Humor or Dying Voice— Hamlet between Walter Benjamin and Carl Schmitt

In spite of the indeterminacy of Shakespeare's religiosity, Benjamin and Schmitt respectively identify his most famous protagonist Hamlet as Christian and as non-Christian. By virtue of this contradistinction, readers may gain a clear perspective of the difference between Benjamin's historico-philosophical project and Schmitt's theologico-political thinking. It is the play within the play in/of Hamlet from which Benjamin and Schmitt both take cues that reveal Hamlet's true color. For Benjamin, Hamlet is a plotter of contingency who yearns to suffer martyrdom by accident, whereas Schmitt sees Hamlet as a sovereign on the basis of the fact that Hamlet gives his “dying voice.” It is as if Benjamin made a retort to Schmitt when Benjamin speaks of the despot as the ideal subject of humor that is supposed to deactivate sovereignty. Through Hamlet, readers can observe that a confrontation between Benjamin and Schmitt emerged that may shed light on the issue of sovereignty

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