The fall of a sparrow.  If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not 

To come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come - the 

Readiness is all." This quote is said by Hamlet after King Claudius arranges a fencing match between him and Laertes, and he recognizes that Laertes wants revenge for him killing Polonius, and Claudius also wants him gone. He reflects on fate, saying that if he’s meant to die, there is nothing he can do, and he will submit to whatever fate has in store for him. This displays a belief that we are not arbiters of our own fate, which connects to the symbolism expressed in the painting ‘The Persistence of Memory’ by Salvador Dali. Dali was inspired by and interested in a philosopher who studied time, and some think that the symbolism of the still water and melting clocks was time and how we can’t control it. This is similar to the message conveyed in the Hamlet quote because both reflect how helpless the human condition can truly be, in the fact that we can’t control the passing of time or when death comes. Both Hamlet and Dali are reflecting on the fact that there’s only so much about life that we can control, that a lot is out of our control and out of our hands, and that we eventually must just submit to this and to our fate.

- Hamlet (II.ii.286-288) 

I’ve selected starry night by van gogh. Van Gogh was someone who was struggling; he had a lot going on in his life. Van had bipolar disorder and was extremely depressed. He was in a mental hospital when he painted this. Van Gogh uses cyprus trees which are used to symbolize death. Van Gogh was inspired by Guagins belief that you had to paint how you tempered it or how it made you feel. Hamlet was extremely depressed and just trying to process everything that was happening in his life. He is putting death to question and pondering what comes after death and what is life with death. These thoughts of death plague him and cause him to go mad in a sense. Where Van Gogh uses art as therapy Hamlet's art (being a child of the theater) almost pushed him even more so into insanity. Studying the players that came to visit made him question the difference between emotions in plays as in real life. This line of question pushed him farther from sanity instead of supplying him with the means to gain understanding. Both of these men are in serious need of therapy and I feel like they would have really good conversations about death and what comes after death. Starry night has so many layers to it and the more you look at it the more you truly see which is the same for hamlet. When you first look at him you just see him as a sad son when in reality he is someone with this purpose. That purpose may drive him to insanity but it is ultimately what keeps him going. Van Gogh's purpose was art even though he received very little recognition for his work while he was alive.

Here Hamlet is saying that he will ignore all other commitments and not bother with other trifles until he finishes his task. Which means that he is in control of time. I connect this to The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí. In the painting, the melting watches are perhaps the most famous and recognizable aspect of The Persistence of Memory. They are often interpreted as a representation of the relativity of time and the distortion of memory. The melting, drooping watches suggest that time is not a fixed or objective concept, but rather a subjective experience that is affected by individual perception. So, Hamlet can manage his own time by completing the task that he wants to finish before he can move on to the next task.

Nothing is as it seems. Both in literature and art, this was commonly explored in the modernist movement. Duchamp represented this when he designed his Fountain. The Dada movement was interested in exploring the unknown, and furthermore, how the human brain interacted with the unknown. Fountain was radical, and forced people to “finish” the art with their mind. The common thought of a writer/reader contract was typical of modern art/literature. Authors and artists wanted to allow the perspective of the viewer to shine through. In Hamlet, Shakespeare doesn’t always give a straightforward answer to a question he sets forth. In the given quote, the reader is forced to decide if they believe Hamlet’s love to be genuine, or if it truly is just of his “fashion” like Polonius claims.

I chose Frida Kahlo’s “The Broken Column” as my painting because in the quote Hamlet is describing how lately he had lost all his cheerfulness or amusement and stopped his physical activities, and Kahlo made her painting to depict the pain she was in following her hospitalization. Both her and Hamlet are in a state of despair and deal with losses in their life that led to this. Hamlet’s father was killed by his uncle, who married Hamlet’s mother, leading to his madness. Kahlo had gone through many tragedies in her life, including getting polio at 6 years old and getting struck by a bus at 18, leading to her hospitalization and a broken spine, pelvis, collarbone, and legs. She expresses her reality through the painting, depicting a symbolic broken column representing her spine, nails embedded in her to show her chronic pain, and a corset needed to hold her together. She is bed-ridden and has very restricted movement. Following such an incident, it makes perfect sense that in the painting Kahlo has a very stern face and one can assume she lost any cheerfulness she had, at least momentarily, although she tries to gain her amusement back through her paintings, whereas Hamlet continues to wallow in his anger towards Claudius.

In Surrealism, oftentimes two objects or concepts that have no correlation to each other are combined to make something new—and usually uncomfortable, despite our familiarity with both objects on its own. Just like the fur cup, we also are familiar with the concept of ‘man’ and ‘beast’, however we often do not associate human beings or the concept of humanity of being beast-like or animalistic. We think of ourselves as above beast, which is why the thought of considering ourselves to all be animals can be uncomfortable for most. Two concepts that we are familiar with on its own, however when put together, cause a sense of discomfort. That specifically is why I believe that Object by Oppenheim is a great piece to represent this quote.

     That is why I picked “Orange and Yellow” by Rothko to pair with this quote.  Rothko paintings were more simplistic but still had a type of meaning to their viewers.  This painting is literally only blocks of color, there is no fancy detail and no subject matter.  It has an interesting meaning because Rothko didn’t intend for his paintings to have an exact meaning, he intended them to captivate its viewers, and almost have no meaning.  This intern gave his paintings meaning in a way.  They were only meant to exist and be a deep experience for the viewers.  Rothko also used his painting as a therapy for himself and used it to address life and his struggle.  This also gave his paintings meaning and “more matter” to himself.  

     “More matter with less art” is detailed in “Orange and Yellow” by Rothko because the painting is simplistic and has “less art”, but still conveys a deeper meaning of interpretation and existence to viewers and Rothko himself.  This painting is exactly what Gertrude was demanding from Polonius, lots of substance and meaning in a simplistic style.

To reflect the meaning behind this quote, I chose to highlight the painting Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí as a work of art that reflects and connects to Hamlet’s statement. 

Throughout the entire play, Hamlet is constantly questioning his mortality and is, to a degree, obsessed with death and contemplating everything to do with it—is it worth it to live, is death merely a relief from suffering, etc. In Persistence of Memory, Dalí is questioning all things time related—the merits of not being able to halt time, how it is merely a social construct, etc. Both of these paintings reflect the internal struggle to make sense of something so far out of our reach as humans—time and death, two intrinsically intertwined subjects. Without time, there is no death, and to contemplate time to such a degree you must contemplate death. In my interpretation of Hamlet’s statement, “—the rest is silence,” I believe he is reflecting on his thoughts on death. This particular statement is said at the end of the play where Hamlet himself is on the brink of death and is truly faced with the end of time as he will perceive. With this particular statement, it shows how he has almost come to peace with death as he believes it will instill an end to his suffering. After spending the whole book contemplating his mortality, he is essentially contemplating his time left conscious on earth, and I believe this echoes Dalí’s painting and his own contemplations. In Dalí’s painting Persistence of Memory, he paints melting clocks, ants eating a pocket watch, and abstract figures which exemplify the haziness of time. Time is something so grand and far beyond our understanding and Dalí creates this feeling by painting something that truly is subjective. By doing this, he guides his viewer to contemplate time and create their own thoughts and opinions on it, which is what Hamlet did the entire play. Both of them are contemplating the time we have left on this earth and thus reflecting on the merits of mortality. 

I chose to connect Vision After the Sermon with this quote from Hamlet. I chose this piece because I felt like they shared attributes of religion, from Hamlet trying to reach out to god about how troubled he feels on earth, to the details in the painting like the nuns and an angel fighting against Jacob. These elements make it clear that the painting has a theme of religion. I even imagined the fight between the angel and Jacob as Hamlet's mental battle against “self-slaughter” as he mentions in another quote from the book in act 1 scene 2, “"O, that this too too solid flesh would melt thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!”. I feel like this painting strongly relates, and gives imagery to Hamlet’s battle of questioning if it’s worth going on in life, specifically at the loss of his father, to his religion and obedience to god. I also connected all the nuns observing the fight that is happening with how Hamlet might feel like all eyes are on him while he's going through this internal battle. I feel like this would only add to Hamlet's feeling of loneliness in feeling like nobody was on his side, or understanding the pain he was having to go through by himself, meanwhile his mom is off getting married to his uncle (dads brother). I think that the two of these also have the ability to connect with many living in modern day, in how sometimes even when we’re surrounded by people, we can feel so alone in our struggle.

- Hamlet

I chose to connect this quote with “The Broken Column” by Frida Kahlo. In the quote, Hamlet is speaking towards his sense of confinement, feeling as though he is bounded within a “nutshell”. However, even with this confinement, Hamlet still believes that he’s able to achieve his goals (a king of infinite space). The only thing stopping him is his “bad dreams”, or his troubled mind.

In “The Broken Column” by Frida Kahlo, she is also depicted as confined, or limited. Due to her accident at a young age, Kahlo was stripped of many of her physical abilities. In the painting, she depicts this, showing the constant pain that she suffers through. Despite this, Kahlo looks confidently into the viewers eyes, displaying her determination and dedication to achieve her goals.

When comparing these two pieces, we can see striking similarities. Both Kahlo and Hamlet have been limited, either mentally or physically. However, both are determined to press forward and achieve their goals. Furthermore, the surrealist feature of a dreamlike landscape connects with the quote. In the quote, Hamlet talks about his potential to be “A king of infinite space”. This can be applied to Kahlo’s painting, since the background is almost limitless. This sense of limitless can be seen as the amount of potential that both Hamlet and Kahlo have.

There's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life,

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppresser's wrong, the proud man's contumely, (humiliating insults)

The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay....

- Hamlet (III.1.68-72)

The quote is a small part of his famous soliloquy when he is questioning whether he wants to live or die since the news of his father’s death. Much like the quote, Vision After The Sermon by Paul Gauguin, also relates to the idea of life and death. The painting features people being let out of a church service and them having a vision of Jacob wrestling an angel. Both the painting and quote can relate to life and what life is after death such as a forever sleep for Hamlet and the higher power that saves your souls after death in the painting. The composition of the painting also matches the mood of the Hamlet quote. The painting features lots of bold colors such as the red background which can connect to the intense emotions Hamlet feels during his soliloquy.

The words of the quote continue to connect to the painting though matching the feeling of the painting. Hamlet uses words such as “whips” and “scorns.” This can easily be connected to the fight Jacob is having with the angel. The fight seems very violent and brutal so the harsh words match it perfectly.

So full of artless jealousy is guilt, 

It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.

• Gertrude (Act 4, Scene 5 19-20)

Translated w/ meaning:

So full of (awkward, stupid) (unreasonable suspicions) is guilt,

It (destroys) itself in fearing to be (divulged- make known).

Painting: The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí

   I chose this painting because it connects to the quote and how it talks about unreasonable suspicions that can lead people to make bad choices in fear of being found guilty. These are things that we don’t truly know just like how in the painting, “The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali­” shows many disfigured objects scattered throughout the painting. The way the items are warped sort of connects to the suspicions that are talked about in Hamlet. The suspicions could be true or false but we don’t know, just like how the objects aren’t actually an object. There are also multiple clocks that make me think of the part of the quote where it says, “It (destroys) itself in fearing to be (divulged- made known).” I think this because it is almost like the quote is saying that one destroys themself when they’re running out of time or scared of the truth being revealed. The melting clocks symbolize the questioning of time and our control of it. Which connects to how one would destroy themself out of guilt. When one tries to escape guilt or not fall prey to it they end up becoming truly guilty. This is what we can’t control.  With ants eating the pocket watch, it could represent time running out which could represent someone feeling more guilty (having the guilt eating away at their subconscious) as time passes. The painting as a whole connects to psychological ideas such as the subconscious which relates to the subconsciousness shown in the Hamlet quote. 

T’have seen what I have seen, see what I see.” - Ophelia

This line by Ophelia reveals how she’s been feeling towards Hamlet. This line is powerful for her because she try’s to express how noble Hamlet was, but after what he said and did, she thinks he is lost. Ophelia uses the words, “blasted with ecstasy”, meaning “blighted by madness”. These words and the whole line, show Ophelias reaction to Hamlets state of being. This is especially powerful because Ophelia doesn’t say too much throughout the book. Ophelias line connects to the painting, “Nocturne in Black and Gold: Falling Rocket by Whistler” because it generates the discussion over “what is art?”. Just like the painting, Ophelia asks herself, “what kind of person is Hamlet?”. Whistler was one of the artists that started the transition into abstract work. He was labeled “artist of the future”. Glancing at this painting for the first time, you aren’t really sure what it is. Once you really look and hear the story behind it, you start to see the beach and fireworks appear. At first in the book, Ophelia feels she has found love with Hamlet. But once he shows aggression towards her father, she starts to see the real him. Ophelia is making a “before and after” comparison of Hamlet. Similar to “Nocturne in Black and Gold: Falling Rocket”, you might think differently about it before and after realizing what it truly is.

I chose this painting to connect with this quote, because I feel like the painting reflects the nature of Hamlet's words. In this scene, Polonius is trying to have a conversation with Hamlet to discover if his erratic behavior is because of his love for Ophelia. Hamlet seems to be acting in a very irrational way, and many of his replies seem very vague. When Polonius asks him: “What do you read my lord?” Hamlet simply replies, “words, words words.” I think Hamlet's attitude really fits with this painting, and I think it fits with the phrase we used to describe the painting of “controlled chaos.” In Pollock's Autumn Rhythm, it appears as if the whole painting is out of control, and it appears completely disorganized. However when analyzing it further, the viewer discovers a lot of intentional techniques that Pollock uses to bring the painting to life. I think this idea fits with the way Hamlet is acting. Even though it appears as if he’s simply lost his mind, in reality, his way of acting is completely intentional. He is purposefully acting irrationally in order to achieve his goal. I also feel like this painting connects with the quote because at first glance, the painting can also appear “vague,” when in reality it has a purpose. Pollock wanted everyone to be able to experience art, and in this painting, he tried to convey the angst that many felt after World War 2. Similarly , a lot of Hamlet's “vague” words were actually filled with meaning and defiance. Overall, I feel like Hamlet's attitude really ties in with many Modernism traits. Modernists looked to challenge the typical standards of art, and this similarly reflects Hamlets challenging, and defiant attitude.

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy”

Hamlet and Horatio have both just seen a ghost. But as they hear the voice of the ghost come up from the ground beneath them, Horatio says that this is strange, as if he cannot believe it. Horatio seems to be sceptical, despite what he and Hamlet have both just witnessed. Hamlet was suggesting to him that after what they had seen, anything could be possible in the world. He was also stating how human imagination is limited and there are many things we dont even know of, things we haven’t even dreamt of. The line expresses wonder, mystery, the feeling of not knowing what’s out there and uncertainity. The romantics captured all of these emotions in their paintings or expressed these ideas. One in particular was Church’s “Heart of Andes”. He had gone to South America and captured several locations he saw there and exposed them to the Western world. When Americans saw it, some would faint because they never knew something so beautiful could exist. The romanticts showed how nature was infinite and humans could never completely fathom everything that is possible. While the painting is beautiful it also makes you ask yourself “What else is out there in the world”. Church’s painting proved Hamlet’s claim that human imagination is limited, because no one could have even believed that a place existed before it was presented to the western world. There will always be uncertainty in the world, but there's a beautiful element to it and humans should not be afraid of that. Instead of fearing uncertainty, humans should embrace it because it can lead to beautiful things. Hamlet is seen to embrace this uncertainty of ghosts, rather than questioning it he just accepts what he has seen. He demonstrates the ideology many romantics wanted to portray through their paintings, showing how humans should embrace the mysterious but beautiful elements of the world. While Hamlet found comfort in the ghost because it was his father and he felt connected to him and sought him out instead of his mother and Claudius. Romanticts found comfort in nature, because it brought a spiritually enhancing ability which they preferred rather than going to man made objects. Both Hamlet and the Romanticts embraced the uncertainty with unconditional love.

"To die, to sleep - 

To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub, 

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 

Must give us pause."

- Hamlet 

This quote is delivered by Hamlet to himself in Act 3 scene 1 of the play. In this quote, Hamlet is thinking out loud about death. He longs for death and with it to be relieved of his sufferings on Earth. He goes on to consider the stipulations that go along with death. He realizes that the uncertainty of life after death and uncertainty as to what it may look like prevents people from taking the bargain of suicide. Paul Gauguin’s painting, Vision After the Sermon, connects to my quote in that it depicts an internal struggle and asks questions about the universe. Vision After the Sermon is a symbolistic painting featuring Jacob wrestling with an angel. The fight is a physical depiction of an internal struggle which is similar to what Hamlet experiences in his quote. Hamlet wrestles with the idea of death, questioning whether it is better to die. Hamlet is a Christian and thus forbidden from self slaughter. Being a Christian, Hamlet shouldn’t even be considering death as an option nor debating what dreams will follow. This aspect relates to Vision After the Sermon as well because in the painting Gauguin seeks to ask questions about the universe and challenge spirituality just as Hamlet does in his quote. I chose Vision After the Sermon because Paul Gauguin’s message in the painting closely correlates to the conflict Hamlet experiences in my given quote.