Hamlet: An Interpretation 3

In some ways, Hamlet can be seen as the first deconstructionist. He wants to rip off the hypocritical face of humanity and expose man for what is he along with woman. He is a genius, as many decontructionists are. They are critical geniuses, great critics of society and mankind. Let's look closely at the predecessors of decontructionism though. Nietzsche contracted syphilis because he thought that it would speed up his genius. Roland Barthes threw himself under a train, committing suicide. Heidegger taught Jews the methods of Fascism. Foucault contracted AIDS voluntarily. Does this not prove the existence of guilt in some senses?

Derrida applied cultural, intellectual torture to society, blaming everyone I suppose. Sonntag intellectually tortured the elite. Camille Paglia wants to create a multi-orgasmic metaculture. In American Psycho, deconstructionism is seen as causing psycho-killers, represented by Wall Street. Of course, ideas do not really create culture, experience does. Cruel, repetitive acts of horror... De Sadian phallicism which writers like Rikki Decornet tackle. Perhaps it is repetition compulsion which causes these acts.

However, who is to say that deconstructionists do not partake of this gulit and shame? What excluded them? Would many Jews have acted any differently than the Germans during Hitler's Era? If the Germans were going to shoot you if you did not partake in the "banality of evil," would you risk your life for others? If you did not join the military, your whole family may come into danger. Would you risk your family for another race? Yes, all human systems are imperfect but does not mean that all human systems must constantly be exposed as false and deconstructed? Do deconstructionists like making others "fear and tremble," tearing them down piece by piece and making them realize the guilt and shame of their actions? Then what excludes them from feeling the same way by another equally or more intelligent deconstructionist?

At the same time, deconstructionism has enabled individuals to be intensely flexible. Deconstructionists can learn very quickly and be very competent in many areas and excellent in many more areas. I often feel that I can be a very good Wall Street stockmarket analyst or an academic at Yale, Harvard, or even the Sorbonne. But I have my place, as Socrates may say. I must do my duty. And despite all my reservations about America, I love America perhaps because of deconstructionism?