THE PROPHET’S HAIR AND YORICK

SALMAN RUSHDIE (Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie)

● Born - 19 June 1947
● An Indian born British-American novelist
● Works often combines magical realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with
connections, disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western civilizations
typically set on Indian Sub-continent
● Major works - Midnight’s Children (1981), The Satanic Verses (1988)
● Booker prize for Midnight’s Children
● It is commonly thought that the central theme of each of his stories are drawn from his
personal experiences as an immigrant in England during the time of the Fatwas issued
against his life.
(Satanic Verses - against Islam - left to west - lived in seclusion)
● Rushdie tackles the issue of religious belief in a modern secular context

EAST, WEST
● Anthology of short stories (1994)
● A mosaic of stories about eastern and western civilizations, their aspirations and
challenges, and the failures of globalization.
● Stories grouped into three sections
○ East (He draws some of the materials from his memories of India before he
was forced to hide in the west)
○ West
○ East, West
● Contains a total of nine short stories.

THE PROPHET’S HAIR

Summary

The Prophet's hair is the last short story in the section named East. This story takes place in a
place called Srinagar during the winter. In the beginning we can see that a silver hair
belonging to the prophet Mohammed was stolen from the Hazratbal mosque in Kashmir. And
the city is thrown into a great disarray at the loss of this hair. Then one day our protagonist
Hashim finds a glass jar and it contains a silver strand of hair in it. This is the one belonging
to the prophet Mohammed. Then he realizes that this hair is the one which was stolen the
previous day from the Hazratbal mosque. Anyway he decides to keep it with him instead of
returning it to the mosque.It is because Hashim is a very greedy man. We can see that Hashim
is justifying his decision by saying that he is not a religious man at all, he is a man of this
world and he is considering the hair only as a secular object. But because of the curse of the
hair Hashim changed into a deeply religious man once he came into contact with the hair.
Now he is no more secular. For the first time in his life he begins to pray five times. He also
forced a deeply religious life upon his family too. But this religious change doesn't lead to a
moral improvement in Hashim. Instead he changed to a violent man. As a result he began to
insult his wife and children. He also admits his adultery with other women. At last his family
decides that they have to do something to make him normal. They also find that Hashim's
change is because of a curse of this silver hair. So in order to escape from the curse Hashim's
son. Atta decides that he will steal the hair from his father. Then Atta steals the hair and but
while returning it to the mosque he loses the jar through a hole in his pocket. Unfortunately
Hashim finds the hair again and he became very angry. Moreover in his anger Hashim
heavily beats his son Atta for stealing the hair. Now Huma has only one option. So Huma
decides that she has to steal the hair from her father using a professional thief. For this Huma
hires a person named Sheikh to steal the hair. Then Rushdie provides some more details about
this Sheikh, So, Sheikh is popularly known as the 'Thief of Thieves". He has four children,
but he crippled them at their birth. He did so because they would have a lifelong source of
high income. His wife is also a blind lady. That's all about Sheikh's family. So Huma hired
Sheikh to steal the hair and she offered him some jewelry for stealing the hair. So Sheikh
agreed and he reached Hashim's home to steal the hair. Atta is the one who first heard the
sound of thief. So he wakes up and he started screaming like theif theif. Actually Atta became
very panicked because he was already in a state of coma. It is because his father severely beat
him. Anyway Atta suddenly dies on the spot. However by hearing the scream of Atta their
mother also began to scream in agony. On hearing all these sounds Hashim wakes up.
Meanwhile Sheikh tried to hide from Hashim's sight. Hashim comes up with a sword and he
stabbed blindly. But accidentally it is Huma who got stabbed and she dies. At last Hashim
kills himself out of guilt. Their mother is only one who remains alive but she goes mad and
eventually committed into a mental asylum. Meanwhile Shiekh escapes with the hair.
However police catches him and shoots him and he dies. At last the hair is returned to the
mosque. Although the hair caused much difficulty to Hashim and his family, it brought a
miracle to Sheikh's family. Sheikh's wife got her sight back and his children are healed. But
they are upset because they could no longer beg.

● Last story in ‘East’ section

● Follows a man who goes insane after coming into possession of a stolen lock of hair
that is allegedly from the prophet Muhammed.
● Characters :
○ Hashim - Protagonist, money lender
○ Atta - Hashim’s Son
○ Huma - Hashim’s daughter
○ Hashim’s wife
○ Sheikh - The thief (‘thief of thieves’)
○ Sheikh’s wife (blind)
○ Sheikh’s children (crippled)
● Story takes place in Srinagar during a winter
● Magical realism - all those who come in possession of the hair face either miraculous
or disastrous things. Thus hair is considered a mysterious or magical thing.
● Although the hair caused much difficulty to Hashim and his family, it brought a
miracle to Sheikh’s family.
● Story begins with a flower vendor finding Atta’s bruised body.
● Rushdie tackles the issue of religious belief in a modern secular context.
● Story spans a week in the family life of Hashim
● Reader gets a taste of what is to happen in the first paragraph. It contains two long
sentences neatly divided into well executed clauses -
One setting the time and landscape
Other disclosing fatal injuries of Atta, the son and heir, incurred while in search of a
professional thief to steal.
● From the beginning, Rushdie maintains a fast pace - inserting flashback scenes and
self reflexive remarks
● Although the story is full of blood and carnage, it's shifting tone and emphasis on the
role of chance in the unfolding of events, often produces a comic effect.
● Religion, Morality and Patriarchy
○ Effects of hair overseeing a sense of morality conforming to the rules of
religion.
○ Atta goes to comma because to he tried to defy his father
○ Huma and mother killed because of their defiance of father’s authority
○ Hashim’s punishment for defying his own religion
○ Huma refuses to wear purdah
○ Hashim’s family couldn't bear the patriarchy descended upon them. Hence
Hashim and his family receive death and madness as punishment.
○ In case of Sheikh’s family - Only Sheikh harmed (bc of his actions)
Sons - devout followers of their lives - benefitted
○ Strictly rewards punishments and rewards depending on who follows the strict
codes of religion and who defies it.
○ One has to pay the price for one’s sins and one will be rewarded for following
the path provided
○ Hashim threatening wife to divorce if not adhere to his rules.

● THEMES

Money and religion

This theme deals with how money and religion affects people. It shows the two strong
forces in society that are money and religion and how they conflict with each other.
While most of the characters represent money and hypocrisy and the hair depicts
religion and faith. The story gives us an idea about the corrupting influence of money.
It is greed for money that led both Hashim and Sheikh to their death. It also gives us
an idea that if we use religion to meet our greedy needs we ultimately fail.

Hair- the Transforming Tool

In this story the hair is the object that changes the lives of almost all the characters.
Hashim was a businessman and loving husband before he came in contact with the
hair. But once he comes in contact with the hair he changes to a madman and begins
to ill-treat his wife and children. And when Atta tries to steal the relic he also gets
severely beaten. At last Huma hired a thief to steal the hair but it also fails and
ultimately it leads. to the death of Huma, Atta, Hashim and Sheikh. All of these
 characters go through a lot of suffering because of the presence of this hair. Sheikh's
wife and Children are the only characters who gain anything from the presence of
hair. Sheikh's wife's blindness is cured and the children are healed from their
disabilities..

Post Colonial Perspective

The usage of Indian diction and the setting of the story itself portrays
post-colonialism. Similar to many third world stories this story also brings out certain
cultural and social norms and views. Above all Rushdie depicts the brutality of certain
Indian traditions with wonderful irony. This brutality is shown through the character
of Sheikh Sin, who crippled his children at their birth itself. He did that because
Sheikh believes that his. children would have a lifelong source of income. He feels
that they can earn good money through the begging business.

Magical Realism
In this story we can find the workings of magical realism. We saw that all those who
come in possession with the hair would face either miraculous or disastrous things.
Thus we can consider the hair as a magical or mysterious thing. So we can say that
Rushdie is blending myth and fantasy in a world of reality.

YORICK

Summary

Yorick is the first short story in the section named west. In this story Hamlet is a child of only
seven years old unlike Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet is also portrayed as a lonely child. It is
mainly because of his parents' political affairs. Both of them are busy with their political
affairs. So as a child Hamlet is more attached to the clown Yorick and his wife Ophelia.
Hamlet considers both Yorick and Ophelia as his foster parents. These are some of the
background details regarding the story.
The story begins with a large feast. The feast is conducted by both Horwendillus and they are
conducting the feast because they hope that they can satisfy his territorial greed by satisfying
his belly. Horwendillus and Gertrude also hope that Fortinbras will never claim Denmark
back if they can satisfy his belly. That is why they are giving him such a feast. Then we come
to a scene where we can see that the young Hamlet is waiting for his mother. He is waiting to
get a kiss from his mother before getting into bed. From this scene itself it becomes clear that
Hamlet is very passionately attached to his mother..
Then One day Hamlet hides behind the arras in his mother's room and he accidentally
witnesses the love making scene between his parents. When he saw that, he thought that his
father is trying to kill his mother. Then suddenly he tried to save his mother from the murder.
However on seeing this his father got very angry at him and he punished him. Because of this
punishment, Hamlet planned to take revenge upon his father. Actually Hamlet decides to
avenge his father not only becoz of his father's punishment, but also becoz that love making
scene began to haunt him. For this he decides to use Yorick as his revenge tool. This means
this Hamlet decided to use Yorick to kill Horwendilllus. For that Hamlet tells Yorick that
Ophelia has an affair with Horwendilllus. Actually Hamlet is fooling Yorick to use him for
his revenge. As a result Yorick began to feel jealousy towards the king. At last Yorick kills
Horwendillus by pouring poison into his ears. Then we can see that Yorick is accusing
Ophelia because he misunderstands her and eventually she goes mad. Ophelia is at last dying
out of grief. After all these incidents Claudius finds that Yorick is the murderer of
Horwendillus and as a result Yorick is executed. Then Claudius married Gertrude and once
his mother got married to Claudius Hamlet began to feel jealousy towards Claudius. Hamlet
then began to accuse Claudius for the murder of his father. But at last Hamlet feels guilty for
his own crimes and he is committing suicide. That is he is killing himself by drinking the
poison. Then In the end, it is Old Fortinbras regains the kingdom of Denmark. Yorick's child
is the only one who remains alive till the end. So he began to wander the world, sowing his
seed, so that he believes that he can have offspring in far off lands. Maybe through this he
could claim different lands.

● First story in ‘West’ section

● Subversion of Shakespeare's Hamlet
● As suggested by the title, the short story focuses on the character of Yorick,the dead
court jester whose skull appears briefly in act 5 of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
● It gives different insight into Hamlet’s childhood, his character and the events that
preceded the tragedy
● Rushdie's tale redirects our attention from Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, and the Ghost
to the relationship between the court jester and the boy prince.
● A figure in both Hamlet and Tristram Shandy, Rushdie's Yorick plays the protagonist
of his own short story.
● Characters
○ Yorick - Court Jester in Hamlet’s palace
○ Hamlet - prince of Denmark
○ Horwendillus - father of Hamlet
○ Gertrude - Hamlet’s mother
○ Ophelia - Yorick’s wife
○ Claudius - Horwendillus’ brother, present husband of Gertrude
○ Fortinbras - King of Norway
● Rushdie connects seventeenth century Shakespeare to eighteenth century Laurence
Sterne to a postmodern author-narrator via the character of Yorick
● The opening paragraph disclose two main intertexts encoded in Velluminous history -
Shakespeare's eponymous play and Laurence Sterne’s novel Tristram Shandy
● Narrator reveals true identity once the story is completer, he too belong to Yorick’s
bloodline
● In devising his story, Rushdie rejects traditional linear model in favor of postmodern
fragmented metafictional narrative
● Yorick’s metafictional aspect is highlighted by a self referential narrator that addresses
the reader, makes digressions and explain his creative process throughout the story
● Drawing a literary affiliation between the long dead court jester from Hamlet and the
parson from Tristram Shandy, Rushdie challenges the hierarchy of literary and
cultural knowledge
● Unlike traditional postcolonial appropriations, the story does not give Yorick his own
voice. Instead of relinquishing narrative authority to Shakespeare's long dead
character, Rushdie employs a first-person, authorial persona to tell the tale.
● "Yorick" uses a frame narrative structure that allows Rushdie to employ diverse
writing strategies and styles: postmodernist fragmentation, dramatic scenography,
iambic pentameter, and self-referential narrativity all push against one another.
● The fragmentariness of Rushdie's narrative style subtly recalls the now-lost fragments
of various earlier texts (such as Thomas Kyd's so-called Ur-Hamlet) that may have
influenced Shakespeare's Hamlet. Readers familiar with the textual history of Hamlet
 know that the First Quarto, the Second Quarto, and the First Folio all offer different
versions of the play.

● THEMES

Revenge
Hamlet avenges his father by using Yorick. He tells Yorick that his wife has an affair
with the king . So that Yorick becomes jealous and he kills the king by pouring
poison. So Yorick is the person who accomplishes the revenge of Hamlet. Also Yorick
is accomplishing his own revenge by killing Horwendillus. Again in the end we can
see that Hamlet is also falsely accusing Claudius for murdering Horwendillus.

Madness
Madness is another theme. In this story we see that Yorick misunderstands Ophelia.
He thinks that his wife has an affair with the king. So he accuses her severely and
finally she goes mad. At last she dies out of grief. Hamlet is also falling into a state of
delirium. It is when he witnesses. the love making scene of his father and mother. He
mistakes it for a murder and this scene begins to haunt him and he falls into a state of
delirium. Actually he plots against his father in order to escape his mad mental state,

Oedipal Complex
We can apply the Oedipal Complex in this story. Actually Hamlet is very passionately
attached to his mother. In one of the scenes we can see that the young Hamlet is
eagerly waiting for his mother to get a kiss from her before sleep. And when he
witnesses the love making scene of his father and mother, he might have felt the
Oedipal hatred towards his father. Maybe it is this hatred that led him to take revenge
against his father. Also we can assume that Hamlet might have. felt the same oedipal
hatred towards Yorick as well. Because Yorick is his foster father. Maybe this is the
reason why Hamlet uses Yorick as his revenge tool, even though he had a good
relationship with Yorick,

Post colonial perspective

Yorick can be viewed as a hybrid version of Shakespeare Hamlet. Rushdie's tale
redirects our attention from Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude and the ghost to the
relationship between the court jester and boy prince. Also this short story can be seen
as a subversion of Shakespeare's tale. This is mainly because, character of Hamlet in
this story is presented as a subversion of Shakespeare's Hamlet. It is because Hamlet
is presented in all his negativity in Rushdie's story, while in Shakespeare, Hamlet was
a noble prince. Moreover we can see that the court jester is forming the central
character of this story, while he was only a minor character in Hamlet.