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영어

This article examines Hamlet’s dilemma that turns his ontological question into an ethical practice in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and its adaptation in McEwan’s Nutshell. As a prequel to Hamlet, Nutshell rethinks Hamlet’s dilemma from the perspective of a nine-month-old fetus Hamlet. Hamlet, who feels trapped in a nutshell, wants to die to end his weary life. On the contrary, the fetus Hamlet, who is enclosed tightly in a womb, has a strong will to live. While Hamlet hesitates to avenge his father’s death because he is skeptical about the ghost’s claims, the fetus Hamlet casts aside his thought of revenge even though he witnesses the murder of his father by his mother and uncle. The fetus Hamlet should acquiesce to the murder to be born safe and free outside the prison. Here is his ethical dilemma between his filial duty and desire to experience the world. Hamlet’s death remains in silence, while the fetus Hamlet’s life remains in chaos. The birth of the fetus Hamlet sets him free from the womb but will bring him ceaseless bad dreams. Although Nutshell can be read as McEwan’s answer to Hamlet’s silence, the fetus Hamlet’s chaos, however, like a Möbius strip, seems to curve back to the enigmatic silence. This claustrophobic loop symbolizes Hamlet’s dilemma from the womb and the prison to the castle Elsinore and the nutshell. The enigmatic silence in Hamlet still leaves us a very tough task to report Hamlet’s tragic narrative properly.