May 2023 | Reading time: 18 min
An archive of some essays from high school that analyzed literary works I enjoyed reading, and that I think were decent pieces of writing.
English (literature) was actually my favourite subject in high school, as opposed to the sciences.
In Hamlet, the tragic downfall of Hamlet as an existentialist extends Shakespeare’s typical narrative arc for protagonists in his revenge tragedies. Shakespeare explores the human psyche’s transformation when faced with extreme circumstances through Hamlet’s soliloquies throughout the play. Following an encounter with his father’s ghost, which initiates Hamlet’s existential crisis, he must suffer from the introspection of his actions as he pledges to avenge his father. Hamlet’s existentialist crisis transforms his virtue of relativistic moral deliberation into his vice, ultimately leading to his tragic downfall.
Hamlet’s encounter with his father’s ghost catalyzes his existentialist crisis, initiating the metaphysical separation of his cerebral and corporeal self. With the backdrop of his mother’s incestuous relationship, Hamlet seeks religious comfort after the psychological shock of seeing his father’s ghost. Hamlet contemplates,
O that this too sullied flesh would melt, (…)
His canon ’gainst self-slaughter. O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world! (I.ii.129-134)
Shakespeare conjures corporal imagery to describe sinful flesh as “sullied” to highlight Hamlet’s abhorrence of his mother’s relationship with Claudius. Ironically, Hamlet’s belief in the power of God as the force that dooms all sinful individuals also prevents him from immediately acting on his suicidal thoughts - the first evidence of procrastination through moral deliberation based on circumstance. Though, after Hamlet dismisses suicide by religious consideration, Hamlet’s previously melancholic tone then laments the meaninglessness of the world. The use of monosyllabic diction, ‘stale’ and ‘flat’, stresses the mundane suffering Hamlet must endure. Furthermore, the immediate shift to contemplation through an existentialist lens, rather than a religious lens, reveals Hamlet’s radical self-reliance; he is “his own theologian as he is his own psychologist” (Bloom 1). Hamlet’s first soliloquy establishes his deeply existential perspective, which develops into further explorations of his depth of consciousness as the play progresses.
Hamlet’s acute awareness of the lack of essence in his existence catalyzes the separation of his cerebral and corporeal self. The uncertainty that prevails from Denmark’s corrupt kingship, a sickness that mirrors Hamlet’s mental anguish, not only separates his psyche from his physical self, but isolates it. Following his rhetorical statement “To be or not to be” (III.i.56), Hamlet discusses his miserable life and the preferable choice of death. Hamlet reflects on the weight of his thoughts, “And thus the native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, / … / And lose the name of action” (III.i.85-88). Here, Shakespeare personifies Hamlet’s psyche through its description as physical manifestations of skin tone. The diction “sicklied” highlights the disease-like characteristics of Hamlet’s existential thought, which annihilates any courage to actualize death. Through the symbolic use of colour to represent vitality and paleness to represent death, Shakespeare constructs the dichotomy of action and inaction where Hamlet’s lack of essence as an existentialist further obliterates any actualization of action. Ironically, despite Hamlet’s acute awareness as the limiting agent of action, he delves deeper into his consciousness in search of his essence, self-isolating in his psyche.
Hamlet’s existentialist ethics further isolates his psyche, perpetuating his inaction by corrupting his virtue of relativistic moral deliberation. Disgusted by the pride and hypocrisy of humanity, Hamlet further withdraws into his psyche as an ironic observer struggling with his own self-awareness. Preceded by the elaborate conception to construct a play within a play to expose Claudius’ guilt, Hamlet cries,
O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul to his own conceit (II.ii.535-539)
Hamlet self-degrades by lowering his position on the temporal chain of being in self-contempt for his inability to act, which enslaves him to his thoughts and his circumstances. Shakespeare employs diction like “monstrous” and “player” to elucidate the mocking tone of Hamlet’s praise for an actor’s ability to express feigned emotion, which Hamlet extends onto himself through the transition from first to third-person narration. As an enigmatic protagonist, Hamlet manifests different representations of his psyche to others, a parallel to the actors presenting a play’s characters; only within each soliloquy, his most authentic and existential self is evident. In fact, “Hamlet knowingly is his own best audience. He is dramatist, player, and auditor” (Bloom 1). Hamlet perceives his surroundings and contemplates passively in response. However, without the discovery of his essence, Hamlet can only struggle within his consciousness as an ironic observer. He is stuck between contemplating and actualizing his resolve due to ever-changing circumstances that do not afford the liberty of endless contemplation.
Although seemingly self-reliant, Hamlet’s existentialist ethics magnifies his fear of the beyond, resulting in a desperate retreat to religious moral deliberation. When faced with the opportunity to avenge his father’s murder by Claudius, Hamlet delays again. Paralyzed by the need to act instantaneously, Hamlet turns to religion to resolve and justify his inaction. His virtue of relativistic moral deliberation, which requires time to carefully consider the variable context of each circumstance, fails him. Hamlet self-vindicates, “Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge. / ‘A took my father grossly, full of bread, / With all his crimes board blown, as flush as May” (III.iii.80-83). Using his religious judgement of Claudius’ prayer position, Hamlet determines his mission to punish Claudius would be negated by Claudius’ supposed self-repentance. Shakespeare employs a religious allusion to the last supper, drawing parallels between Hamlet’s father “full of bread” and Jesus, who is betrayed by Claudius and Judas, respectively. However, Hamlet’s father is not saintly - Shakespeare juxtaposes Hamlet’s father’s sins against the month of May, springtime, which symbolizes new life and innocence in Christianity to nullify Hamlet’s elevated regard for his father. Ironically blinded by the immediate implications of murdering Claudius despite his profound self-understanding, Hamlet has yet to realize the ramifications of this missed opportunity.
Hamlet’s near discovery of his essence eternalizes the consequences of his chronic procrastination, resulting in his downfall as a tragic hero. His desperation to act and his self-awareness of the consequences relating to his procrastination solidify the triumph of vice over virtue. When Hamlet hears of Fortinbras’ impending invasion of Denmark, he further criticizes his inaction, “Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple / … / A thought which, quarter’d, hath but one part wisdom / And ever three parts coward - I do not know” (IV.iv.40-43). Hamlet is self-aware, evident in the further self-degradation to “bestial oblivion” to an animal on the temporal chain of being. Lost within the depth of his consciousness, his virtue of moral deliberation transforms his wisdom into cowardice, preventing him from taking action. Hamlet is a tragic hero because he is ironically self-aware of the exact cause of his suffering, but cannot act because he has not actualized his sense of essence.
Though eternalized as a tragic hero, Hamlet collapses into an enigma of his psyche, trapped between existence and essence. For acting too late to avenge his father’s death, his procrastination results in the death of Laertes, his mother, and himself. Hamlet resigns, “Had I but time - as this fell sergeant, Death, / Is strict in his arrest - O, I could tell you - / But let it be” (V.ii.329-331). Shakespeare personifies death as an office of the law who is “strict in his arrest” in Hamlet’s life. Despite his now more profound self and world understanding, evident in Hamlet’s forthright tone, he is still punished for his procrastination as a tragic hero. Hamlet punctuates his thoughts by answering his earlier rhetorical statement of “to be or not to be” (III.i.56) with “let it be”. The circularity of the repeated rhetoric contrasts Hamlet’s previous inability to grasp his depth of consciousness and his acceptance, albeit too late, of the boundless infinity of his existential soul. Although close to discovering his essence, Hamlet fails to understand the infinite depth of his consciousness, evident in his inability to recognize that more time would not remedy his anguish. Thus, Hamlet is trapped between existence and actualizing his essence, collapsing into an enigma of himself within the depths of his psyche.
Hamlet’s tragic downfall, a result of his inability to actualize essence through action as an existentialist, transforms his virtue of moral deliberation into his ultimate vice. His encounter with his father’s ghost catalyzes his existentialist crisis. Following the isolation of Hamlet’s psyche from his physical self, Hamlet’s fear of uncertainty and the afterlife perpetuates his inability to take action. When faced with the need to act instantaneously, he resorts to religion to resolve his moral deliberations. Ultimately unable to understand the depth of his consciousness, Hamlet’s tragic downfall reflects the insufferable futility of an existential life without essence - there is no meaning to begin within, so the same nothingness follows if no essence is actualized.
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Works cited
Bloom, Harold. Bloom’s Shakespeare Through the Ages: Hamlet. Infobase Publishing, 2008. Bloom’s Literature. (I referenced from the introduction, which you can read here).
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Roma Gill. Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.
In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller explores the destructive pursuit of the American Dream through Willy’s conscience and self-rational mind. With parallels to the Freud model of the psyche, the cathartic conclusion to Act Two of the play effectively depicts Willy’s conclusive mental state. Through the contrast between Willy’s dialogue with Ben and Linda, Miller examines Willy’s withdrawal into his inner psyche in the self-justification of his act of self-nullification in pursuit of the American Dream.
Miller contrasts Biff’s state of exhausted emotions with Willy’s state of denial to parallel Willy’s withdrawal into his preconsciousness in his stubborn pursuit of the American Dream. Biff wishes to let go of the American Dream, to which he physically distances himself by retreating from the kitchen, where Willy is. He cries, “Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens? [Struggling to contain himself, he pulls away and moves to the stairs]” (5-8). Biff’s desperation, evident through his accusation of Willy’s pursuit of the American Dream as “phony”, drives him to implore for physical and emotional release. While Biff’s statement “burn it before something happens” foreshadows Willy’s impending suicide, Willy ironically interprets Biff’s concern as a sign of genuine concern. Willy responds, “Oh, Biff! [Staring wildly] He cried! Cried to me [He is choking with his love, and now cries out his promise.] That boy–that boy is going to be magnificent! [Ben appears in the light just outside the kitchen.] BEN: Yes, outstanding, with twenty thousand behind him” (15-18). In line with Freud’s model of the psyche, this is Willy’s first entry into the preconscious of his superego. His conscience which is moved by Biff’s actions is his superego, whereas the lucid imagery of Ben in his mind is his ego. This contrast is crafted by Miller through intricate stage directions, where Willy is “choking with love”—the beautiful idea of love is jarringly juxtaposed with kinetic imagery of death. Willy continues to deny Biff’s attempts to expose him to reality and instead interprets Biff’s cries as gratuitous concern for his actions.
Miller explores Willy’s attempt to self-justify his suicide as he further withdraws from Linda into his psyche and ego, represented by Ben. The temporal stage elements of time and space become increasingly nebulous as Willy withdraws into his inner psyche, emphasized by the idyllic music. Linda attempts to extract Willy from his hazy mental state, “Come dear. BEN [with greater force]: One must go in to fetch a diamond out. WILLY [to LINDA, as he moves slowly along the edge of the kitchen, toward the door]: I just want to get settled down, Linda. Let me sit alone for a little” (35-40). Ben, Willy’s unconscious, has a greater effect than Linda, Willy’s conscience. Willy moves along the edge of the kitchen door, a parallel to his physical approach towards his suicide, emphasized by the transition of lighting into the dark. Willy must go into the dark “to fetch a diamond”, which he believes is necessary to gain the economic means to achieve success. As Willy withdraws further, Linda calls “Willy! Come up! WILLY [calling from the kitchen]: Yes! Yes. Coming! It’s very smart, you realize, that, don’t you, sweetheart? Even Ben sees it. I gotta go, baby. ‘Bye! ‘Bye! [Going over to BEN, almost dancing]… BEN: A perfect proposition all around” (62-68). Miller employs space, the physical distance between Linda in the bedroom and Willy in the kitchen, to emphasize that Linda no longer has control over Willy as he has withdrawn into his self-rational mind. Willy’s ego overtakes his superego, represented by Ben’s “almost dancing” and assertive tone in stating a “perfect proposition”. He rationalizes his ego as the embodiment of the American Dream and believes distancing from his conscience, or Linda, will enable success.
Miller’s use of music as a mirror to Willy’s mental state illustrates the tragedy of his final attempt to pursue the American Dream. Willy is now fully consumed by his self-rationalized decision. Willy illudes, “BEN: [looking at his watch]: The boat. We’ll be late… WILLY [uttering a gasp of fear, whirling about as if to quiet her]: Sh! [He turns around as if to find his way; sounds, faces, voices seem to be swarming in upon him and he flicks at them, crying, “Sh! Sh!” Suddenly music, faint and high, stops him. It rises in intensity, almost to an unbearable scream. He goes up and down on his toes, and rushes off around the house.] Shhh!” (74-90). The boat is a metaphorical vehicle, a parallel to the car that Willy will soon use to self-nullify, as a medium that assists Willy in gaining the financial wealth to achieve the American Dream. Miller increases the pace of the stage directions, with the crescendo of music that is an “unbearable scream”, despite the quieting “Shhh!” that is repeated three times. Panic climaxes as Biff shouts, “[rushing down the stairs]: Pop! [As the car speeds off, the music crashes down in a frenzy of sound, which becomes the soft pulsation of a single cello string.]” (99-101). Miller employs Biff as the first and last speaker within this passage, eliciting a catharsis with a sense of circularity as the music’s intensity “crashes down”. Following a climax with a “frenzy of sound”, Miller provides some limited solace in Willy’s final act of self-nullification as the music becomes a single cello string. The cello string concludes as an embodiment of Willy’s psyche, finally at peace amidst all the chaos.
Ultimately, Willy’s final act of self-nullification signifies the complete withdrawal from his superego, represented by Linda, into his ego, represented by Ben. As Willy distances himself from Biff, followed by Linda, he self-rationalizes the separation of his psyche from his conscience with his ego. Willy ends in a peaceful state within his psyche, sheltered by his superego, in an illusion of having provided the financial means for Biff to achieve the American Dream he failed to grasp.
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Works cited
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1996, Print.
Literature is a dense social network of cultural allegiances and class beliefs. In the Western canon, the monologic nature of works like Homer’s Odyssey often silences minority voices, naturalizing the ascendancy of white European culture and specifically, men. In Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, she retells the main narrative through a polyphonic approach from a female lens, using the development of the maids’ choruses as a backdrop to Penelope’s main narrative. Penelope becomes an enigma, and the maids amplify the questions surrounding her actions and their deaths. In The Penelopiad, Atwood uses a dialogic structure with two parallel narratives, Penelope’s monologue and the maids’ shifting forms of parodical storytelling, to criticize the often monologic heroic narrative found in the Western literary canon.
Atwood crafts a heteroglossic retelling of Homer’s monologic Odyssey, to establish the maids’ choruses as a contradicting parallel to Penelope’s narration. Atwood employs the stratification of language via dialogism by intertwining the maids’ shadow narrative with Penelope’s grand monologue. As a result, all events are defined by at least two contexts: both Penelope’s and the maids’ perspectives. This ambiguity of meaning, placed at the liberty of the reader’s interpretation, is evident in the first chorus, when the maids bitterly narrate, “the ones you killed / the ones you failed /… you had the spear / you had the word” (5). The continuous flow, ensured by the lowercase start of each line, emphasizes the repeated subject in an accusing tone. Atwood draws a metaphorical parallel between the spear and word as weapons, implying that those who fail to use their words are also responsible for the maids’ deaths. Here, Atwood suggests the general ignorance of the role of ordinary people in the narrative of heroic myths, such as Penelope’s maids as unheard voices, results in an unintended metaphysical and literary death. This darker gothic undertone, crafted through grotesque death imagery, continues for as long as the maids are bound within the limits of their traumatic past. Moreover, this parodical use of conventional forms of prose and poetry advances as the narrative progresses, driven by a shift in tone. In the fourth chorus, the maids successfully imitate the scholarly epic form in an idyllic verse with parallel word and phrase constructions. They satirically mock Telemachus’ birth, “nine months he sailed the wine-red seas of his mother’s blood / … And we, the twelve who were later to die by his hand /… Sailed as well, in the dark frial boats of ourselves” (65). The extended metaphor of pregnancy and birth as a sea voyage juxtaposes the beginning passages of life for Telemachus and the maids. The wine in Telemachus’ mother’s blood symbolizes the wealth he was born into, whereas the maids must survive with only frial boats, given their low socioeconomic status. The prejudicial social hierarchy ironically becomes more evident, despite the stylistic elevation of the maids’ expression. Atwood uses the maids’ mocking chorus to deconstruct status and establish the maids’ disgust at the unrewarding outcome of their laborious efforts in Telemachus’ upbringing, a stark contrast to Penelope’s celebrated account of Telemachus’ childhood. As a myriad of new details are introduced by the maids, the ambiguous nature of the dual narrative augments. Thus, knowledge of the absolute truth is forever deferred.
Atwood manipulates the progression of tone in the maids’ narrative to disrupt Penelope’s account, establishing the maids’ hanging as the central mystery of the novel. Each chorus adds paratextual elements which structure the reader’s interpretations, by the maids’ answers to the enigmatic questions. Specifically, the movement of the maids from the background to the foreground of the novel facilitates the maids’ role as ethical guides for the reader, through Atwood’s subtle evocation of sympathy through the maids’ struggles. Driven by their anger at the injustice of their rapes and deaths, the maids’ increasingly powerful and vindictive voices threaten the authority of Penelope’s account, occurring similarly to Penelope’s deconstruction of Odysseus’ narrative. In The Perils of Penelope, the maids stage a drama that portrays Penelope as unfaithful. The drama reads, “The Chorus Line, in tap dance shoes / Blame it on the maids! / Those naught little jades! / Hang them high and don’t ask why” (151). Atwood crafts a theatrical form through musical assonance and stage directions, with the dance of the chorus girls as a ridiculed caricature of the modern Broadway musical. Ironically, even in a serious context, the maids ultimately return to their roles as entertainers in society after their solo performances in the dramatic chorus. Despite the maids’ desperate attempts to accentuate their unheard narratives and undermine the validity of Penelope’s, they are still reduced to symbols at the end and therefore, silenced. Atwood artfully leverages this ironic lack of unconstrained expression, despite the increasingly modern forms found in the maids’ choruses, to criticize society’s dehumanization of minority voices. In the Anthropology Lecture, the prose-like form parodies the cult of the mother goddess in a matriarchal society dethroned by patriarchy. The maids mock the number thirteen, which is symbolic of the lunar cycle, to draw a parallel between Artemis and Penelope, stating is it “unfounded feminist claptrap” (166). The maids attempt to establish a relationship with a Greek goddess to elevate their authority and give divine meaning to their deaths. However, they refuse the justification of their deaths as ritualistic sacrifices to their mother goddess, Penelope, to reject essentialist feminism. Atwood criticizes society’s complacency with tyranny through feminist ideals; the less power women have as a whole, the easier it becomes to justify the hoarding of what little power remains. The maids highlight the gaps in Penelope’s account, temporarily challenging her authoritative rule over them. Nonetheless, the maids must resign and return the central foreground to Penelope at the end of each fragmented chorus, which reduces them to mere symbols of gender and class injustices.
Atwood employs the progression of form, from classical to modern prose and poetry, as a form of liberation of the maids to criticize gender and class injustices in society. Enhanced by the twenty-first-century context, Atwood’s use of emotional projection, from the maids onto the audience, and transforms the maids’ shadow narrative into a visible form, moulded by the readers’ interpretations. The climax of the maids’ authority in their narrative is in the scripted videotape, Trial of Odysseus. This chorus facilitates the maids’ greatest influence over the reader, as the longest and most modern chorus. Atwood employs increasingly modernistic forms to provide greater agency to the maids, free from both literary and societal conventions. Following the maids’ plea for Odysseus to be charged with murder, the Attorney for the Defense successfully defends Odysseus with degradative and sexual comments that objectify the maids, in a manner that strips their dignity. The indignance of the maids is further amplified when Penelope responds to the Judge’s question with, “I tend to believe them” (181). Angered and hopeless, the maids call upon the higher power, in its darker manifestation, for justice. Notably, they call the twelve Erinyes from Hades, rather than their supposed protector and mother goddess, Artemis. Ironically, the modern court fails to bring justice despite the illusion of its equality based around law and morality. Rather, it is simply an indication of the same patriarchal authority that persists, amplified by the faults and self-contradictions in essentialist feminism. The everlasting consequence of the denial of the maids’ subjectivities as minority female voices is realized in the final Envoi chorus. Despite the maids’ release from their past, the darker gothic undertone undermines the redemption. The maids will forever haunt the main narrative. The maids repeat, “too wit too woo” (196), ending on “too woo / The Maids sprout feathers, and fly away as owls” (196). Here, the transformation of the maids into birds of wisdom parallels the transformation of their woos of revenge into artistic poetry. To be exact, the form returns to the structured iambic pentameter found in the first chorus, metaphorically completing the circle of life for the maids who could not complete their lives autonomously. Atwood uses the transition to a nursery rhyme-like verse as the maids make their exit to return the maids’ innocence by eliminating the vindictive tone, symbolic of the vice that their trauma holds over them. Atwood artfully crafts the maids’ final release to establish death as the great equalizer that eliminates class differences and returns some form of agency to minority voices. The maids’ account is one of the many unheard narratives in the western literary canon. Atwood weaves the maids’ tales into the main narrative, as a darker underside of Odysseus’ heroic epic, instituting the integration of oppressed voices into the western canon.
Ultimately, the maids shifting poetic narrations moves from the backdrop of Penelope’s account to the foreground of the play, as these two fragmented parallel narratives intertwine to form the framework for Atwood’s heteroglot novel. The maids serve as the source of the multiplicity of voices, which effectively enhances the dramatic dimension in The Penelopiad by its criticism of the Western canon. Atwood artfully crafts an interpretative novel through the maids’ collective voice, ultimately calling on the reader to seek and hear the other silenced voices haunting the Western literary canon.
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Works cited
Atwood, Margaret. The Penelopiad. Vintage Canada, 2006.