[ePub] Egmont by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at Arts-Photography

Description

There is scarcely an element of Hamlet that has not received attention many times; yet both general reader and sophisticated critic would generally agree that the character of Hamlet and the full meanings of the play remain mysteries. No less a puzzle is the art of Hamlet; for; while the form of the art is elusive; the feeling of essential meaning is strong. Professor Aldus hopes to enlarge our understanding of Hamlet and our appreciation of Shakespeare as a conscious artist of great subtlety by studying the playrsquo;s dramatic structure in the light of Aristotlersquo;s Poetics and its meaning as literary myth in the light of Platorsquo;s Phaedrus. This is a study of Hamlet as literary myth; a figurative mode of art in which structure is basic; yet primal myth; myth in the larger; non-literary sense; becomes part of it too; because the substance of Hamlet seems to be of this kind. Professor Aldusrsquo;s reading of Hamlet is both radically new and decidedly provocative. A great deal of very careful inquiry has gone into the unearthing of connections which at first sight often seem improbable and tenuous; but which; one comes to find; have an illuminating total unity. Future commentators may not accept all that Professor Aldus has to say about; for example; Opheliarsquo;s crown of flowers; but they will hardly be able to ignore it.