The Scheming Tom Sawyer and Hamlet

Every myth has its trickster character. In the Greek tradition, youve got Hermes. In Roman mythology, there is Mercurius. In many native American folklore, you have the coyote. And in the American literary tradition? Well, weve got Tom Sawyer. Technically, Mark Twains famous mischievous but lovable character is not a myth, but nonetheless, we nominate him as one of our cultures prank-pullers. Tom Sawyer is all about the schemes. He tricks the neighbor kids into painting the huge fence by pretending to do so is a rare and exciting honor. He fakes his own deathunintentionally, we might addbut still, the boy doesnt rush to stop his funeral and instead let it plays out. The boy even has some scheming game with the ladies, getting a little named Becky to kiss him and eventually taking punishments for her to win her affection. He even tricks his Aunt Polly into believing, temporarily, that hes psychic. The list of Toms various escapades could go on and onand thats why he revered as such an enjoyable character by countless readers. His schemes and pranks play a large part of that enjoyment because there is something pleasurable about seeing such an artful prank unfold. Granted, his pranks are often light-hearted and never unduly mean, but Toms charisma and his ability to manipulate the outcomes are what is remembered and loved about him. Successful schemes in literature and even in popular culture also evoke a certain sort of pleasure or excitement for its audience. Theres something about being in on an harmless joke and seeing the craftiness of another. Consider the George Clooney remake of Oceans 11another charismatic character who tricks people to get a girl and some cash. Mark Twain isolated this scheming charisma as part of a boyish childhood, done in all good fun. Even when its serious, its done for justice, especially when Tom and Huck start doing some reconnsiance work on the murderous Injun Joe to not only snatch his money but to turn the jerk into the proper authorities. However, schemes are not always fun and games. Another famous literary scheme is found in Hamlet, a far cry from Mark Twains type of territory. Shakespeares favorite existential Dane is indeed a schemer, a depressed and manic one, but a schemer nonetheless. Throughout the entire play, Hamlet puts on an antic disposition to find out clues about his fathers murder and to bewilder his family members and girlfriend so they dont realize what he knows. He even puts on a play symbolically called The Mousetrapthe famous play within a playthat retells his fathers murder (which his fathers ghost told him) in order to catch an image of his uncles murderous guilt. Critics largely note that Hamlet is an indecisive character whose mind stalls him from taking immediate action by having lengthy soliloquies about suicide and the meaning of life. We add that all that talking and no action might be Hamlet working out elaborate plans to reveal what he doesnt know about the rotten state of Denmark and how to confirm what he does. Clearly, hes no Tom Sawyer, but he employs similar tactics and tricks to ascertain the truth and to get what he wants. And in that part, many readers enjoy seeing Hamlet unveil his familys misdoings with his antics because were not only in on it but were also seeing justice be served, in a sense. Without any scheming, Hamlet would be a revengeful and short play. But instead, the Hamlet summary becomes this drawn-out game of cat and mousehence, The Mousetrapwhere Hamlet plays with his victims as if detective work was some sort of game, though a serious one. Its all in the plan.