Chamberlain, R. (2015) What's happiness in Hamlet? In: Meek, R. and Sullivan, E. (eds.) The Renaissance of Emotion: Understanding Affect in Shakespeare and his Contemporaries. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 153-174.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Abstract: | Hamlet is best known for its exploration of melancholy, yet it can also be read as a meditation on the good life, as negative reflection upon utopia. The play’s account of suffering bears upon the nature of happiness, even if the latter is largely absent. Rephrasing Dover Wilson’s famous question about the play, the present chapter offers a fresh reading of Hamlet, exploring its preoccupation with the relationship between event, chance, and emotion. Through a close examination of Shakespeare’s use of the terms hap, perhaps, and happy, the chapter argues that Hamlet imagines happiness as serendipity, or the evasion of conventional moral goods and totalising social systems. In the early modern period the primary meaning of happy was not a feeling of pleasure, but rather, ‘Having good “hap” or fortune; lucky, fortunate; favoured by lot, position, or other external circumstance’ (OED, 2a). By examining the play’s exploration of this notion, the chapter sees 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: | Renaissance, Shakespeare, Hamlet, happiness, emotions, event, chance, serendipity, society, ideology, utopia |
| Subjects: |
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN45 Theory. Philosophy. Esthetics P Language and Literature > PR English literature > PR2199 English Renaissance (1500-1640) |
| Creators: | Chamberlain, Richard |
| Editors: | Meek, Richard and Sullivan, Erin |
| Publisher: | Manchester University Press |
| 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 |
| Date: | May 2015 |
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Page Range: | pp. 153-174 |
| Title of Book: | The Renaissance of Emotion: Understanding Affect in Shakespeare and his Contemporaries |
| Place of Publication: | Manchester |
| Number of Pages: | 276 |
| Language: | English |
| ISBN: | 9780719090783 |
| Media of Output: | Book |
| Status: | Published / Disseminated |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| URI: | http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/8891 |
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