I keep using words like "useful" and "beneficial", when discussing Shakespeare's writing. I did it again yesterday in fact, while arguing that his work is more concerned with the future than with the past. Well, here's the case in point: The scene which takes place just after Hamlet has killed Polonius and has entered into a long confrontation with his mother, is often bypassed intellectually because we've been told that it shows Hamlet at a low point and reveals his character flaws and similar nonsense, but it actually contains a brilliant insight. First, we have to remember that Hamlet has just told his mother that she is now married to her first husband's murderer, and that she must try to stay away from him as much as possible:

Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat

Of habits evil, is angel yet in this,

That to the use of actions fair and good

He likewise gives a frock or livery,

That aptly is put on.

(3.4)

Paraphrased, this means that human beings are very prone to "custom"(i.e. habit), and that our addictive personalities can either work for us, or against us. And if we get into good habits, we have a much better chance of reaching our potential - which I firmly believe is what Shakespeare was hoping to enable.

In the first scene of act four of Henry V, the English army face a near-impossible situation: They're sick, outnumbered, and isolated. And they face a battle against the entire army of France. The king greets two of his advisors, Gloucester and Bedford, with the following:

Gloucester, 'tis true that we are in great danger;

The greater therefore should our courage be.

Good morrow, brother Bedford. God Almighty!

There is some soul of goodness in things evil,

Would men observingly distil it out.

For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers,

Which is both healthful and good husbandry:

Besides, they are our outward consciences,

And preachers to us all, admonishing

That we should dress us fairly for our end.

Thus may we gather honey from the weed,

And make a moral of the devil himself.

The character of Henry V is a matter of considerable contention, and I myself have had conflicting opinions about him. (I'll be writing about some of them soon.) But these matters are beside today's point. It is the words and ideas that must be thought about, and the ones above are remarkable. At the center of the king's argument is an astonishing idea - that people and situations that we dislike are not only to be endured, they are necessary. The Beatles may have been partially wrong: We need love, certainly, but we may need its opposite as well, because many undertakings and accomplishments arise from what we normally term the negative emotions. What a thought is contained in lines 8 to 10! Our enemies function as "our outward consciences" and we make decisions to do our best in order to prove them wrong. Perhaps this concept can help to explain why people will divide themselves into factions for almost any reason. (Kurt Vonnegut once said that if religion, race and nationality weren't available, people would divide into groups based on the first letters in their names.) But seeing the biggest picture possible - which the greatest writers can help us to do - perhaps these divisions have "a soul of goodness" in them.