Comments | tempestsarekind: things rank and gross in nature

tempestsarekind

things rank and gross in nature

Mar 21, 2010 19:56

I simply CANNOT STAND Freudian readings of Hamlet. I recognize that this is probably irrational of me, but I have absolutely no patience for them. I'll deal with them, if I must, in performance, but as critical takes or in the classroom? No, thank you. Which makes it really hard to read student papers or have classroom discussions, because I want ( Read more... )

gender gender gender, rant ahoy!, talking about characters, hamlet

Comments 36

litlover12 March 21 2010, 23:59:23 UTC

Hear, hear.

tempestsarekind March 22 2010, 00:00:18 UTC

We should band together. :)

litlover12 March 22 2010, 00:02:26 UTC

Totally!

I mean, forsooth! :-)

tempestsarekind March 22 2010, 00:10:49 UTC

Yea, verily. :)

faeriemaiden March 22 2010, 00:10:05 UTC

I dislike Freudian readings of just about anything, excepting Freud. :P (Hey, Freud, ever considered that you were just insanely kinky and decided to project your issues on the entire human race to make yourself feel better? Not that I claim to know much about psychology.)

tempestsarekind March 22 2010, 00:14:47 UTC

Exactly! And the whole Oedipus complex is so weird: essentially, it must be true of humanity because it...was true of these two fictional characters. Sort of.

Did you see Kate Beaton's recent comic based on the Edward Gorey cover of Hamlet and Oedipus?
http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=247
I wanted to print it out and stick it up on my door, as a warning: "Do not come in here with your Oedipal Hamlet. Oh, and CAVE CANEM."

neadods March 22 2010, 00:22:44 UTC

So totally not alone!

tempestsarekind March 22 2010, 00:26:17 UTC

Yay! I do wonder if it's more a pop culture thing--whether the Freudian take is actually something we've supposedly "moved past," but then it pops up all the time in people's offhand comments about the play. (Or in student papers, sigh.)

neadods March 22 2010, 00:47:58 UTC

You'd think that Gertrude would react if her son started doing anything outright sexual to her.

Timeline viomisehunt March 22 2010, 01:31:47 UTC

How much was Frued influenced by Shakespeare I wonder ( ... )

Thread 16

skirmish_of_wit March 22 2010, 02:27:13 UTC

I approve this message.

tempestsarekind March 22 2010, 19:55:25 UTC

I am glad to hear it!

troyswann March 22 2010, 03:08:06 UTC

Word, sistah.

Also, Hamlet doesn't dither. He makes an oath, decided to put an antic disposition on, stages a play, contemplates suicide, examines his mother and gets thrown out of the country all before act 4! Heck, even when the audience is out eating ice cream and waiting in line for the loo he's fighting sea battles.

Jan Kott did not help the cause of Shakespearean criticism. And I used to have a lapel button that said "Avoid Freud" on it.

tempestsarekind March 22 2010, 19:58:39 UTC

Heck, even when the audience is out eating ice cream and waiting in line for the loo he's fighting sea battles.

Hee! I know, he's so busy--when does he have time to be monumentally indecisive?

Also, Jan Kott gives me hives. His writing on A Midsummer Night's Dream kind of makes me want to break out the tar and pitchforks.