Some Necessary Questions of the Play

A Stage-Centered Analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet

Robert E. Wood

1994
171 pages
ISBN 9780838752906

This study of Hamlet begins with an examination of the play's use of real space and time as elements of a narration that is, in part, about a protagonist's perception of space and time. Robert E. Wood shows that distortions in Hamlet's perceptions of space and time accompany his disillusionment with cultural values. A phenomenological vies of Hamlet's perception of time is used to explore our sense that the tempo of the play is incompatible with the idea that Hamlet hesitates. Wood sees Hamlet's refusal to take up the past and project the future as creating a sense of stasis even in the midst of frenetic activity. An audience is led to share Hamlet's intense contemplation of the passing time in which the drama itself is grounded.

Wood finds in Hamlet a series of violations of generic expectation that opens up the narrow range of revenge tragedy to the fuller scope of tragedy proper. Because Hamlet problematizes genre, we become aware of the problems generated when mythic narrative is infused with self-conscious dramatic characters. The resulting ambivalence of the generic framework makes possible the play's generalized challenge to institutions of social order.

About the author:

Robert E. Wood is an Associate Professor in Literature, Communications, and Culture at Georgia Tech.