Of Flies

These comments are in reference to Act III in Hamlet. On trial for his life, Socrates said:

So now, Athenian men, more than on my own behalf must I defend myself, as some may think, but on your behalf, so that you may not make a mistake concerning the gift of God by condemning me.

For if you kill me, you will not easily find another such person at all, even if to say in a ludicrous way, attached on the city by God, like on a large and well-bred horse, by its size and laziness both needing arousing by some gadfly; in this way the god seems to have fastened me on the city, some such one who arousing and persuading and reproaching each one of you I do not stop the whole day settling down all over.

(HT: interesting-looking website on Knowledge that I haven't much looked through yet but didn't want to forget about, so am linking to here) The word Gadfly nowadays seems to mean someone who likes to make snarky comments about the establishment, but I think Socrates' endeavour was serious, even though he expressed it in what he called a ridiculous way.

I am thinking that Hamlet acted as a bit of a gadfly, too. Or not a gadfly, irritating a healthy but lazy horse, but the other kind of fly, the kind that notices and buzzes around something that is giving off the smell of death. The operative word is ACTED, here. When Hamlet moves through a scene casting out painfully satiric, allusive comments with smart-aleck plays on words that remind me a bit of Groucho Marx, he is functioning a bit like a gadfly. In his case, he is moving through a society that is sleek and healthy on the outside, but rotten underneath. Those around him express dismay and confusion at his words, but they aren't really interested in finding out what he means. They humor him:

LORD POLONIUS

My lord, the queen would speak with you, and
presently.

HAMLET

Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?

LORD POLONIUS

By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.

HAMLET

Methinks it is like a weasel.

LORD POLONIUS

It is backed like a weasel.

HAMLET

Or like a whale?

LORD POLONIUS

Very like a whale.

HAMLET Then I will come to my mother by and by. They fool
me to the top of my bent. I will come by and by.

Just before that, there is a scene where his supposed friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are trying to get him to be serious and stop tossing off side comments which to them are aside from the point: Rosencrantz says reproachfully: My lord, you once did love me. Guildenstern says something similar, upon which Hamlet asks him to play a tune upon the pipe. When Guildenstern protests that he does not know how, Hamlet says:

Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of
me! You would play upon me; you would seem to know
my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my
mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to
the top of my compass: and there is much music,
excellent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot
you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am
easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what
instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you
cannot play upon me.

It's hard for me to tell whether it is that they are persuaded of his madness and clumsily trying to help him, or if they are really co-opted to help Hamlet's uncle out of personal ambition, but they do not engage when he says things like this. It seems they would rather not know.

Socrates is conscious of his gadfly status and stands apart from Athens, willing to be condemned to death rather than compromise his role. Hamlet is different, by both temperament and role. He is not simply the detached bystander who stands aside and comments on society, but the one who is most deeply wounded by the rottenness of the state. Hamlet is often called tormented and indecisive, but his torment and lack of decisive action is partly due to his split role. He is both the crucial player in the drama that is in Denmark, AND a member of the audience watching the play and critiquing it. He is aware of this and his insight is part of his conflict, but there is really no way for him to get past it. There is a tragic understanding of the human condition in this. We recognize the rottenness and can't stand outside it, short of grace. And grace DOES seem short in Hamlet's state.