"Becoming Homely": An Ontological Interpretation Of Hamlet

The thesis intends to interpret William Shakespeare’s (1564-1616) The Tragedy ofHamlet, Prince of Denmark (1991, Hamlet in short) from the perspective of MartinHeidegger’s (1889-1976) ontology to see how “becoming homely” demonstrated in this play.“Becoming homely”, in accordance with the thought of Heidegger in his study of thepoeticizing of Friedrich H lderlin (1770-1843) and Sophocles (496BC-406BC) in H lderlin’s Hymn “The Ister”(1996), can be seen as a journeying through “the foreign” towards the home of man or self, and therefore itis an uncanny encounter between two forces, with the poet-thinker as the in-betweenperforming the part to negotiate between human beings and gods. While the mystery ofHamlet’s procrastination in avenging his father has been perplexing generations of readersand critics, this thesis, by introducing Heidegger’s theory of “becoming homely”, attempts toapproach the inner workings of Hamlet to reinterpret the question of “to be or not to be” andthus to locate the reasons why Hamlet at last takes action to kill Claudius.The thesis falls into seven parts.The introductory part states the motivation for choosing the topic of “becoming homely”,gives a brief introduction to and a literature review of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and outlines theorganization of the thesis.Chapter One,“Ontology and ‘Becoming Homely’”, is a warm-up discussion of theontological “becoming homely” in Heidegger’s “The Ister” by first examining Heidegger andontology.Chapter Two,“Being Unhomely”, provides the description of “being” in The Ister andHamlet’s “being unhomely”. The “one’s own” of Prince Hamlet is appropriated, and he beginsto think about “being” under the condition that his father is murdered and his mother isremarried. In order to become homely, Hamlet has to start with “being unhomely” and to travel through the foreign.Chapter Three,“Becoming Homely”, revolves around the counterturning journey inthree respects: Aletheia (Truth) and uncovering, becoming and counterturning, andUnheimlich (Uncanny). In order to become homely, Hamlet has to travel through the foreign,and to reveal the concealed truth, that is, the legitimacy of his princeship and therighteousness of his revenge, which consequently causes his procrastination in avenging hisfather. During the journey of constant counterturning between one’s own and the foreign,Hamlet understands his destiny of a human being as the most uncanny.Chapter Four,“Home-Coming”, is a study of the relation of language, demigod anddwelling. In language Hamlet has gained a conscience of his duty to be a demigod whoconnects gods and human beings, and he eventually takes action and fulfills his revenge. Thedwelling of human beings can be achieved near the gods.Chapter Five,“Beyond ‘Becoming Homely’”, examines the significance of doing thisresearch, pointing out that the thesis is original in approaching Hamlet, one of Shakespeare’stypical works, from the perspective of Heidegger’s ontological “becoming homely” and inpresenting the universal value of “becoming homely” by further drawing on Socrates(469BC-399BC) and Qian Zhongshu (1910-1998).In “Conclusion”, the thesis is summed up and it is pointed out that no matter in theinterpretation of Heidegger or in the revenge of Hamlet, the theme of “becoming homely” liesin the counterturning journeying. As long as there is a return, there will be the representationof the vitality of life, the significance of history, and the hope of future.The thesis itself is a “becoming or counterturning” in which the author plays the role ofa “demigod”. It is the true record of the author’s creative experience of the journey of“becoming homely”.