Shakespeare’s life and career though riddled with trials, tribulations and struggle was so successful because he was an optimist. This fact is demonstrated in the way he lived his life, his copious amount of works, his success, and in the works themselves. However, this argument can have stones thrown at it when one considers the tragedies. Again, however, this does not mean that it cannot be proved. As I said in my original hub post I am going to discuss Hamlet to prove this point.
Many assume that Hamlet is attributed to the death of Hamnet when the boy was only eleven and this is an understandable assumption because in Stratford the names were the same and interchangeable (Greenblatt 2). However there is more evidence to support this. But before I get to that I want to tell you something about therapy. Specifically, Writing Therapy. “Writing Therapy is a form of expressive therapy that uses the act of writing and processing the written word as therapy” (Wikipedia). It is said to ease the pain and to help individuals come to terms with the pain they experience in their lives because they are working through it. Today a mild form of writing therapy, a source of keeping oneself fulfilled with a sense of doing something important is blogging. It is a way to connect with oneself and others and at the same time can be a source of entertainment. Not having computers in his time Shakespeare’s means of writing therapy, a sense of doing something, and a way to connect with oneself and others while still fulfilling the requirement of being entertainment was play writing.
Looking inward and moving forward
Another point that needs to be understood before we continue is something that Shakespeare learned while writing after the death of his son. He learned an important new technique to writing. Because he was writing during a time that we can naturally assume was full of great emotional strife due to the recent loss of his son he discovered the power and importance of looking inward and drawing out emotion from within to propel a work forward.
" The only trouble is he didn't write it"
It is true that Hamlet may have began as a mimetic act, plagiarizing the plot of another author’s play that had done well in the box office but doing a better job of it in order to be even more successful. However, it ended up as a demonstration of William’s grieving process. The most obvious is the continual reference to his son’s name throughout the writing of Hamlet (4). Shakespeare found that by looking inward to create a work “released an enormous energy that had been at least partially blocked or contained by familiar, reassuring explanations” (4) and by breaking the blocks he was able to produce better, stronger and more appreciated works. Works that people loved because they, the works, understood that they, the audience, did as well.
Remembering writing therapy and Shakespeare’s discovery of the importance of looking inward to call forth the passion in writing that makes a work great, let’s continue. I found a book on line written by Stephen Greenblatt that addresses the issue of Hamlet being attributed to the death of Hamnet. In his book Greenblatt points out that many feel Shakespeare’s grief for the loss of his son was sort lived because in the four years after his death The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It were written, however there are many works that would suggest otherwise. To demonstrate this Greenblatt calls forth the grief that a mother experiences at the loss of her child in King John. He quotes the following lines from the play:
Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form.
He also explicates how the mother is thought to be insane because she is contemplating
thoughts of suicide. Similarly, Hamlet also contemplates thoughts of suicide after he learns of the nature of the death of his father. Both of these individuals are labeled insane, but they would both argue against this; the mother saying that the only sane thing to do is to be with her son and Hamlet feeling similarly about his father. These characters are when taking into account writing therapy and looking inward, manifestations Shakespeare’s own grief. Another demonstration of this that Greenblatt provides is a reference to Shakespeare’s religion. The forced religion being protestant Hamnet’s funeral would have been protestant, but harking back to the interview with Fred Adams where he states that recently a catholic book was found hidden in the rafters of the bard’s home suggesting that he held some loyalties to his father’s closet religion. While the protestant church discouraged the idea of communicating with those who had gone before, or the idea that they would be together again, the Catholic Church embraced it (3). Understanding these facts it is understandable that William’s characters, while embodying his inward feelings, found consolation in the thought of suicide to get them to their loved ones sooner.
"Whether you can or whether you can't is entirely up to you"
Now you are probably wondering how this relates to Shakespeare being and optimist. The point that explicates this correlation is that Shakespeare was in touch with his feelings and he went through the grieving process. This meaning that he did not dwell in denial and depression, or stay stunted in personal growth because he could not face the tragedies of his life. No, it meant that he was progressive. One can hardly blame a parent for feeling despair, depression and negativity at the loss of a child and while admittedly Shakespeare did feel these things, he did not let them stop him. As said above, he worked through his grief and moved ahead with his life. This ability, this acceptance of the trying time in his life and shucking off of grief to make way for a more strongly lived life after and is a demonstration of how the bard made his way back to happiness and optimism. This meaning that the tragedies were simply his way of overcoming obstacles and reach a final destination of reaffirming and resecure his position on the front lines of the optimistic party.
