Previous descriptions of Hamlet as recounted by Ornstein have included the following.
- Gay and debonair Elizabethan courtier
- One curled in the fetal position on Ophelia's lap
- Malcontent
- Lunatic
- Ideal Prince
- Neurotic
- Ritual Scapegoat
Ornstein asserts a new role for Hamlet: juvenile delinquent. His justification of this description includes much favorable evidence.
- Truancy from school
- Victim of an unsatisfactory home environment
- Stepfather is a tippling criminal.
- Mother is a shallow, good-natured creature too easy with her affections.
- Unable to communicate with his parents and seeks affection outside of the home.
- Maladjusted and emotionally unstable
- Has bad dreams
- Moody, hostile, withdrawn, cynically contemptuous of authority
- Homicidal and suicidal tendencies; carries a knife and knows how to use it
- Abnormally preoccupied with sex
- Incapable of returning love of girl he sadistically maltreats
- Dresses in black and affects a casual slovenliness
- Deprived of status in society
- Seeks attention through violence
- Creates a scene and is sent away for radical therapy
If we grant this description of Hamlet, then the remaining characters of the play fall into other archetypal roles. Polonius becomes the stool-pigeon. Ophelia is the "long-haired kid from the next tenement." Laertes is the "hot-tempered, mixed-up younger brother." Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are "crooked social workers." Fortinbras is "a reformed delinquent."
Ornstein uses T.S. Eliot's verdict to summarize. Hamlet is a "rebel without a cause, consumed with an unfathomable hatred of a world in which he never had a chance." He delays action because he knows that it will in turn destroy him. "[When] harmony is restored in family and state, the juvenile delinquent ceases to exist."
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