Post: The Mulder-Hamlet parallel is something that's come up in this forum more than once. This post includes some general thoughts of mine on the play (okay, quite a few)--my favorite piece of fiction, by my favorite writer--and concludes with what I see as valid parallels between Hamlet and Fox Mulder.

First let me say that I haven't ever taken a class on Shakespeare (I was always buried in Spanish lit) but I have dived into the inky depths of this one on my own because there was something in there pulling on me in a very personal way. Also, if you haven't seen Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, it is absolutely AMAZING. Branagh easily and flawlessly brings out things that everyone else has completely overlooked, but that are right there in the text. You will understand this play much better after you see his version.

THE PLAY

I read a critical essay once that pointed out that Hamlet is a deep thinker. He isn't content to leave something on the surface, but must understand it for himself, and what's more, he must understand it all the way to its very depth. (This is where I found that personal connection--I feel compelled to do this myself.) During the course of the play, Hamlet is processing concepts that are not fully digested until very near the end. Death is the biggest of these, and there are many deaths he must face: the obvious ones (his father, Ophelia, his mother's eventual demise, Polonius) and the not-so-obvious (the death of his pleasant life as a child surrounded by caring parents, the death of his trust in his mother, the death of his relationship with Ophelia.). 

The fact that Hamlet is a deep thinker is the reason the 'to be or not to be' speech is so brilliant. Anybody could stand around pulling daisy petals, trying to decide whether to commit suicide or not, but Hamlet cuts to the very heart of the matter. He goes far enough into this scenario to realize that, in the end, it is our fear of the unknown that "makes us rather bear those ills we have than flee to others that we know not of."  Otherwise, why would anybody put up with the vagaries of life that he lists?

Much has been said about Hamlet's tragic flaw (a pre-processed concept, like Velveeta, IMO) being his indecision, that because he spends so much time thinking, his ability to act is retarded or paralyzed. I don't buy this. ( I do, however, like the concept that sometimes a downfall is ultimately brought on by one's strength rather than one's weakness.) My take on this is that Hamlet is a genius. As a genius you often look at situations and see more in them than the average person does. There are more factors at work, more things to consider than those apparent to the average individual, and, seeing them, you would be remiss not to take them into consideration. 

In the play we have two sons out to avenge their father's deaths. Laertes represents the average man. He gets suitably grieved, distraught, and eventually compromises his morals (which work, in the end, to compromise him) in pursuit of his very simple goal, which is to take revenge for the death of his father (and no more.). 

Hamlet, on the other hand, sees a lot more factors at work. He learns of his father's death from a ghost. But is it an honest ghost? Is it telling the truth, or is it the devil in disguise, enticing him toward damnation? ("I'll have more proof than this," he says, and he comes up with the play as a strategy for judging Claudius' guilt or innocence.) He has a chance to kill Claudius when he's at the confessional. But then he realizes that (according to church canon), Claudius will get a free ride to heaven this way--hardly just compensation for his misdeeds, so Hamlet decides to wait for a more appropriate time and punishment.

Laertes, on the other hand, would have hesitated over none of these things; my guess is that they wouldn't even have occurred to him. He does manage to kill Hamlet, but this action doesn't turn him into a hero.  Hamlet, on the other hand, feels obligated to avenge his father's death, but his true--inner-urged--mission in all this is to understand death (remember the soliloquy in the graveyard?) He struggles throughout the whole play to do so, and finally he has--somehow--made his peace with this issue.  When he returns to the palace just before the duel, his whole frame of mind has radically changed (a detail that's especially evident in Branagh's version.) In the end, he has succeeded, the bad guys are dead (granted, along with others and himself), but we still see him as heroic. Fortinbras (played admirably by Rufus Sewell) thinks so too, which why he orders the funeral with full honors.

Ophelia, to me, represents a counterpoint to Hamlet. Her life illustrates the danger of letting others do your thinking for you. She believes in Hamlet's love for her initially--she has gleaned this from her personal experience. Yet after her father tells her that Hamlet is only out for whatever he can get from her (with reinforcement from her brother Laertes), she believes him and goes along with his orders not to see or speak with Hamlet again. When she is set up to confront Hamlet for the benefit of Polonius/Claudius behind the arras, she is confused by Hamlet's continued affection for her. (Branagh's version is worth it for this scene alone--it's truly amazing.) Her eventual madness springs as much from her confusion/despair over Hamlet as it does from her father's death, IMO (in her 'mad' scene where she's reciting the rhymes, they have to do with death and being cheated by a lover.)

Hamlet's silent but unrelenting cry throughout the play is, "I need to know (or, in this case, understand.)" And he does gain that goal in the end. Yes, he dies, but eventually don't we all?

THE MULDER CONNECTION

Like Hamlet, Mulder is a highly intelligent person. He may hold beliefs we would more commonly attribute to a crackpot, but remember his background: Oxford, golden boy in the Violent Crimes Unit, etc. Mulder has great analytical ability and makes the critical leaps that usually end up solving cases. Hamlet is considered a little wacky, too, by observers as the play progresses.  What these two characters share most, I think, is intelligence and an overwhelming, driving need to understand. Hamlet feels the need to understand death, while Mulder is trying to comprehend and verify the existence of alien life. Both of them are willing and ready to dive into very dark, unfamiliar territory and wrestle with their own ignorance until it is vanquished, something most of us shy away from. This is precisely what makes them heroic; it is what draws us to them.

Who wants to think about death, for example?  Most of us would rather avoid it at all costs, but Hamlet wades right in there. That's courage. If you thought you'd seen aliens abduct your sister, what would you do? Most of us might convince ourselves it was just a dream or a delusion and try hard to forget it. But Mulder makes it his quest--to find his sister, to find the truth, to understand, even though it makes him a laughingstock, an object of ridicule. That's courage. It's why we don't just look at Mulder, laugh and change the channel.

Both men are insistent on grappling with their respective dilemmas until they truly understand them, regardless of personal risk or cost.  Both could be considered idealists rather than pragmatists.  Both are willing to use unconventional methods and are willing to risk the scorn of those around them.  Both men are on a personal quest and it can be argued that both become absorbed in those quests to their own danger.

Mulder also shares another interesting commonality with Hamlet: he must deal with a mother, his only remaining family who has sold out his father (in one way or another) to sleep with the enemy (Gertrude with Claudius, Teena with CSM.) This is a lot for a sincere, sensitive kid to take, and both Hamlet and Mulder fit this description. Both men refuse to be beaten by their circumstances, however, and press on with their quests to understand. They don't take the easy, convenient way out and they don't give up. This trait makes them noteworthy, and sets them apart from the masses.

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