Notes on Hamlet
General thoughts, feelings & reflection from Dale on Hamlet, as a view into Type Six, the Loyal Skeptic
Attention goes to fear, doubt, anxiety, worst case scenarios & divided loyalties. To What & To Whom Should I Be Loyal?
The Six energy can be seen as the snake in the garden of Eden— staying on the 9 side of the fence where needs are met by a controlling parent, but questioning the 3 world of individuation and individual work.
I experience Sixes as the Existentialists of the Enneagram— questioning the meaning of a life found in what seems to be an untrustworthy and disconnected world of horrible ideas!
Remember that first and foremost, this is a *ghost* story. Sixes live in worlds of ghosts.. often self created… because being in relationship with things that scare you becomes what seems a comfortable habit. The world is filled with dangers, projections, enemies for which you must keep an eye; and the world lacks supports, resources and allies for The Six. The Kenneth Branaugh version is a TERRIFYING GHOST STORY! Murder, betrayal, war, dethroning and ghosts!
Sixes are often suspect/suspicious: “I doubt some foul play.” Hamlet
Hamlet is the only son of the King of Denmark. The king is dead, and we find that the king's brother took the queen and crown. No one is to be trusted! Hamlet’s uncle is a murderer and Hamlet’s mother is complicit in the new situation. Hamlet judges his mother ...and all women.. for so quickly changing loyalty to his uncle so shortly after his father's death. Was it a funeral for his father or a wedding for his mother? The tension is perfect: is it a wedding or a funeral... and what is the cause of each? Makes you paranoid to think about it.
Hamlet is introduced to us as a brooding, mourning, sad young man searching for his dead father. They try to console him but he knows there is something rotten in Denmark.
(SX Six Enneagram Author Tom Condon says that Sixes all suffer from the “Are you my mother?” syndrome… feeling always that everyone else had supportive parents who instilled skills and confidence in their children— but they received less or none.)
Hamlet’s friend HORATIO has seen the ghost of the father king. Hamlet's search for his real parent and for the truth **is the essence of Six.***
Following a ghost (sometimes self-created) and having an enemy is also quintessential to Six. Sixes live in worlds where they are seeking Loyal Friends and Allies because they also live in a world where there are always Abusers/Tyrants and Enemies!
The story of how King Hamlet dies rings to the lack of safety Sixes feel in the world: Don’t fall asleep in your own garden, or your own brother may put poison in your ear and take your wife and kingdom. “Thus was I sleeping.. by a brother’s hand of life of crown of queen... cut off...” His father (ghost) warns him not to turn on his mother but to leave her to heaven.
Sixes are very concerned with DUPLICITY…. False Evidence Appearing Real (FEAR)….. Hamlet says “one may smile and be a villain.. at least in Denmark”...
In taking on his father’s charge to vengeance, he finds his purpose/energy/call. His friends who he makes swear allegiance/loyalty are what Sixes need too: a cause and a posse of allies. Sixes relax when they have a community of peers/allies.
Polonius hires a man to spy on Laertes his son, and sets him up with news of brothels, games, etc. Hamlet seems a spy. It is an interesting side-story that a father does not trust his own son…. in contrast to Hamlet who believes he can only trust his now dead father, a ghost.
Laertes tells his sister ophelia that safety only lies in having fear. “Fear it sister fear it... be wary then, best safety lies in fear.”
“A little more than kin and less than kind” is what Hamlet says of his uncle the king— murderer, betrayer.
Notice that Hamlet decides that his power is to be a jabbing critic — it is clownish and childish at first. This is a Six stance: seeing one’s self as smaller/childish rather than strong and equal.
Advice given Laertes: to thine own self be true...then one cannot be untrue to any other man.
Polonius scolds Ophelia and tells her angrily to *doubt* all of Hamlet’s overtures of love
Ophelia gives BLIND OBEDIENCE to her father and avoids Hamlet... instead of following her own heart. This contributes to the demise of the play. It is a Six Theme around being blindly obedient, giving your power and trust to an external authority all the while annihilating your own authority and experience.
Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are old friends brought in to Hamlet... a tried and true set of allies is what sixes want. “There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” HAMLET REFERRING TO DENMARK AS A PRISON. He demands to know if the king and queen sent for them.. and he no longer trusts them. Hamlet gives them an inspirational speech about the greatness of man... but it drops with a thud when he says he does not delight in man. THREE inspiration, SIX THUD/DOUBT.
At some point Hamlet detaches in his plan/play for veracity/truth and he becomes an actor putting on a deceptive play. This is related to the deception of Type 3, a connection point for Type 6. (Think of Jon Stewart, the safe power of the jester and the comedian. It jabs from below, it harms from from the sidelines… “I’m just a comedian/boy… “ Think of how small Woody Allen seems.) Hamlet's choice to put on a play seems Type Six, as an indirect attack: “The plays the thing” and No no we but jest. No offense in the world.
READ/WATCH this section a few times— quintessentially Six Existential inquiry…. "To be or not to be... that is the question: whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them today to sleep...to die, to sleep, perchance to dream... what dreams may come.”
Ophelia reads Hamlet’s poetry...” Doubt the stars are fire.... but never doubt my love”. Hamlet begins to distrust Ophelia. “Are you honest? Fair?” And says he himself along with all men are horrible creatures. To be or not to be? He asks: Am I a coward?
The crazier Hamlet acts, the more they watch him; the more paranoid he gets.. the the more they watch him. 6! Sixes often get people to watch them because they are suspicious of others or are unaware of their own tyrant side and aggression towards others. It draws negative attention to them that they disown as having participated in.
Hamlet asks his loyal friend Horatio to watch the king during his play. He offers him a lovely tribute as a loyal friend who is no slave to passion and in his heart. As opposed to Rosencrantz and Gildenstern who may be sponges on the king’s dole.
Ophelia reading Hamlets musings: They are Existential Thoughts and the Emotions of a Young Man; seem very Six in their childlike innocence and existentialism.
As for Hamlet’s mother: “I will speak daggers to her but use none.”
Hamlet mistakenly kills Ophelia’s/Laerte's father, so he is now also guilty of murder. He is no longer blameless, which is what Sixes want to be. Being Blameless is the area of Avoidance for Sixes. This is the dramatic center of the play, I think. Hamlet is the same as Ophelia and her brother... their father was murdered.
Hamlet sees the waste in Fortibras’ need to kill thousands of people for a useless piece of land. “Straw... eggshell”... and his soliloquy he finds honor in his honest noble revenge role.
The crowd calls for Laertes to be king—- his father Polonius is murdered (by Hamlet) and he comes to avenge.
Hamlet holding Yorick’s skull remembers the great role of the court jester—The role of the Six, who jokes in truth and power. Like Jon Stewart. The jester’s role is the person who can tell the truth to the king and queen only because he is liked, trusted, and does so with humor. This is a very common role in Shakespeare’s plays.
Origin of the name Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother’s name): derived from Germanic roots that meant "spear" and "strength"
Yes
It could happen any time, tornado,
earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen.
Or sunshine, love, salvation.
It could, you know. That’s why we wake
and look out — no guarantees
in this life.
But some bonuses, like morning,
like right now, like noon,
like evening.
William Stafford from The Way It Is
==================================================
General thoughts, feelings & reflection from Dale on Hamlet, as a view into Type Six, the Loyal Skeptic
Attention goes to fear, doubt, anxiety, worst case scenarios & divided loyalties. To What & To Whom Should I Be Loyal?
The Six energy can be seen as the snake in the garden of Eden— staying on the 9 side of the fence where needs are met by a controlling parent, but questioning the 3 world of individuation and individual work.
I experience Sixes as the Existentialists of the Enneagram— questioning the meaning of a life found in what seems to be an untrustworthy and disconnected world of horrible ideas!
Remember that first and foremost, this is a *ghost* story. Sixes live in worlds of ghosts.. often self created… because being in relationship with things that scare you becomes what seems a comfortable habit. The world is filled with dangers, projections, enemies for which you must keep an eye; and the world lacks supports, resources and allies for The Six. The Kenneth Branaugh version is a TERRIFYING GHOST STORY! Murder, betrayal, war, dethroning and ghosts!
Sixes are often suspect/suspicious: “I doubt some foul play.” Hamlet
Hamlet is the only son of the King of Denmark. The king is dead, and we find that the king's brother took the queen and crown. No one is to be trusted! Hamlet’s uncle is a murderer and Hamlet’s mother is complicit in the new situation. Hamlet judges his mother ...and all women.. for so quickly changing loyalty to his uncle so shortly after his father's death. Was it a funeral for his father or a wedding for his mother? The tension is perfect: is it a wedding or a funeral... and what is the cause of each? Makes you paranoid to think about it.
Hamlet is introduced to us as a brooding, mourning, sad young man searching for his dead father. They try to console him but he knows there is something rotten in Denmark.
(SX Six Enneagram Author Tom Condon says that Sixes all suffer from the “Are you my mother?” syndrome… feeling always that everyone else had supportive parents who instilled skills and confidence in their children— but they received less or none.)
Hamlet’s friend HORATIO has seen the ghost of the father king. Hamlet's search for his real parent and for the truth **is the essence of Six.***
Following a ghost (sometimes self-created) and having an enemy is also quintessential to Six. Sixes live in worlds where they are seeking Loyal Friends and Allies because they also live in a world where there are always Abusers/Tyrants and Enemies!
The story of how King Hamlet dies rings to the lack of safety Sixes feel in the world: Don’t fall asleep in your own garden, or your own brother may put poison in your ear and take your wife and kingdom. “Thus was I sleeping.. by a brother’s hand of life of crown of queen... cut off...” His father (ghost) warns him not to turn on his mother but to leave her to heaven.
Sixes are very concerned with DUPLICITY…. False Evidence Appearing Real (FEAR)….. Hamlet says “one may smile and be a villain.. at least in Denmark”...
In taking on his father’s charge to vengeance, he finds his purpose/energy/call. His friends who he makes swear allegiance/loyalty are what Sixes need too: a cause and a posse of allies. Sixes relax when they have a community of peers/allies.
Polonius hires a man to spy on Laertes his son, and sets him up with news of brothels, games, etc. Hamlet seems a spy. It is an interesting side-story that a father does not trust his own son…. in contrast to Hamlet who believes he can only trust his now dead father, a ghost.
Laertes tells his sister ophelia that safety only lies in having fear. “Fear it sister fear it... be wary then, best safety lies in fear.”
“A little more than kin and less than kind” is what Hamlet says of his uncle the king— murderer, betrayer.
Notice that Hamlet decides that his power is to be a jabbing critic — it is clownish and childish at first. This is a Six stance: seeing one’s self as smaller/childish rather than strong and equal.
Advice given Laertes: to thine own self be true...then one cannot be untrue to any other man.
Polonius scolds Ophelia and tells her angrily to *doubt* all of Hamlet’s overtures of love
Ophelia gives BLIND OBEDIENCE to her father and avoids Hamlet... instead of following her own heart. This contributes to the demise of the play. It is a Six Theme around being blindly obedient, giving your power and trust to an external authority all the while annihilating your own authority and experience.
Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are old friends brought in to Hamlet... a tried and true set of allies is what sixes want. “There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” HAMLET REFERRING TO DENMARK AS A PRISON. He demands to know if the king and queen sent for them.. and he no longer trusts them. Hamlet gives them an inspirational speech about the greatness of man... but it drops with a thud when he says he does not delight in man. THREE inspiration, SIX THUD/DOUBT.
At some point Hamlet detaches in his plan/play for veracity/truth and he becomes an actor putting on a deceptive play. This is related to the deception of Type 3, a connection point for Type 6. (Think of Jon Stewart, the safe power of the jester and the comedian. It jabs from below, it harms from from the sidelines… “I’m just a comedian/boy… “ Think of how small Woody Allen seems.) Hamlet's choice to put on a play seems Type Six, as an indirect attack: “The plays the thing” and No no we but jest. No offense in the world.
READ/WATCH this section a few times— quintessentially Six Existential inquiry…. "To be or not to be... that is the question: whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them today to sleep...to die, to sleep, perchance to dream... what dreams may come.”
Ophelia reads Hamlet’s poetry...” Doubt the stars are fire.... but never doubt my love”. Hamlet begins to distrust Ophelia. “Are you honest? Fair?” And says he himself along with all men are horrible creatures. To be or not to be? He asks: Am I a coward?
The crazier Hamlet acts, the more they watch him; the more paranoid he gets.. the the more they watch him. 6! Sixes often get people to watch them because they are suspicious of others or are unaware of their own tyrant side and aggression towards others. It draws negative attention to them that they disown as having participated in.
Hamlet asks his loyal friend Horatio to watch the king during his play. He offers him a lovely tribute as a loyal friend who is no slave to passion and in his heart. As opposed to Rosencrantz and Gildenstern who may be sponges on the king’s dole.
Ophelia reading Hamlets musings: They are Existential Thoughts and the Emotions of a Young Man; seem very Six in their childlike innocence and existentialism.
As for Hamlet’s mother: “I will speak daggers to her but use none.”
Hamlet mistakenly kills Ophelia’s/Laerte's father, so he is now also guilty of murder. He is no longer blameless, which is what Sixes want to be. Being Blameless is the area of Avoidance for Sixes. This is the dramatic center of the play, I think. Hamlet is the same as Ophelia and her brother... their father was murdered.
Hamlet sees the waste in Fortibras’ need to kill thousands of people for a useless piece of land. “Straw... eggshell”... and his soliloquy he finds honor in his honest noble revenge role.
The crowd calls for Laertes to be king—- his father Polonius is murdered (by Hamlet) and he comes to avenge.
Hamlet holding Yorick’s skull remembers the great role of the court jester—The role of the Six, who jokes in truth and power. Like Jon Stewart. The jester’s role is the person who can tell the truth to the king and queen only because he is liked, trusted, and does so with humor. This is a very common role in Shakespeare’s plays.
Origin of the name Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother’s name): derived from Germanic roots that meant "spear" and "strength"
- What do these words (important to the Lens of Six) mean to you? Faith? Belief? Doubt? Trust? Courage?
- How were they present in the novel/film?
- What has been your experience of finding the mythical/spiritual good parent? The protective parent? The loyal sibling/friend? The strong ally?
- What role has doubt/trust/courage played in your life?
- Upon what/whom can you rely?
- Has deciding to what and to whom to be loyal changed throughout your life?
- How are you like an Enneagram Six Loyal Skeptic?
- How does your attention go to doubt, loyalty, *divided loyalties*, a community of allies, advocacy for the underdog, projection, an authority you can trust?
- What has been your experience of Sixes in your own life?
- What do you find valuable about their perspective?
- What more would you like to know about this type and their perspective?
Yes
It could happen any time, tornado,
earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen.
Or sunshine, love, salvation.
It could, you know. That’s why we wake
and look out — no guarantees
in this life.
But some bonuses, like morning,
like right now, like noon,
like evening.
William Stafford from The Way It Is
==================================================
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