghimselfwithmen such as Claudius-and
Ophelia withwomensuch as Gertrude-by the corruptiblematerialin which
theyare commonlyrooted,Hamletsees virtuouspurposeand rationalsignificance threatened
everywhereby corporealcorruption.
This perceptionof bodilyexperienceas corruptand corrupting
drivesHamlet
into disdainful,alienatedcontempt:contemptforhis own flesh,contemptfor
those partsof his experiencethatseem taintedby corporeality,contemptfor
people who threatento harmor to compromisehimby insinuatingthemselves
intohis thoughts.WhenHoratiowarnshimof thepossibledangersof following
the Ghost, he welcomes the destruction
of his body: "Why, what should be
the fear?/ I do not set my life at a pin's fee, / And formy soul, whatcan it
do to that,/ Being a thingimmortalas itself?" (I.iv.64-67). Horatio's reasonable reminderthatthe soul is no moreimmutableor invulnerablethanthe
body,butmayitselfbe wreckedin madnessas it hoversovertheabyss, drives
Hamletintowhatseems to Horatioa "desperate" violence: "Unhandme, gentlemen./ By heaven,I'll makea ghostof himthatlets me!" (11.84-85). This
violentwithdrawal
fromhisbodyand fromhiscompanionsis augmentedshortly
withdrawal
from
his own worldlyself. Hamlet imaginesthat,in orderto
by
honorthe Ghost's partingcommand,he mustobliteratefrommemoryall the
experienceand learningstoredin his brain,uprootingpast impressionsuntil
onlythoseoftheavengingspiritlivethere,"Unmix'dwithbasermatter"(I.v. 104).
thathis yearsof "obForsakingforthe momenttheprudentialconsiderations
servation" would suggestto him, and also his trustin his companions,he
contentshimselfwith"wild and whirlingwords," like a falcontoweringhigh
above the earth.
Hamlet's transcendent
contemptis dramatizedmostpowerfullyin his treatmentof Ophelia, theone creaturewho ties himinextricably,
physically,to the
corruptworld of Elsinore. His alienationfromher begins soon afterthe encounterwiththe Ghost. At theend of II.i, she tells Poloniushow Hamlethas
withdrawn
himselfin ghostlysilence fromher society.The anticperformance
thatPolonius takes for "the veryecstasyof love" is indeed ecstatic,though
hardlyamatory.Hamlet,in Ophelia's description,resemblestheliteraryfigure
of the distractedand dishevelledlover, but he more stronglyevokes the corporeal ruin suggestedby the figureof the Ghost. He has enteredher room,
Ophelia says, in a mannerominousenoughto striketerrorintoherheart,very
pale (as the Ghostwas said to be), "And witha look so piteousin purport,/

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38

SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

As ifhe had beenloosed outofhell /To speakofhorrors"(II.i.82-84). Silently

scrutinizingthe amazed object of his visitation,as the Ghost silentlystood
beforefinallyyieldingup speech to Hamlet,and three
beforehis interlocutors
its actionof liftingits head up and down (describedby Horatio
timesimitating
at I.ii.216), he at last raises "a sigh so piteousand profound/ As it did seem
to shatterall his bulk/ And end his being" (II.i.94-96)-then driftsout of
the roomwithoutthe use of his eyes, theybeing constantlyfixedon Ophelia,
as the Ghost's were said to be on Horatio. In thusaffecting
the shattering
of
bulk and endingof beingthattorehis fatherfromthequeen, Hamletdeclares
to Ophelia.
his intentionto tear himselffromhis eroticattachment
A violentattemptto freehimselffromcorporeality,
resultingparadoxically
in a deep immersionin it, characterizesall of Hamlet's dealingswithOphelia.
When he turnshis assumedmadnessupon the unfortunate
girlwithfullforce
in Act III, he revilesheras a prettysnareforthespirit-one of thosecreatures
who substitute
new faces fortheones God gave them,whojig and amble and
lisp, who excuse theirmoraldepravityby pleadingtheirrationalincapacityand urges her to take herselfout of sexual circulation.The next scene finds
himattackingherbody withribaldjokes aboutcountrymatters,lyingbetween
maids' legs, and games of show and tell. In thusbitterly
doingviolenceto the
creaturewho mosthas access to his innerself, Hamletdoes not findfreedom
fromthe dangerof love, butonlyreduceshimselfand herto ruin.The deformationof his formerselfthatOphelia thinksshe sees in his harangue-"That
unmatchedformand featureof blownyouth/Blastedwithecstasy" (III.i. 16061)-prefigures her own madnessin the nextAct. It foretellsalso Hamlet's
'
distractedexpressionsof anguishat her death:
'Swounds,showmewhatthou'tdo.
Woo'tfast?Woo'ttearthyself?
Woo'tweep?Woo'tfight?
Woo'tdrinkup eisel?Eat a crocodile?
I'll do't.
(V.i.274-77)

Hamletfindsexcessive and violentdegradationsof his own bodythe onlyadto the falsenessof his earliercontempt.All of his efforts
to
equate testimony
removehimselffromthecompromising
of corporeality
infection
onlydrivehim
moredeeply into the understanding
of his dependenceon the frailbody.
Hamlet's violent,and ultimatelyfutile,ambitionto transcendbodilyweakness can be seen not only in his dealingswithOphelia, but also in all of his
to respondadequatelyto thedeathof his father.In his firstspeech of
attempts
the play, while manifestly
actingthe partof a mourner,he disdainsdramatic
action as being limitedby the opacityof the flesh.No physical"show," he
of his grief.His black clothes
insists,can adequatelyconvey the immensity
and the expressivecorporealactions that accompanythemfall shortof the
indescribablestateof suffering
thatresideswithinhim. Hamlet's separationof
"actions thata manmightplay" and theinvisibleanguishof his alienatedsoul
is an admissionof futility,
suggestingthatno physicalacts-whetherdramatic
or heroic-can servethepurposesof thespirit.And his wordsringfalse when
comparedto the authenticalienationof Ophelia, whose mad meanderingsand
distractedgestures,while opaque to reason, neverthelessmove theiraudience
to anguishedcommiseration
utterance
nevercould-prompting
as coherent
Laertes
to exclaim, "This nothing'smorethanmatter"(IV.v. 174).

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A THINGOF NOTHING:THE CATASTROPHIC

BODY IN HAMLET

39

The Ghost's demandforvengeancerequiressome strongerresortto physicality,and whenHamlet asks the Playerfor "a passionatespeech" he seems
brieflyto have founda model for "suiting" corporealactionto mentalstate.
He admiresthe Player's capacityto so translatea fictionalintentionintodramatic actionthatall of his corporeal"function"can be seen lending"forms
to his conceit" (II.ii.561-62). But it soon appears thatHamlet is not chiefly
interestedin theharmonioussuitingof body to soul. Rather,he has asked for
the speech in orderto excite himselfto a still moreviolentcontemptforthe
body. He imaginesthat,giventhemagnitudeof his wrong,he should "drown
thestagewithtears," "cleave thegeneralear withhorridspeech," "and amaze
indeed/The veryfacultiesof eyes and ears" (11.567-71). He fixesobsessively
on corporealexcitationas a standardfordramaticand ethicalaction,contemplatingimaginaryinjuriesto his own body in orderto workhimselfup into
violence:
AmI a coward?
Whocalls me villain?Breaksmypateacross?
Plucksoffmybeardandblowsit in myface?
Tweaksmebythenose?Givesmethelie i' th'throat
As deepas to thelungs?Whodoes methis?
Ha, 'swounds,I shouldtakeit,forit cannotbe
andlackgall
ButI am pigeon-livered
or erethis
To makeoppression
bitter,
all theregionkites
I shouldha' fatted
Withthisslave'soffal.Bloody,bawdyvillain!
kindlessvillain!
lecherous,
treacherous,
Remorseless,
0, vengeance!
Why,whatan ass am I!
(11.577-89)
in theselines stemsfromhis convictionthat,in order
Hamlet'sbitterself-hatred
to act the partof the revenger,he mustplungedeep into the bodilypassion
thathe so despises, and perhapsbecome a bloodyvillainhimself.He quickly
insteadto have otheractorsenact a play that
abandonsthe part,determining
will determinethe king's guiltor innocence.
to the playerscorrecthis bittercontemptforthe body, asHis instructions
itsdue place in dramaticimitation.Renouncinghis ecstatic
signingcorporeality
of
exaggeration physicalviolence,Hamletsays, "0, it offendsme to the soul
fellowteara passionto tatters,to veryrags,
to heara robustiousperiwig-pated
to splittheears of thegroundlings"(III.ii.8-11). Use thebodyin youracting,
he tells theplayers,but "Suit the actionto the word,the wordto the action"
(11. 17-18). He no longerdisdains the capacityof bodily actionsto execute
ethicalintentions.The purposeof acting,he says, is to mirrorthe lineaments
of humanexperienceon stage-"to hold as 'twerethe mirrorup to nature;to
show virtueherown feature,scornherown image, and theveryage and body
of the timehis formand pressure" (11.21-24). Like a mirrorthatfaithfully
receivesthephysicalformsof things,dramaticarttakesthebodilyimpressof
theirmoralnaturein itslivingoutlines.Hamlet
menand womenand re-presents
for art a conceptionof its ethicallyeffective
achieves in these prescriptions
function,and he manages to implementthe conceptionwhen he uses other
artists'worksto probethepsychesof Claudius and Gertrude.The starklymimetictableauof courtlybodies playedbeforeClaudius literallyshowstheking

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40

SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

the formof his actions,and achieves its intendedeffectof drivinghim from

cover. The portraitsof Gertrude'stwo husbandsengage her consciencewith
her inescapablywiththe lineamentsof
similarlystunningeffect,confronting
her desires.
But artisticimitationsof bodilyactiondo nothelp Hamletto accomplishhis
most importantethical action. He uses the artisticfusionof body and soul,
formand intention,
to do whatartcan do accordingto theRenaissanceaesthetic:
the
convey
intelligibleorderof experienceto an audienceand stirtheirmoral
responses.He cannot-or will not-use it to accomplishregicide.Indeed, he
letseven his "antic disposition"slip beforeand duringtheplay, withtheeffect
thatClaudius understands
exactlywhythemousetraphas been sprungand determinesto removehis enemyfromDenmark.
Hamlet's explicitconsiderationsof revenge,like his studiesof models of
dramaticaction, sufferconstantlyfromhis ambitionto transcendcorporeal
weakness. By associatingheroic action withan escape fromthe fleshin the
"To be or not to be" soliloquy, he initiatesa vain attemptto transcendthe
veryconditionsof action. He imaginesthat"takingup arms" will somehow
liberatehis soul fromtheindignitiesof thebody. But hearingthestoryof how
his fatherdied has made it impossibleforhimto imaginetheprocessof leaving
the body (so "noble in the mind") in any termsexcept those of corporeal
calamity.Eternalsleep suggestseternalnightmares.Castinghis mindup and
out of corporealmiseryonly leaves him "sicklied o'er withthe pale cast of
thought,"his face drainedof "the nativehue of resolution"by a consciousness
turnedpathologicallyinward.Corporealitydrags his heaven-seekingthoughts
to earth;like theprayingClaudius, he findsthemmiserablyincapableof transcendingthe limitationsof bodilyexistence.
fromthesoldiershipof Fortinbras,
like his very
His effort
to drawinspiration
similaradmirationforthePlayer,loses coherentethicalpurposeas it sinksinto
violentdisdainforbodilywell-being.The NorwegianadventureagainstPoland
seems to him a case of pathologicallymorbidviolence, an "imposthumeof
muchwealthand peace, / That inwardbreaks,and shows no cause without/
Whythemandies" (IV.iv.27-29). But he forceshimselfto admireit, because
of Fortinbras'seagernessto abandonbodilyconcernsforthesake of thespirit.
His own small sum of bloodshed,he decides, indicatesa beast's dull maintenanceof corporealfunctions,whileFortinbras'sadmirable"spirit," his "divine ambition,"appear in his willingnessto expose the great"mass" of his
slaughter.Fortinbras'ssacrificeof twentythousandmen
armyto indiscriminate
Laertes's
fora piece of land notlargeenoughto burythemoutpacesin barbarity
and
his
his
throat
in
the
motives-"a
to
cut
church,
fantasy
enemy's
willingness
Hamletrecognizesthemonstrosity
and trickof fame"-are moreinsubstantial.
of the deed, and even the wordsthathe calls up to defendit betraytheirostensiblepurposes: "Examples gross as earthexhortme" (can such examples
be exemplary?);"Rightlyto be great/ Is not to stirwithoutgreatargument"
Fortinbras'saction, does he not need another"not"?). In
(if he is affirming
of catastrophe,
yearningto patternhis own revengeon thissenselesspromotion
Hamlet abandons all realisticconsiderationof good and evil in an effortto
overcomehis dull animal maintenanceof corporeallife. Insteadof deploring
Fortinbras'sfailureto use thebody forsubstantialpurposes,he celebratesthe
smashesit, and therebyentertainsthoughts
way in whichhe contemptuously
of moraldepravity.
In theprayerscene, we see Hamletcaughtonce morein thedivisionthathe

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A THING OF NOTHING: THE CATASTROPHIC BODY IN HAMLET

41

wouldmakebetweenbodyand spirit,and once morecultivating

thepathological
corruptionthathe so fears. Seeing Claudius engaged, as he thinks,in "the
purgingof his soul," makinghimself"fit and seasoned for his passage"whereashis own fatherdied "grossly,fullof bread,/Withall his crimesbroad
blown"-Hamlet waits for a momentthatwill have "no relish of salvation
in't," andleavesClaudius's"physic"togivewaytomore"sicklydays" (III.iii.8096). An ill-intentioned
consultingphysician,he judges the alimentarysystem
of thepatientsufficiently
freeof obstruction
to permitan unimpeded"passage"
of the soul to paradise,and prescribesa periodof waitingso thattheorganism.
may worsenand clog the hatefulsoul withinit beforeit is killed. His false
assumptionthatanyhumansoul, muchless one so corruptas Claudius's, could
free itselffromthe conditionsof corporealityleads him to seek a barbaric
revengeincompatiblewithChristianvirtue,and preventshimfromenactingthe
simplerrevengethatlies possiblebeforehim. The dramaticironythatClaudius
has not been able to transcendhis body and the thingsthatit stillloves urges
the insufficiency
of Hamlet's attitudes.
Purposefulactioncannotcoexist withHamlet's effortto distinguishthe invincible soul fromthe ruinousbody. Such an effortseeks to rescue the self
fromsomethingthatit depends upon forits being and doing. Consciousness
in Hamlet is, like thebody, an entitypoised betweensubstantialpresenceand
ephemeralabsence. The body growsand decays accordingto its own laws; by
the same inscrutablelaws, menfindachievementin themidstof loss, security
in themidstof fear,powerin weakness,significancein accident.Hamletdefies
theselaws so long as he attempts
to removethespiritfromambiguityand lodge
it in simplicity.Insteadof cultivatingthe compoundof kindredelementsthat
is a spiritedbody, he tries to split it into a duality,and wastes his energy
contemninghalf of himself.
WhenHamletbreaksout of his dualismand moreconfidently
treadsthestage
as a duellist,it is because he has finallyacknowledged,withoutdread or anguish, thatprinces,like theirswords,accomplishtheirends in "passing." A
clown's tricksdo notoutlivehis kicks:notonlyYorick's lips have disappeared
fromthe earth,but also his gibes, his gambols,his songs, his flashesof merriment.Nor, by the same token,can Caesar, "thatearthwhichkepttheworld
in awe" (V.i.215), expectto remaina substantialand functional
presence,save
perhapsas a patchon a windywall. The greatpersonageswho mayhave owned
the graveyard'sbones dance again in imaginationas creatureswho mistook
theirpower forsomethingmore substantialthanthe body, and the fragments
of theirbodies mock theirpretensionby outlivingthem.Gertrudemay have
herhusbandafteronlytwomonths,buta tanner'sfleshis stillkeeping
forgotten
out wateraftereightyears. As Hamletpersists(despiteHoratio's objection)in
his courageouslyreductivemeditationson humanvanity,he approachesthe
brashhumilityof theGravedigger,who happilyshovelsaside pieces of bodies
as he singsa dittyof age having"shipped me intotheland, /As if I had never
been such" (V.i.71-74). The rustic's"absolute" use of theterms"man" and
"woman" comicallyrelievesthe anxietygeneratedsince the beginningof the
play by Hamlet's effortto distinguishmankindfromcorporeality:
Ham. Whatmandostthoudig it for?
Clown.Forno man,sir.
Ham. Forwhatwomanthen?
Clown.Fornoneneither.

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QUARTERLY
SHAKESPEARE

42

Ham. Whois to be buriedin't?

Clown.One thatwas a woman,sir;but,resthersoul,
Ham.

she's dead.
How absolutethe knave is!

(11.130-36)

Hamlet's takingsolace in theprovisional"absolute" thatmenand womenare

fromthem,suggeststhathe accepts
morethantheirbodies, but not different
consistsin accedingto corporealaccidents,
as well thefactthatman's strength
ratherthanin tryingto transcendthem.
in Act V,
While it is clear thatHamletadoptsa new kindof understanding
and thathe undergoessome beneficialchange as a result,criticismhas long
been notoriously
vague aboutpreciselywhatthissavingknowledgeconsistsin.
Hamletdoes notlearnsimplyto acceptdeath;indeed,he seems alwaysto have
desiredit. Nor are his wordsaboutthe "divinitythatshapesour ends" and the
foundationon which
"special providencein the fall of a sparrow" sufficient
to base a religiousethic or cosmology.What seems to be on his mindmore
essentiallythaneitherdeath or God is a preoccupationwiththe possibilities
and conditionsof purposefulhumanaction. But even here the understanding
seems to be morenegativethanpositive.Hamletbeginsto embraceaccidental
occasions-seeing themunderthe aspect of ProvidenceratherthanFortuneand to renouncehis earlierneed to understandand controleveryaspect of his
revenge.Discussing the importanceof chance occurrencein the finalaction,
thecriticsof variousschools
observedhowreluctant
WilliamWarnerhas recently
have been to accept limitationson Hamlet's importance,and how theyhave
in attempts
to rescuehispurposeful
beendrivento ingeniousorvaguearguments
10What Hamletlearns,Warnersuggests,is preciselythe insufintentionality.
of reality:
to makefinaland coherentconstructions
ficiencyof his own attempts
he learns,in effect,by unlearningwhathe has thoughtearlierin the play.
One thingthatHamletunlearnsis his contemptforhis physicalnature,which
reducedthis spiritedand capable exemplarof active virtueto
has persistently
the
actingnot at all, or in spurtsof blindrage. Hamlet's identitythroughout
conditions
of
and
to
the
his
wish
exceed
has
vulnerability
play
dependedupon
thatinherein an animalbody. But realityhas repeatedlyconincompleteness
tradictedthis assumedidentity,insistingthatthe body mustbe centralto his
being, not somethinginessentialthatcan be thoughtinto irrelevanceand vito transcendcorporealityhave only
olentlydiscarded.All of Hamlet's efforts
implicatedhimamorallyin its ruinousviolence. Finallyhe abandonsthefruitless attempt.He sees in the graveyardnot simplythe bodily "nothingness"
thathas so distressedhimbefore,but an inescapableconnectionbetweenthat
and his own being. As JamesCalderwoodhas putit, "For Hamlet
nothingness
fully'To Be,' it seems,he mustexperiencein thegraveyard,underthetutelage
to crystallize,
of theGravemaker,whatit is 'Not To Be.' For his own identity
he mustcome to the place whereall identitiesdissolve."" The Hamlet who
on his being,leaving
killsthekingis a manwhohas acceptedradicallimitations
the orchestration
of his revengeto Claudius ("I am constantto mypurposes;
'1 William BeattyWarner,Chance and the Text of Experience:Freud, Nietzsche,and Shakespeare's Hamlet (Ithaca: CornellUniv. Press, 1986), pp. 268-75.
" JamesL.
Calderwood,To Be and Not to Be: Negationand Metadramain Hamlet(New York:
Columbia Univ. Press, 1983), p. 103.

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A THING OF NOTHING: THE CATASTROPHIC BODY IN HAMLET

43

of his deathto God ("Since

theyfollowtheKing's pleasure"),theunderstanding
no man of aughthe leaves knows,whatis't to leave betimes?"), thetellingof
his tale to Horatio("Horatio, I am dead; /Thou livest;reportme and mycause
aright"), and the continuationof his life to Fortinbras("He has my dying
violencethattook
voice"). In askingforgivenessof Laertesfortheimprudent
Polonius's life,he detacheshimself-withdiplomaticmendacity,butalso with
evidentsincerity-fromthe arrogantand tormented
self thathe has been:
If Hamletfromhimself
be ta'enaway,
Andwhenhe's nothimself
does wrongLaertes,
ThenHamletdoes it not,Hamletdeniesit.
Whodoes it then?His madness.
(V.ii.236-39)
Hamlethas notin factkilledPoloniusin a fitof "madness," butthewordmay
be takenas a tactfulway of referring
to an assumedself thathas been all but
insane. Calderwoodcalls it a metaphor:"As a metaphorforHamlet's bond to
his father-forthatsense in whichHamletas revengeris 'possessed' by the
ghost of his father-Hamlet's madnessis trulyno partof himself,and is in
fact 'poor Hamlet's enemy.' "12
Secure in the less ambitiousand less anxiousself thatremainswhenhe has
cast out the demon of transcendent
power, Hamletcomes into his own as an
himselfto the
actor on the nationalstage, easily and confidently
submitting
"pass" of swordplay.He acceptsClaudius's invitationto let Laertes's poisonous hand pass into his own: "Come, Hamlet,come, and take thishand from
me" (V.ii.227). His body informshim withsick misgivingthatClaudius is
arranginghis exit fromthislife, but it assures him at the same momentthat
he has the physicalmeans to act as he purposes:
Hor. You willlose thiswager,mylord.
Ham. I do notthinkso. Sincehe wentintoFranceI havebeenin continual
practice.I shallwinat theodds.Butthouwouldstnotthinkhowill
all's hereaboutmyheart.Butit is no matter.
(V.ii.211-15)
Hamlet suggeststhat,in orderto act, humanbeings mustaccept the factthat
in the
theirachievementsgo hand in handwithfailure,and findtheirintegrity
Acceptingthathe will himselfsooneror laterbe
welcomingof fragmentation.
"no matter,"Hamletconsentsto make up one frangiblepartin a largerbody,
as an actorperformsone role in a play. In his finalwordsbeforethecushions
and courtiersand daggers and drinksappear-"Let be"-he overcomesthe
distinctionbetween spiritualfixityand corporealfluxthat has plagued him
theplay. Thingswill be as theybecome,his deathwill come when
throughout
to definehimselfin opposition
it arrives,and he can at last leave offhis effort
to whatMaynardMack has called his "imaginativeenvironment.""13
Most of Shakespeare'stragediestell the storyof an arrogantman who misof realityforrealityitself.FromRichardII
takes his grandioseconstructions
to imposea deludedconceptionof
to Coriolanus,his heroesattemptforcefully
realityon the world,and realitybringsthemdown. Hamletdiffersfromthese
12Calderwood, 44.
p.
13
MaynardMack, "The Worldof Hamlet," The Yale Review,41 (1952), 502-23, esp. p. 502.

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44

SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY

vain and power-madmen in being adolescent,uncertain,victimized,self-hatof believingthathe can

ing. But he shareswiththemthe presumptuousness
transcendthe laws by which othermen and women thinkand behave. The
of his attempting
to be something
otherthana bodyis comicallyasserted
futility
by themadcapramblingsof theGravedigger;it assumestragicgrandeurin the
finalcatastrophe,as newlyruinedbodies litterthe stage, awaitingthe Gravedigger'sservices.Havingfinallyconsentedto actthemodestpartoftheduellist,
a disciplinedcorporealagentwho confineshis thoughtsto theplay of physical
Hamletsubmitswithgrace and dignityto thelimitationsof his
circumstances,
kind.

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