The Death of Meaning

Francis Fergusson advances his argument in a vein similar to H.D.F. Kitto's in his book, The Idea of a Theater. Fergusson proceeds using an Aristotelian model of a play that has one and only one action, which he describes as the "process" of the play. For him, the process of Hamlet is one of overcoming the cancer of evil that has spread throughout the state - a process that is self-destructive and painful to complete.

The main action of Hamlet may be described as the attempt to find and destroy the hidden "imposthume" which is poisoning the life of Caludius' Denmark. All of the characters -- from Polonius with his "windlasses" and "assays of bias," to Hamlet with his parables and symbolic shows -- realized this action, in comic, or evil, or inspired ways. And the organic parts of the plot -- the movement of the play as a whole -- show forth the beginning, middle, and end of this action according to the traditional scheme. - Francis Fergusson, The Idea of a Theater, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 1949. p.105.

While both Fergusson and Kitto have many similarities in their views of Hamlet, it is perhaps their mutual conviction that Hamlet depicts a world which has lost its meaning which brings them close together. Compare the following two quotations.

Hamlet's problem, as it is presented here, is not how to kill Claudius; not even whether to kill Claudius. This has been subsumed into something much greater: how to deal with a world which has lost its meaning, from which nevertheless one cannot escape. Not Denmark only, but this whole life is a prison, and the way out is barred.  - Kitto. p. 277.

The basic sensual impression is the brutal digging up of skulls; then comes the solemn-joyful equivocating of the clowns -- a denial of all meaning, the end result of Claudius' falsity. With this goes a series of hints of social disorder: the dead receive no respect; the professions, especially the law, are laughably helpless.  - Fergusson. p.137.

The realization, which only Hamlet has, of the pervasive wrongs that surround him corrodes any notion of meaning in his world. According to Kitto, the meaninglessness which Hamlet experiences creates a "spiritual numbness" which dulls any sense of purpose. Kitto concludes that "madness is nothing but Hamlet's conviction that sin reigns everywhere." (p. 294) The numbness he describes manifests itself in Hamlet's apparent disregard for the value of life itself.

You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will more willingly part withal -- except my life, except my life, except my life. (II.ii.212-214)