The Castle Metaphor: Hamlet And The Christian Space Narration

Hamlet,as one of prominent tragedies of William Shakespeare,has attracted numerous critics and scholars’ attention during the past more than four hundred years,leading to a large quantity of books and essays on it.The castle is a common setting in Shakespeare’s works.With regard to this,many researchers both at home and abroad have conducted their studies profoundly from different aspects.In this thesis,based on the views of the Christianity,psychological approach,as well as mythological and archetypical theories,the trinity “world” of Christian space of the castle in Hamlet is explored in depth by analyzing its metaphorical meanings.The castle,which can be divided into the castle within,the wall of the castle and the castle without,is treated as a symbol of Christian space that is constituted by the Hell,the Earth and the Heaven.The world within the castle represented by Claudius can be seen as the Hell;the world without the castle represented by Old Hamlet can be viewed as the Heaven;while the world between the castle within and without represented by Hamlet can be regarded as the Earth.Furthermore,Claudius is taken as the symbol of the Devil,king Hamlet the Angel and Hamlet the Human.The thesis consists of three chapters.In the first chapter,the castle within,the wall of the castle and the castle without are seen as the trinity “world” of the Christian space on the theoretical basis of the Christianity.The world within the castle could be deemed as a corrupt Garden of Eden which can also be seen as the Hell.Claudius could be viewed as the serpent and Gertrude as the Eve.The wall of the castle could be regarded as the transitional world between the Hell represented by desire and the Heaven symbolized by the Angel.With the responsibility to set the chaotic world right and revenge,Hamlet could be taken as the incarnation of saviour Jesus and revengeful Jesus at the same time;he can be seen as the Human between the Heaven and Hell.Therefore,the wall of the castle is treated as the Earth.The world without the castle could be deemed as the Heaven of the Christian space;Old Hamlet can be regarded as the incarnation of Adam owing to his virtues.In addition,the world without the castle is more pure and orderly than the world within the castle.Therefore,the castle without could be seen as the Heaven of the Christian space.In the second chapter,the approach of psychoanalysis is applied to analyzing the id,ego and superego of Claudius,Hamlet and Old Hamlet.Claudius can be deemed as the Devil with his evils and sins.Old Hamlet without the castle could be viewed as the incarnation of the Angel with his strong sense of morality.Hamlet whose ego can keep the balance between id and his superego is regarded as the Human,that is to say,he can coordinate the relationships between his desire and morality.In the third chapter,on the theoretical basis of the mythological and archetypal criticism,Claudius may be treated as Satyr and the serpent in the Garden of Eden that is the Devil;Hamlet could be seen as Heracles with his responsibility to set the disordered world right and take revenge,he can also be viewed as a hero;Old Hamlet with virtues and merits can be considered as Hyperion and an angel.Satyr,Heracles and Hyperion may not only be viewed as the Devil,Human and the Angel,they may also be regarded as the symbols of the trinity world of the Christian space.The conclusions are as follow.Firstly,in terms of narrative skills,Shakespeare presents the picture of Christian space in Hamlet through narration and sketching.Secondly,Hamlet indicates Shakespeare’s thoughts about the relationship among the God,human and ghost,as well as the reposition of man in the universe.Thirdly,Hamlet could be treated as both a humanist and a man holding Christian beliefs,whose fear,anxiety and depression are caused by the closed castle and the development of science in the new era.Finally,Hamlet lays a solid foundation for the later gothic novels: for one thing,the gothic themes and plots such as murders,incest,poison and usurpation become the major elements of later gothic novels;for another thing,the castle is also the necessary setting of almost all the gothic novels.Hence,Hamlet can be considered as a descriptive tragedy that illustrates a picture of Christian space.