COL49 and HAMLET

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Heather wonders:
"Has anyone noticed (besides myself) any similarities or connections
between Pynchon's "Courier's Tragedy" in COL 49 and Shakespeare's
"Hamlet"?  Just a thought! Comments?"


Well, there *are* parallels, at least to the degree that HAMLET is a revenge
tragedy, but there are even stronger parallels with Shakespeare's Jacobean
successors: John Ford ('TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE), Thomas Middletone (A GAME
OF CHESS), and John Webster (THE DUCHESS OF MALFI and THE WHITE DEVIL),
among others.  Several of the images are lifted from one or more of the plays,
the burning tongue on a sword eg.  It's a remarkable pastiche of Jacobean
tropes.

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)