Thinking Activity: Hamlet and To His Coy Mistress

HAMLET

AND

TO HIS COY MISTRESS

Introduction

This blog post is my reflection of studying Cultural Studies with reference to some texts and putting Cultural studies in practice. Here is a discussion of two major references-

Hamlet

To his Coy Mistress

Source-  Dilip Barad sir's Quiz Form

1. If these two characters were marginalized in Hamlet, they are even more so in Stoppard's handling. If Shakespeare marginalized the powerless in his own version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Stoppard has marginalized us all in an era when - in the eyes of some - all of us are caught up in forces beyond our control.

Marginalization with a Vengeance

The critics/theorists of Cultural Studies observes Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” or Tom Stoppard’s play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” from a perspective of protesting against the power that is Hamlet. The marginalization is the vengeance. It is revenge on power or pro-power identities. The reading of both the text seems to be a high tone of revenge of the marginalized against the powerful politics of authority.

This again can be viewed from the ‘center versus periphery angle’ which from cultural studies’ point of view observes as if the periphery is taking revenge for their marginalization or their suppression against the center. The larger narrative of both the text can be connected with the contemporary reading of power. The retellings of the suppressed identities or marginalized characters from myth can be associated with this discipline.

As for example,

The retelling of the story of Friday of ‘Robinson Crusoe’ in ‘Foe’ can be viewed or assumed as a part of marginalization with vengeance. The narrative seems to be vengeance on the Daniel Defoe’s perception of the British mindset.

The marginalized narrative generates scope for the peripheral narrative to view the center as a periphery. This becomes the mode of their vengeance.

2. The poem 'To His Coy Mistress' tells us a lot about the speaker, the listener and also the audience for whom it is written. But what does he not show? As he selects these rich and multifarious allusions, what does he ignore from his culture?

Implied Culture versus Historical Fact

The culture, in fact, the glorification the speaker does in the poem is totally hiding the historical fact of Europe. 

The speaker of "To His Coy Mistress" seems to be knowledgable about the poems and conventions of classical Greek and Roman Literature and about the other conventions of love poetry, such as the courtly love conventions of medieval Europe. 

The major thing to be observed is that the poet totally ignores the "old horror" which London populace faced that killed perhaps 35 million of people. The Great Plague of London, from July to October, killed 68,000 persons, and a total of 75,000 in the course of epidemic.


The reality was far more different which can be called the chronic morbidity of the population. Marvell seems to ignore the demographics and socio-economic details of his time. Also, the speaker thirsts disease and that into the future the speaker at the same time not to think about such serious condition with the Society of his time is facing. 

It can be said that the real world is thoroughly absent in the poem of Andrew Marvell. (Guerin, Labor, and Morgan)

Thank you. 

Works Cited-
Guerin, Wilfred L., et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007.