TPPM (9): Hamlet and Sloth

[Kris Williams]

While I agree that it might be an oversimplification, I don't think that Pynchon's description of Hamlet is erroneous.  At the begining of the play we find out that Hamlet has been doing nuthin' since the old man died. Claudius (Act I, Scene II, 90-95): 

"But you must know, your father lost a father, 

That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound 

In filial obligation for some term 

To do obsequious sorrow; but to persever 

In obstinate condolement is a course 

Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief, 

It shows a will most incorrect to heaven."

I don't think that the inaction resulting from sorrow has to be absolute for it to be considered accidia.  Hamlet only acts proactively a couple of times in the play, "The Mousetrap" being the first, and that comes in the third act.  So mabye Hamlet gets it together halfway through the play?  I agree that Hamlet can be read as not "necessarily" slothful, and that Pynch dropped Hamlet's name lightly, but I hear 'unmanly grief is incorrect to heaven' as being analogous to what you posted under 'Dante and Sloth':

>Sloth, according to Damascene (De Fide Orth. ii, 14) is an oppressive sorrow, which, to wit, so weighs upon man's mind, that he wants to do nothing;
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tim Strzechowski 
  To: Pynchon-L 
  Sent: 30 November, 2004 22:03
  Subject: TPPM (9): Hamlet and Sloth


  "As a topic for fiction, Sloth over the next few centuries after Aquinas had a few big successes, notably Hamlet, but not until arriving on the shores of America did it take the next important step in its evolution." [...]


  Personally, I find this erroneous and oversimplified on Pynchon's part.  While the Danish prince is (or "seems") overcome with the "melancholy" of his era, I do not read his character as necessarily slothful.  He may be an obsessive (and ultimately tragic) procrastinator, but he struggles continuously with affecting the proper action and is far from lazy when it comes to avenging the King's death: the conspiracy of "The Mousetrap," the goings-on of his "antic disposition," even his willingness to succumb to Claudius's two plans (i.e., the trip to England and the concluding duel with Laertes) -- though seemingly passive -- demonstrate a certain cunningness on Hamlet's part as he "acts" toward the final vengeance.
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