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Hamlet: Poem Unlimited |
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Reviews |
| | The Lost Chapter  |
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As Bloom himself admits, this brief book is really just an extension of what he wrote in his tome, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. He feels he didn't do justice to this play in his larger work and he wants to correct that shortcoming here.
If you are familiar with Bloom's other works on Shakespeare, there won't be any real surprises for you here. All of his prejudices and obsessions are on display here: how Hamlet and Falstaff are the greatest of Shakespeare's creations, how modern criticism and performance do no justice to this play, his subtle (and not so subtle) disdain for other characters and plot in the face of the character of Hamlet, etc. I've written of these before and don't want to go over the same ground again.
Still, as this is a much closer examination of Hamlet than he has done previously, there are many joys here as he digs in deep. True, many readers find Bloom ponderous and arrogant and he can be; however, I find his argumentativeness inspiring. I disagree with many of his opinions on Shakespeare but I always find Bloom invigorating, forcing and focusing my own opinions.
Many of my friends do not understand or appreciate my love of Shakespeare but my feelings pale before Bloom's. This is my favorite play but I don't see it as of "no genre." I don't see the character of Hamlet as somehow beyond his play and his playwright. I don't see Shakespeare as some secular god. On the other hand, insight can often come from one of great faith and that is what can be found here. |
| | Hamlet Poem Unlimited  |
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It is not often that one reads a book about a Shakespeare play and needs about half a dozen other books - including a dictionary - nearby for reference. But it is absolutely worth the effort - reading this book is an education. |
| | O good Horatio what a wounded name things standing thus unknown  |
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As Hamlet is Bloom's god one would have expected a more generous bible. Instead this is one of Bloom's most disappointing books, filled with the hot -air of exaggerated praise unjustified by argument or evidence. This is Harold Bloom at his most -declarative placing Hamlet above and beyond all literary- and one would dare to say- human characters.
It is also quite a paltry text, padded with quotation. And it assumes a critical knowledge of Hamlet which I venture to say only few of even its most devoted readers and spectators possess.
As there is a whole critical literature built on the subject of Hamlet's delay in executing his father's request for vengeance I thought that Bloom would in some meaningful way address this. The Hamlet of passion, of passion for Ophelia also, of passionate involvement with the deepest questions of meaning in life is somehow absent here. Instead we have a more detached playing and playful Hamlet, cruel to the point of testing our sympathy.
In short 'the Hamlet' Bloom reads and worships is far from the Hamlet of most Tradition. And is far from the Hamlet whose tormented existential questionings have so enthralled so many readers through the generations.
Instead of augmenting the name of Hamlet ,Bloom has perhaps made a minor wound in it- though of course Bloom is right in knowing that this character is too 'immortal' to really be wounded by any single critic, however important or great. |
| | Undiscovered country of the imagination |
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Hamlet, a play within a play within a play, plays out as pure deception. In this respect Harold comes close to the mark by saying it is "unlimited." It allows scholars to keep asking the ever puzzling and vexing questions... ensuring more debate and questions in return. In other words, Hamlet is a universe of ever expanding possibilities because, as literature and fiction, it is never grounded in reality. We don't have the letters of the real Hamlet, we don't have anything written about him by his family or friends that would give us an insight into his true actions and character. Everything is fiction and speculation and could be argued indefinitely. In point of fact, the play itself contains the more questions asked by its characters than any other Shakespearean play -- and if the characters in the play don't know much, how can we?
Harold has given us his surmises about this hollow universe that expands into the unknown. One important thing he tells us is that Hamlet is acting from the start. I would say that almost everybody is acting or is disingenuous right from the start. If deception is par for the course at Elsinore then it is perfectly natural that Hamlet should act as well. Even the last scene of sword fighting involves deadly deception from this family of actors.
If deception and uncertainty are the royal stamps in Denmark, then I would take it farther and argue that the biggest deception of all was perpetrated by Fortinbras. I propose a new theory: Fortinbras had Claudius commit the fratricide and then he had Reynardo the spy act as the Ghost to incite Hamlet to kill Claudius. This would constitute Fortinbras' revenge against King Hamlet for killing his father and leaves him in a nice situation to take over the kingdom, which he eventually does. Fortinbras is then by far the greatest Machiavellian of the lot. Now I can back this theory up and it is as valid as any other out there. In other words, there is no ground floor of truth in Hamlet. But Harold should be glad if he gets people thinking - if Hamlet is acting right from the start, perhaps so is the Ghost -- and, in time, who knows what imaginative theories scholars will come up with and how perverse Hamlet could become!
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| | A Critic Unlimited |
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In response to negative reviews a defense of Bloom must be proffered. The genius of Hamlet is dark, capricious, spurring, somewhat mystical, and surpasses our own in each cognition. Where some have argued that Bloom's treatise of the poem unlimited is brief, I argue that prolix erudition is not what we need in regards to Hamlet. He is a professor par excellance in creativity and the commentarys we don't need on his genius are those of the ominous tomes of Henry James and the like. We likewise can do without a pithy take-home message that utterly misses the heart of the play and it's protagonist. Bloom's musings, like the divine criticisms of Dr. Johnson, go strait through the heart of Hamlet giving us an aesthetic mosaic of it's best parts for us to taste. Other oposing views are without a doubt concievable, but what Bloom gives us is one of the most lively, and sober readings of the most easily misread piece of literature in the english language. Bloom is a masterful laureate of critics. |
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