Men To Watch Out For Hamlet And Holden Caulfield Of Catcher In The Rye

Men to Watch Out For Hamlet and Holden Caulfield of Catcher in the Rye

by

Paul Thompson

It’s unlikely that William Shakespeare or J.D. Salinger intended for any of their literary works to serve as cautionary tales for young women entering the dating world, their two most famous works, Hamlet and The Catcher in the Rye, respectively, have done just that. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye are two of the worst boyfriends in all of literature. One is plagued by intense paranoia and indecision and the other is an emotionally stunted man-child who dismisses just about everyone he meets as a “phony.”

While it’s hard to objectively judge a couple’s relationship (especially if that couple is fictional), if one partner kills the other’s parent and the other partner decides to drown herself as a result (as is the case with Hamlet and Ophelia), it’s probably safe to say that the relationship is dysfunctional. Holden Caulfield is unable to maintain a functional relationship with just about anyone, let alone a woman, because his emotional development seems to have ceased the same day that his beloved brother Allie died.

It’s not that either of these men are not in pitiable positions. Hamlet is visited by his father s ghost, who tells him that his uncle (who is now married to Hamlet s mother; another issue entirely) is responsible for his death and insists that Hamlet seek revenge. Holden is never able to move past the tragic loss of his younger brother Allie, who died of leukemia when he was eleven and Holden was thirteen. These are the kinds of issues that are people in the dating world call “baggage. And while it’s not okay to judge people for the misfortune that has befallen them, neither Hamlet nor Holden handles his circumstances well.

Hamlet decides to go about avenging his father’s death by: acting crazy. No, seriously. He thinks deciding to act crazy is the best next move and tells his friends not to worry if they notice that he’s acting crazy, because it’s all part of it his master plan. Ophelia, however, knows none of this, and just thinks that the object of her affection has gone spontaneously mad, and not even in a funny way. Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia, famously demanding that she “get thee to a nunnery!”, implying insulting things about Ophelia’s honor, and breaking her heart. Though no one in the play knows for certain the circumstances surrounding Ophelia s drowning, it s strongly implied that Hamlet s bizarre behavior and unkind actions are to blame.

In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden s approach to dealing with the untimely loss of his brother is a little easier to understand. The desire to emotionally shut down and refuse to make any more close personal ties in the face of that kind of pain is more relatable than Hamlet s, but both men hurt and alienate the people who care about them and, as a result, experience an even more profound loneliness themselves.

Shakespeare intended for Hamlet to be a tragedy, but it s hard to know if that s what Salinger had in mind for The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield is often referred to as an anti-hero, but the argument could be made that he s a tragic hero as well. Though his story does not end in a bloodbath like Hamlet s, it s hard to imagine a happy future for Holden unless he s willing to drastically change his behavior, which Salinger leads the reader to believe is highly unlikely.

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