(Download) "Men, Loss and Spiritual Emergency: Shakespeare, The Death of Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet." by Masculinities and Spirituality Journal of Men # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Men, Loss and Spiritual Emergency: Shakespeare, The Death of Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet.
- Author : Masculinities and Spirituality Journal of Men
- Release Date : January 01, 2008
- Genre: Religion & Spirituality,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 245 KB
Description
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. Men may consider the possibility of death and of all forms of loss in the course of a lifetime. Grof and Grof (1990) have suggested that confrontation with the issue of death is a pivotal part of the self-actualizing process and "an integral component of most spiritual emergencies" (p. 57) as they liberate individuals from the fear of death and lesser losses by opening them "to the experience of immortality" (p. 58). But how well equipped are individuals to manage the ensuing crisis of consciousness, or understand the potential impact it may have upon their lives? This article discusses male grief, loss and transformation by investigating one man's very personal tragedy and how by his genius and his art he is able to manage and to resolve it.