Hamlet, or the Player: A Deleuzian Tale

Abstract

This work analyses Gilles Deleuze’s account and interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic play Hamlet as it is related to poietic action. To accomplish such comparison, it is stablished that Deleuze finds in Hamlet a proper definition of how Time can become free from the spatial joints and show itself as the pure Difference, or formal universality, that grounds all becoming. Hence, the main hypothesis of this work is that in Hamlet Deleuze finds a model not only to explain poietic activity and creation, but also the absolute ungrounding of Time. Secondly, it is also held that by exploring Hamlet’s agency and play, it is possible to sustain an analysis that condenses the notions of Time out of joint and purely optic and sonic situation, which are deemed central to Deleuze’s conception of Time as creative scission or Difference.