Hamlet in Analysis: Horatio's Story-A Trial of Faith

217 Pages·2014·0.641 MB·English

by  Meg Harris Williams

HAMLET IN ANALYSIS

HAMLET IN ANALYSIS
Horatio’s Story—A Trial of Faith

Meg Harris Williams
published for
The Harris Meltzer Trust
by
KARNAC
First published in 1997 by Karnac Books as A Trial of Faith: Horatio’s Story –
Hamlet in Analysis
Revised edition published in 2014 for The Harris Meltzer Trust
by Karnac Books Ltd, 118 Finchley Road, London NW3 5HT
Copyright © 1997, 2014 Meg Harris Williams
The right of Meg Harris Williams to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and
Patent Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 782201151
Edited, designed and produced by The Bourne Studios
www.bournestudios.co.uk
Printed in Great Britain
www.harris-meltzer-trust.org.uk
www.karnacbooks.com
I passed the small theater where I once saw a traveling company
perform Hamlet and remembered how I felt sorry for myself for
the way I’d suffered like him … I was so moved by the play
because so much of it was about me and my gloomy life that
I dropped sixpence into the lard tin and wished I could have
attached a note to let Hamlet know who I was and how my
suffering was real and not just in a play.
Frank McCourt, Teacher Man

CONTENTS
About the author ix
Foreword to the new edition xi
Introduction: Hamlet as a Dream-play 1
Cast of characters 29
1 The Prelude 31
2 The Ghost 51
3 The Prince 65
4 The Mousetrap 81
5 The Grave 97
6 The Winter’s Tale 113
7 The Tempest 125
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viii CONTENTS
8 The King and Queen 139
9 Ophelia at Colonus 157
10 Becoming Fortinbras 173
11 Horacio Agonistes 189
Index to dreams 203
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Meg Harris Williams is a visual artist and a literary critic, writ-
ing about the relation between psychoanalysis, aesthetics and
literature, especially poetry. She has published many papers in
psychoanalytic and academic journals and is author and editor
of many books. Her authored books are: Inspiration in Milton
and Keats (1982), A Strange Way of Killing: the Poetic Structure of
Wuthering Heights (1987), The Apprehension of Beauty: the Role of
Aesthetic Conflict in Development, Art and Violence (with Donald
Meltzer, 1988), The Chamber of Maiden Thought: Literary Origins
of the Psychoanalytic Model of the Mind (with Margot Waddell;
1991), Five Tales from Shakespeare (for children; 1996), The Vale
of Soulmaking: the Post-Kleinian Model of the Mind (2005), The
Aesthetic Development: the Poetic Spirit of Psychoanalysis (2010)
and Bion’s Dream: a Reading of the Autobiographies (2010). She
is a visiting lecturer at the Tavistock Clinic and also teaches
widely abroad. Many papers and book chapters have been trans-
lated into other languages, including Italian, French, German,
Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, and Japanese.
Website: www.artlit.info
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