Hamlet is a play written by William Shakespeare which takes place in Denmark. Hamlet, a prince, takes revenge on his uncle, Claudius, for murdering his father and marrying his mother. It is the longest play of Shakespeare's, and as stated above, is referenced in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
" The fall play this fall is Hamlet, in case you're interested. I'm Yorick. We have a working foundation."
In this novel Oskar obtains a role in the play Hamlet as well as resembles some of the life characteristics that the play a part in the story line.
"I wanted to stay there watching him hear the world, but it was getting late, and I had a hamlet rehearsal at 4:30, and it was an extremely important rehearsal, because it was the first one with lighting effects. (168)
motif
I linked this page to motif because Hamlet is a reoccuring theme in this novel.
I think Oskar brings up Hamlet a lot because he identifies himself with the story's plot line.
" The fall play this fall is Hamlet, in case you're interested. I'm Yorick. We have a working foundation."
"Twelve weekends later was the first performance of Hamlet, although it was actually an abbreviated modern version, because the real Hamlet is too long and confusing, and most of the kids in my class have ADD." (142)
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so. (Hamlet 2.2)
In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the narrator, Oskar, has a similar issue to the one represented in Hamlet's soliloquy - What is our purpose, what is the point to our life? After his father dies in 9/ll, Oskar struggles with why he should even live his life, What is the point of doing something if you could die tomorrow? A similar point is shown in Hamlet's soliloquy, "...what is the quintessences of dust?"
At another moment in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the narrator is reflecting on the idea that there are more people alive today than have ever died. "Anyway, the fascinating thing was that I read in National Geographic that there are more people alive now than have died in all of human history. In other words, if everyone wanted to play Hamlet at once, they couldn't, because there aren't enough skulls!" (3) The author relates the fact that there is a bigger population alive than dead to the play Hamlet. This means the author probably has an interest in Hamlet, as he quickly makes a reference to it.
HAMLET
O shame! where is thy blush?
[...]
QUEEN
O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.
HAMLET
Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty—
QUEEN
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
HAMLET
A murderer and a villain;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings,
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!
QUEEN
No more!
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches—
Here, as Hamlet accuses his mother of disgracefully sleeping with his father's murderer. Clearly, the plot of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close alludes to the plot of Hamlet, with the death of the father and the possible betrayal by the mother. Even beyond the plot, the imagery here is also linked to Oskar's life. Hamlet calls his uncle "A king of shreds and patches," suggesting that when the past is unsettled, the present is also broken up. Hamlet's mother says his words make her look inward, where she painfully confronts "such black and grained spots / As will not leave their tinct," or, in other words, she sees grainy black stains on her soul. This imagery is much like the disconnected points that make up Oskar's life as well. The symbolic power of white, representing blankness, purity, and potential, is tarnished here in a way Oskar strives to avoid by wearing white as he tries to hold onto his father.
Another reference, or rather plot focus, in the novel is when Oskar actually takes part in his school play - "Twelve weekends later was the first performance of Hamlet, although it was actually an abbreviated modern version, because the real Hamlet is too long and confusing, and most of the kids in my class have ADD." This quote is kind of comical, as throughout the entire story Oskar seems to have ADD, jumping from thought to thought without as much as an "anyway" connecting them.
"Twelve weekends later was the first performance of Hamlet, although it was actually an abbreviated modern version, because the real Hamlet is too long and confusing, and most of the kids in my class have ADD. For example, the famous "To be or not to be" speech, which I know about from the Collected Shakespeare set Grandma bought me, was cut down so that it was just, "To be or not to be, that's the question." (142)
In addition, on page 55 there is a picture of Hamlet holding a skull, another famous scene from the play. This pose and the above quotation are often mistakenly put together, with many people imagining Hamlet holding the skull as he says "To be or not to be". Whilst in fact Hamlet is lamenting the death of his friend, saying "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio", these two events incorrectly put together could represent misconceptions or miscommunications. As Oskar sometimes reveals his disdain for others, such as saying that most of the people in his class have ADD, perhaps he's proving to the world that he knows Hamlet properly.
Along with both Hamlet and Oskar mourning for their fathers, they both feel betrayal from their mothers. Hamlet's mother marries his uncle about a month after his father died. Similarly, Oskar feels his mother is moving on to quickly, as she begins hanging out with a new friend, Ron.