Men, Loss and Spiritual Emergency: Shakespeare, the Death of Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet

Abstract

How does a father manage the death of his son or his father? What might a playwright do? This article proposes that confronted with the multiple loss of his son Hamnet and subsequently his father John, William Shakespeare experienced a transformational consciousness event or 'spiritual problem' (DSM IV), defined by Grof and Grof as a 'spiritual emergency' (SE), which he explores through the making of his masterpiece Hamlet. The play's central male character is a fine example of an instrumental masculine response to coping with loss. It is argued that the depiction of Hamlet's struggle towards self knowledge can be explained in terms of Stan Grof's model of transformation. In his play Shakespeare expresses a unique view of complicated masculine grief and loss. Through Hamlet's soliloquies he explores and maps the terrifying terrain and rich interior world of his own psychic journey and transformation.