Chamberlain, R. (2011) What’s happiness in Hamlet? Invited Presentation presented to: Shakespeare and Early Modern Emotion, University of Hull, 29 June - 01 July 2011. (Unpublished)
- Information
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Abstract:
Rephrasing Dover Wilson’s famous question highlights in Hamlet a relationship between event and emotion. This, a play best known for its exploration of melancholy, can also be read as a meditation on the good life, as negative reflection upon utopia. Its account of suffering bears upon the nature of happiness, even if the latter is largely absent. The paper will explore Shakespeare’s use of ‘hap’, ‘perhaps’ and ‘happy’ and argue that the play imagines happiness as serendipity, or the evasion of conventional moral goods and totalising social systems. It will see Hamlet’s study of political repression as part of a broader thesis: that happiness lies in ‘hap’ (suddenness, spontaneity, chance) rather than bureaucratic prescription. The conditions for this kind of utopian freedom, however, are difficult to achieve, and the play’s tragic sting can be read in this light
Uncontrolled Keywords:
Emotion, happiness, utopia
Subjects:
Creators:
Chamberlain, R.
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Education & Humanities > English and Creative Writing
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Centre > Centre for Critical and Creative Writing
Faculties > Faculty of Education & Humanities > English and Creative Writing
Research Centres > Centre for Critical and Creative Writing
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Centre > Centre for Critical and Creative Writing
Faculties > Faculty of Education & Humanities > English and Creative Writing
Research Centres > Centre for Critical and Creative Writing
Date:
30 June 2011
Date Type:
Presentation
Event Title:
Shakespeare and Early Modern Emotion
Event Dates:
29 June - 01 July 2011
Event Location:
University of Hull
Event Type:
Conference
Language:
English
Status:
Unpublished
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