TO BE OR NOT TO BE...WHATEVER

(5 of 5)

Hamlet endures as a character because he is the embodiment of the unsatisfied soul. He is irritating and threatening, a scold, a drag. He is the relentless accuser and reproacher, who cries, "O shame! Where is thy blush?" But he is also part of the people he confronts; he is that "noble and most sovereign reason" within them too, which is why his unnerving presence among them eventually overthrows the status quo and winds up revolutionizing their world.

The status quo in 1996 was supposed to effect a sort of second Era of Good Feelings--a replication of the rich and peaceful eight years of James Monroe's presidency (1816-24). John Quincy Adams, who succeeded Monroe, referred to the era as "the golden age of this republic."

As history proved, the surface self-satisfaction of those years turned out to be just that. Agrarians, like today's lower middle class and working poor, would soon demand greater access to government, complain of the too-close relationship between government and business, rail against monopolies, seek improved public education and generally strive to become a more integral part of America. By listening to their grievances, Andrew Jackson, beaten badly in the election of 1824, was hoisted to the White House four years later on nothing more specific than his boisterous belief in the dignity of the ordinary citizen.

In this second Era of Good Feelings, who knew what player might be waiting in the wings? In an interview with pbs's Jim Lehrer, Newt Gingrich, rising from the dead and re-elected House majority leader, compared himself to Jackson.

For the present, America in 1996 was the answer to every college essay question: it was not what it appeared. Pleased to be living more comfortably than it had in quite a while, it was, under the skin, uncomfortable with its comfort. It was not itself. In spite of the evident prosperity, most people understood there was something rotten in Denmark. Whatever. Along with moderate politics went moderate will, moderate standards of conduct, moderate rage. The country might turn its head away from certain unpleasant, blatant facts, but it knew that it had done nothing about poverty, nothing about persistent racism, nothing for education, for its homeless or for its deserted children, rich and poor. Neither had it indicated that it would use its newly unrivaled power to keep mass murder down in the rest of the world.

It needed Hamlet. It needed a noble person for an ignoble time--someone who kept his eyes on the significant, honorable and right. What was missing in 1996 was not the shimmering personality or the magnificent event or the spectacular work of art; it was the old absurd and necessary dream of the perfectible society. In its place was merely the dream of escape, which Hamlet had too. The difference was that Hamlet made his escape only after he achieved his purpose.

The year ended with NASA planning a manned flight to Mars. People looked forward to it.