Branagh as Hamlet
Wednesday
When the Brett Kavanaugh hearings were underway, someone mentioned that Arizona senator Jeff Flake was going through a Hamlet act, by which they meant he kept waffling back and forth on his vote. He’s still at the act, telling The View that he found Dr. Christine Blasey Ford very compelling and that he wasn’t sure he believed Kavanaugh’s denials. MSNBC Joy Reid’s responded, “But naturally, he still voted him through for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.”
I’ve pretty much said all I want to about so-called Republican moderates who talk as though they are principled but capitulate to expediency every time. Dante has a special place in Limbo for such people, and Flake, Susan Collins, et. al. fit T. S. Eliot’s description of Hollow Men. When it comes to comparing Flake with Hamlet, however, I can imagine Horatio telling him, “Senator, I served with Hamlet. I knew Hamlet. Hamlet was a friend f mine. Senator, you’re no Hamlet.”
First of all, whether Hamlet waffles is up for debate. The ghost that he takes to be his father could be a lying demon whose accusations require confirmation. (Hamlet observes, “The spirit I have seen/May be a devil, and the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape.”) The theatrical mousetrap that proves Claudius a murderer unfortunately alerts the king that Hamlet is on to him. And while Hamlet could indeed stab Claudius while he’s praying, his religious reasons for not doing so can’t be automatically dismissed as rationalizing.
There’s a humorous Hamlet parody in Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘s Last Action hero which faults the protagonist for not acting like, well, Schwarzenegger.
Hamlet: Hey Claudius! You killed my father! Big mistake! (throws him out a tower window)
Narrator: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and Hamlet is taking out the trash. (Schwarzenegger proceeds to kill people left and right)
Old Man: Stay thy hand, fair prince.
Hamlet: [shooting him] Who said I’m fair?
Narrator: No one is going to tell this sweet prince good night.
Hamlet: To be or not to be? Not to be. (the entire castle explodes)
The Hamlet in the play, however, is no terminator but an actual human being, one who sometimes reflects and sometimes acts on impulse, as he does when he stabs the man behind the curtain. That it proves to be Polonius rather than Claudius is actually an argument in favor of deliberation. We can say in hindsight that Hamlet should have taken the chapel opportunity, but that’s judging the decision only by the results.
My point is that Hamlet is a thinking hero who is concerned with doing the right thing. Whatever his very human mistakes and missed opportunities, he has a solid core to him. Sen. Flake, as far as I can tell, is entirely swayed by what other people will think of him.
Rather than Hamlet, see him instead as one of Eliot’s hollow men, a scarecrow with a head piece full of straw
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer.
Further thought: It’s just struck me that Flake is actually Polonius–full of high sounding words (such as in his speech to Laertes) but with an eye always on who will advance his interests. Had he not decided to step down, the GOP would have primaried/stabbed him and not bothered with any curtain.
