Every myth has its trickster character. In the Greek tradition, you have Hermes. In Roman mythology, there is Mercury. In many Native American folklore, you have the coyote. And in the American literary tradition? Well, we have Tom Sawyer.
Technically, Mark Twain’s famous mischievous yet lovable character isn’t a myth, but nonetheless, we nominate him as one of our culture’s prank pullers. Tom Sawyer is all about schematics. He tricks the neighboring kids into painting the huge fence by pretending he does it, it’s a rare and exciting honor. He fakes his own death, unintentionally we might add, but still, the boy isn’t quick to stop his funeral, instead letting it play out. The guy even has a game of intrigue with the ladies, making a little girl named Becky kiss him and eventually taking punishments for her to win her affections. He even tricks her Aunt Polly into thinking, temporarily, that he is psychic. The list of Tom’s various adventures could go on and on, which is why countless readers revere him as such a likable character.
His schemes and jokes play a big part in that enjoyment because there is something pleasurable about watching such a clever joke play out. Of course, his banter is often light-hearted and never unduly mean, but Tom’s charisma and his ability to manipulate outcomes is what is remembered and loved about him. Successful schemes in literature and even in popular culture also evoke a certain kind of pleasure or excitement for their audience. There’s something about participating in a harmless joke and seeing someone else’s cunning. Consider the new version of George Clooney from Ocean’s 11, another charismatic character who tricks people into getting a girl and some money. Mark Twain isolated this intriguing charisma as part of a youthful childhood, made up of lots of fun. Even when it’s serious, it’s done for justice, especially when Tom and Huck start doing reconnaissance work on murderer Injun Joe to not only take his money, but also turn the idiot into proper authorities.
However, the schemes are not always fun and games. Another famous literary scheme is found in Hamlet, a far cry from Mark Twain type of territory. Shakespeare’s favorite existential Dane is certainly a schemer, a depressed maniac, but a schemer nonetheless. Throughout the play, Hamlet displays a “mischievous disposition” to find clues to the murder of his father and to baffle his family members and his girlfriend from realizing what he knows. . He even puts on a play symbolically called The Mousetrap, the famous “play within a play”, which retells the murder of his father (as told to him by the ghost of his father) to capture a picture of his uncle’s murderous guilt.
Critics largely point out that Hamlet is an indecisive character whose mind prevents him from taking immediate action by having lengthy soliloquies about suicide and the meaning of life. We add that all that talk and no action could be Hamlet coming up with elaborate plans to reveal what he doesn’t know about the rotten state of Denmark and how to confirm what he does know. Clearly he’s not Tom Sawyer, but he employs similar tactics and tricks to determine the truth and get what he wants. And in that part, a lot of readers enjoy seeing Hamlet reveal the wrongdoing of his family with his pranks because not only are we involved, but we’re also seeing justice done, in a sense. Without intrigue, Hamlet would be a brief and vengeful play. But instead, the summary of Hamlet becomes this prolonged game of cat and mouse, hence The Mousetrap, where Hamlet plays with his victims as if detective work is some kind of game, albeit a serious one. It’s all in the plan.