WHOSE SUPPER IS IT? HAMLET AND WORMS AS ACTANTS IN THE ELSINORE (AND NOT ONLY) GASTRONOMY

Abstract

Adopting a posthumanist perspective, and by peering through an ecocritical lens, I look for connections, interactions, relationships and even inter-species dependencies to be found Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where apart from the ghost, even a worm finds shelter. Hamlet himself delves into various issues in the Elsinore space / land / gastronomy, and among others… worms. While investigating the “unnatural” death of his own father, he considers many natural phenomena, including the circulation of matter, where the role of worms is crucial. And making the connection, I reflect on present-day funeral practices and think about future human burial places and their forms. I also make an attempt to show that, although in culture worms do not mean much, for ecosystems they are important beings (recyclers and fertilizers), having a real impact on their condition and balance. Drawing on contemporary scientific findings, I identify the worms mentioned by Hamlet, indicating specific invertebrate organisms. I also propose a new term for non-human Others–the BioDiverse.