Lao Tzu and Hamlet: Non-action and Pseudo-action

Abstract

What caused the tragedy of Hamlet? Human actions are, of course, most powerful forces to influence many deaths in Hamlet. Shakespeare focuses on the effect of human actions in Hamlet. LaoTzu says that non-action can free men from uneasy life. Shakespeare and Lao Tzu are both concerned with human behaviors. Hamlet shows melancholy and inclination to commit suicide at first sight on the stage. The ghost of his father says, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” But the duty of revenge for his father forces Hamlet “to put an antic disposition on.” From this time on Hamlet thinks “Denmark’s a prison.” So to speak, he puts himself into prison by pseudo-action of madness. On the one hand, his character of being highly intellectual and reflective may cause delay of revenge for his father. On the other hand, pseudo-action drives Hamlet into suspicions and obsessions full of changing moods and tones in treating people around him. Shakespeare dramatizes appearance versus reality into Hamlet. All the personae in Hamlet are shut in the world of double structure. This structure holds people to behave with covering their face to hide his or her identity. Deceit and false appearance in Hamlet ultimately lead to the downfall of all the people involved. Lao Tzu says that everything can be done by non-action, in other words trying without trying. It seems that Lao Tzu warns Hamlet against his unnatural deeds such as revenge, madness, and suspicions. But hardship and suffering help Hamlet to find the doors of enlightenment when he recognizes eternal law. That is the way Lao Tzu says, “To return to the root is repose. Going back to one’s destiny is to find eternal law. To know the eternal law is enlightenment.” Hamlet opens his heart to his friends, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” He begins to realize that such dualistic consciousness derives from absolute non-being. That may be called the cosmic mystery. Shakespeare and Lao Tzu focus on how to live and how to behave in Nature as ground of all being. It is certain that they try to help us realize that our heart is restless until it rests in nature as non-action, that is “Practice non-action.”