The Inverted Initiation Rituals in Shakespeare with a Special Emphasis on Hamlet

Andrzej Wicher

doi:10.18778/2083-8530.23.10

Authors

Andrzej Wicher University of Lodz, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8568-2087

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.23.10

Keywords:

Shakespeare, Hamlet, initiation, ritual, reversal, myth, folktale

Abstract

The article deals the possibility of applying Vladimir Propp’s, basically anthropological idea of “the inverted ritual” to the interpretation of certain plays by William Shakespeare, particularly Hamlet. The said inversion concerns three rituals: the sacrificial ritual, where the passive and obedient victim suddenly rebels, or at least becomes difficult to control (which is the case, for example, of Ophelia in Hamlet); of the initiatory ritual, where the apparently benevolent master of the characters initiation is shown as a monster (which can be exemplified by Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle); and of the matrimonial ritual, where the theoretically loving husband (more rarely wife), or lover, is revealed as a highly malicious and unpredictable creature, an example of which can be Hamlet himself. The article makes use of the work of such critics as G.K. Wilson, Harold Bloom, Vladimir Propp, René Girard, and Mircea Eliade.

Author Biography

Andrzej Wicher, University of Lodz, Poland

Andrzej Wicher is Full Professor in the Institute of English Studies of the University of Lodz. At present he is a lecturer in the history of English literature, and the head of the Centre for Research on English Medieval and Renaissance Literature in the Institute of English Studies of Lodz University. He published three scholarly books: Archaeology of the Sublime. Studies in Late—Medieval English Writings (Katowice 1995), Shakespeare’s Parting Wondertales—a Study of the Elements of the Tale of Magic in William Shakespeare’s Late Plays (Łódź 2003), and Selected Medieval and Religious Themes in the Works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (Łódź 2013), and almost 100 articles mainly on Medieval and Renaissance studies, cultural studies, and modern fantasy literature, with a special emphasis on the presence of folktale motifs in works of literature. He also translated some Middle English poems, including Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, into Polish. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8568-2087

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