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Here, the Ghost claims that he's doomed to suffer in Purgatory (often imagined as a fiery place where souls had to 'purge' their sins before they could move on to heaven), until young Hamlet avenges his 'foul and most unnatural murder' by killing Claudius. Major problem alert: First, the doctrine of Purgatory doesn't say anything about murder helping Purgatorial souls get to heaven —prayers, sure, but not vengeance. Second, after the Reformation, Protestants rejected the idea of Purgatory as a 'Catholic superstition.'
You can check out our discussion of ' for more on the play's religious crisis, but here's the point: as a Protestant, Hamlet might see the ghost as just a wee bit suspicious. Act II, Scene ii Hamlet. HAMLET I do not knowWhy yet I live to say 'This thing's to do,'Sith I have cause, and will and strength, and meansTo do 't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:Witness this army of such mass and charge,Led by a delicate and tender prince,Whose spirit with divine ambition puffedMakes mouths at the invisible event,Exposing what is mortal and unsureTo all that fortune, death and danger dare,Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be greatIs not to stir without great argument,But greatly to find quarrel in a strawWhen honor's at the stake. How stand I, then,That have a father killed, a mother stained,Excitements of my reason and my blood,And let all sleep, while, to my shame, I seeThe imminent death of twenty thousand menThat, for a fantasy and trick of fameGo to their graves like beds, fight for a plotWhereon the numbers cannot try the cause,Which is not tomb enough and continentTo hide the slain? O, from this time forthMy thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!(4.4.46-69).
This is a major turning point for Hamlet. As he watches Fortinbras' army march across Denmark, he contemplates the fact that so many men will lose their lives fighting for an insignificant and tiny piece of territory, which is nothing more than an 'eggshell.' At the same time, Hamlet feels a sense of shame that he (a man who has a very good reason to fight), does nothing about the fact that his father has been 'kill'd' and his mother has been 'stain'd.' It is in this very moment that Hamlet's thoughts turn bloody as he sets a direct course for revenge.
Act IV, Scene v Laertes. Compared to Hamlet, Laertes is like a little vengeance roadrunner: when he learns that his father's dead, he returns from France immediately, storms the Danish castle, and promises that he'll be 'revenged.' But Claudius eventually convinces Laertes to pursue a more roundabout path to vengeance. The intricate plot to lure Hamlet into a 'friendly' duel recalls the kind of plotting (which results in more delay) that we've seen from young Hamlet. Do Claudius and Hamlet have more in common than they'd want to admit? Act IV, Scene vii Claudius. King Claudius begins by acknowledging Old King Hamlet's death and says it 'befitted' the 'whole kingdom' to mourn Old Hamlet's loss (emphasis on the past tense.) But, he also asserts that it is 'wise' for the 'whole kingdom' to move on quickly.
Self-interest ('remembrance of ourselves') and self-preservation are both far more important. Well, Claudius, as we will soon learn, is responsible for murdering Old King Hamlet so it's no wonder he wants to sweep the guy's life under the rug. Claudius has also helped himself to Old Hamlet's wife and crown so it's in his best interest if the kingdom moves on and forgets Old Hamlet. Pretty crafty, King Claudius.
QUEENThere on the pendent boughs her coronet weedsClamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke,When down her weedy trophies and herselfFell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,And mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up,Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,As one incapable of her own distressOr like a creature native and enduedUnto that element. But long it could not beTill that her garments, heavy with their drink,Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious layTo muddy death.(4.7.197-208).
Hamlet not only takes issue with his mother's quick remarriage after his father's death, he's also disgusted by the fact that Gertrude is guilty of 'incest.' (Some critics also speculate that Hamlet secretly wants to sleep with his mother, which you can read about in our ' of Hamlet.)But first, it's time for a history snack. In Shakespeare's time, incest included marrying your in-laws, not just your blood relatives. So, Claudius' marriage to Gertrude is a pretty big deal —they've broken the church's laws of affinity.And there's something more particular about the whole marrying-your-brother thing. Elizabeth I, the Queen of England at the time Hamlet was written, was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne of Boleyn (Henry's second wife).
Henry divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, on the grounds that she had originally been married to his (dead) older brother, Arthur. Henry asked the Catholic Church to grant a divorce on grounds that his marriage to Catherine was incestuous. By making such a big deal out of Gertrude's remarriage, Shakespeare might be doing his part to assure Queen Elizabeth that her mom's marriage was legitimate.
Act I, Scene iii Laertes. After Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine that Claudius has prepared forHamlet (does she know it's poisoned?), she tenderly wipes the sweat fromher son's brow.
This is a rather motherly thing to do, especially ifshe drinks the wine in order to save her son's life. After all ofHamlet's accusations that Gertrude is a selfish mother, Hamlet finallygets the thing that he seems to want the most —a doting mom who will paymore attention to her son than she does her husband. We love happyendings. QUEEN GERTRUDEWhy seems it so particular with thee?HAMLET'Seems,' madam? I know not 'seems.' 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,Nor customary suits of solemn black,Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,That can denote me truly. These indeed 'seem,'For they are actions that a man might play;But I have that within which passeth show,These but the trappings and the suits of woe.(1.2.78-89).
When Gertrude asks Hamlet why he 'seems' to be taking the death of his father so personally, he responds that no outward behavior on his part (wearing an 'inky cloak,' sighing, shedding tears, and so on) can 'show' what he truly feels inside. If the 'trappings' of grief are like a theatrical performance, as Hamlet suggests here, then performance is ultimately ineffective – an actor could never truly capture the kind of anguish Hamlet feels inside.
Of course, this inevitably draws our attention to the fact that Hamlet's lines are being spoken by a stage actor, which makes the entire passage seem self-conscious. Just how powerful is performance?
Is it possible for an actor to reproduce a feeling like grief in a realistic way? Act I, Scene v Hamlet. HAMLETI have heardThat guilty creatures sitting at a playHave, by the very cunning of the scene,Been struck so to the soul that presentlyThey have proclaimed their malefactions;For murder, though it have no tongue, will speakWith most miraculous organ. I'll have these playersPlay something like the murder of my fatherBefore mine uncle. I'll observe his looks;I'll tent him to the quick. If he but blench,I know my course. The spirit that I have seenMay be the devil, and the devil hath powerTo assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhapsOut of my weakness and my melancholy,As he is very potent with such spirits,Abuses me to damn me.
I'll have groundsMore relative than this. The play's the thingWherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.(2.2.617-634). Hamlet wants the traveling players to put on a play, so when King Claudius watches a murder take place on stage, his emotional response will reveal whether or not he's guilty of murdering Old King Hamlet.
This may sound a bit wacky to us, but Elizabethans believed that theater was a very powerful place. (If you've ever cried all the way through a Nicholas Sparks movie, you probably agree.)It could also be dangerous.
In 1601, the Earl of Essex's rebel faction asked Shakespeare's theater company to perform (a play in which Henry Bolingbroke usurps the throne from the corrupt King Richard II). The very next day, Essex stormed the queen's court. Okay, sure, he failed.
But the point is that the play seems to have gotten them riled up enough to actually move. HAMLETO, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!Is it not monstrous that this player here,But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,Could force his soul so to his own conceitThat from her working all his visage wanned,Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,A broken voice, and his whole function suitingWith forms to his conceit—and all for nothing!For Hecuba!What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,That he should weep for her? What would he doHad he the motive and the cue for passionThat I have?(2.2.577-589). If the player can conjure up such intensity and 'passion' for a fictional character, why can't Hamlet move himself to action against the man who killed his father? By the end of the passage, Hamlet tries to place himself in the position of this stage actor and wonders what the player would do if he had Hamlet's 'motive' and 'cue for passion' (that is, the knowledge that Claudius has killed his father). In other words, maybe we could all benefit from a few acting lessons.Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. HORATIONot from hismouth,Had it the ability of life to thank you.He never gave commandment for their death.But since, so jump upon this bloody question,You from the Polack wars, and you from England,Are here arrived, give order that these bodiesHigh on a stage be placed to the view,And let me speak to the yet unknowing worldHow these things came about.
So shall you hearOf carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,And, in this upshot, purposes mistookFall'n on th' inventors' heads. All this can ITruly deliver.(5.2.413-428). At this moment, after the final bloodbath, Horatio and Fortinbras call for the dead bodies to be placed 'high on a stage' to be viewed by the 'noblest' 'audience' while Horatio tells everybody what's gone down in Elsinore. If we think about it, Horatio and Fortinbras basically turn the royal court into a giant theater.
These actions suggest that theater can be a kind of tribute to the dead, like a funeral service). It can also be a place where memory is preserved indefinitely. Hamlet will never be forgotten —he'll live on as long as his story is told. (So, 400+ years and counting.). Sex. O God, God,How weary, stale, flat and unprofitableSeem to me all the uses of this world!Fie on 't! 'Tis an unweeded gardenThat grows to seed; things rank and gross in naturePossess it merely.
That it should come to this:But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two.So excellent a king; that was, to thisHyperion to a satyr; so loving to my motherThat he might not beteem the winds of heavenVisit her face too roughly. Heaven and Earth.Must I remember? Why, she would hang on himAs if increase of appetite had grownBy what it fed on. And yet, within a month(Let me not think on 't; frailty, thy name is woman!)She married. O, most wicked speed, to postWith such dexterity to incestuous sheets!It is not nor it cannot come to good.But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue.(1.2.136-150; 161-164). HAMLETThat it should come to this:But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two.So excellent a king, that was, to this,Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my motherThat he might not beteem the winds of heavenVisit her face too roughly. Heaven and Earth.Must I remember?
Why, she would hang on himAs if increase of appetite had grownBy what it fed on. And yet, within a month(Let me not think on 't; frailty, thy name is woman!)She married. O, most wicked speed, to postWith such dexterity to incestuous sheets!It is not nor it cannot come to good.But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.(1.2.141-150; 161-164).
LAERTESFear it, Ophelia; fear it, my dear sister,And keep you in the rear of your affection,Out of the shot and danger of desire.The chariest maid is prodigal enough,If she unmask her beauty to the moon.Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes.The canker galls the infants of the springToo oft before their buttons be disclosed,And in the morn and liquid dew of youth,Contagious blastments are most imminent.Be wary then, best safety lies in fear.Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.(1.3.37-48). To Hamlet, pregnancy is less the miracle of life than the miracle of death: given that Hamlet has just said 'dead dogs' and 'breed maggots' in the sun, it's obvious that Hamlet is equating Ophelia's body with 'carrion' (another word for road kill). This suggests that women's bodies are putrid and rotten: they give birth to dead things. But in a way, Hamlet's right: everything born dies. (Oh, he's also punning on the word 'sun,' which alludes to the big shiny thing in the sky and also to Hamlet, the 'son' of the dead king and the guy who would impregnate Ophelia with 'maggots.' ) Act III, Scene i Hamlet.
HAMLETGet thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be abreeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest,but yet I could accuse me of such things that itwere better my mother had not borne me: I amvery proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offencesat my beck than I have thoughts to put themin, imagination to give them shape, or time to actthem in. What should such fellows as I do crawlingbetween earth and heaven?
We are arrant knaves,all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.(3.1.131-140). Hamlet's dirty talk (which we translate into modern lingo in ') puts Ophelia in an impossible situation. When Hamlet makes lewd innuendos, Ophelia can't respond in a way that suggests she knows what he's talking about.
If she does, then it would suggest that she knows a little too much about sex. This could be as damaging to her reputation as, say, losing her virginity before marriage. Hamlet gets the power to control Ophelia's conversation, just like Polonius and Laertes have the power to control her body. Act III, Scene iv Hamlet.
HAMLETMother, for love of grace,Lay not that mattering unction to your soulThat not your trespass but my madness speaks.It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven,Repent what's past, avoid what is to come,And do not spread the compost on the weedsTo make them ranker.
Forgive me this my virtue,For in the fatness of these pursy timesVirtue itself of vice must pardon beg,Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.QUEEN GERTRUDEO Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain!(3.4.165-177). We're going to let super famous literary critic Stephen Greenblatt handle this one:in Hamlet in Purgatory, he argues that the Ghost tells us about the complexities of the 16th century debate about Purgatory. Praying for Purgatorial spirits, argues Greenblatt, was a important way for the living to remember and express grief for lost love ones, so, when the Anglican Church officially rejected the doctrine of Purgatory in 1563, it eliminated an important social and psychological function for the living—kind of like Claudius ordering Hamlet to stop grieving.
QUEEN GERTRUDEWhy seems it so particular with thee?HAMLET'Seems,' madam? I know not 'seems.' 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,Nor customary suits of solemn black,Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,Nor the dejected havior of the visage,Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,That can denote me truly. These indeed 'seem,'For they are actions that a man might play:But I have that within which passes show,These but the trappings and the suits of woe.(1.2.78-89).
From his very first scene, Hamlet sets himself up as someone who hates deception and values inner truth above all. Here, he insists that outward appearances (like his 'inky' black clothing, sighs, and tears – all the common markers of grief) can't possibly 'denote' what's truly inside him. In other words, Hamlet's saying that his anguish and grief over his father's death are far more intense than they appear to the outside world. He's also implying that Gertrude, Claudius, and the rest of the court are totally fake and disingenuous because they don't care about him or his feelings at all and are far too concerned with keeping up appearances. Act I, Scene iii Polonius.
LORD POLONIUSFrom this timeBe somewhat scanter of your maiden presence.Set your entreatments at a higher rateThan a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,Believe so much in him, that he is young,And with a larger tether may he walkThan may be given you. In few, Ophelia,Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers,Not of that dye which their investments show,But mere implorators of unholy suits,Breathing like sanctified and pious bawdsThe better to beguile. This is for all:I would not, in plain terms, from this time forthHave you so slander any moment leisureAs to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.Look to 't, I charge you. Come your ways.OPHELIAI shall obey, my lord.(1.3.129-145). After a lengthy speech about why Ophelia can't trust anything Hamlet says or promises (including any and all 'vows' of love), Polonius orders Ophelia to stop seeing Hamlet. As an unmarried daughter, Ophelia has no choice but to 'obey,' and she does.
We soon learn that Ophelia rejects all of Hamlet's letters and refuses to see him—until she gets used as bait to spy on Hamlet. Essentially, Ophelia is powerless —over her own body, over her relationships, over her activities, and even over her speech. It's no wonder that she cracks.
After Laertes warns his little sister to keep her legs closed, Ophelia points out the double standard at work in Laertes's advise. In other words, our girl's not afraid to tell her bro that he's got no room to talk about chastity, especially given that he's been running around like a 'puff'd and reckless libertine.' Ophelia's remarks here also demonstrate that she's not necessarily the wimp some literary critics paint her to be.
Here, she gives as good as she gets. So, why does she end up drowning in a brook?
LAERTES Then, if he says he lovesyou,It fits your wisdom so far to believe itAs he in his particular act and placeMay give his saying deed, which is no furtherThan the main voice of Denmark goes withal.Then weigh what loss your honor may sustainIf with too credent ear you list his songsOr lose your heart, or your chaste treasure openTo his unmaster'd importunity.Fear it, Ophelia; fear it, my dear sister,And keep you in the rear of your affection,Out of the shot and danger of desire.(1.3.27-39). Laertes tells her to guard her 'chaste treasure' —not because he's interested in chastity as a moral issue (this isn't about Promise Keepers), but because he believes Ophelia's virginity is literally valuable. It'll determine what kind of marriage offers she'll get, and what kind of family she—and he—can align themselves with.History Snack: In Shakespeare's day, there were plenty of handbooks on this matter, including Juan Vives's, which says a maid 'hath within her a treasure without comparison.' (Vives's handbook was translated from Latin and published in English in 1592.) Another handbook called (1603) says that a woman's virginity is 'the best portion, the greatest inheritance, and the most precious jewel' of her dowry. Why all this talk of treasure?
Well, in the 16th and 17th centuries, eldest sons inherited all their fathers' wealth, titles, and lands (this is called 'Primogeniture'). Marrying a virgin insured (theoretically) that a man's children were legitimate and that the family wealth could be passed on from generation to generation. So, literally, marrying a virgin was like insuring your fortune: just good business. Act II, Scene ii Hamlet.
This is seriously mean. Here, Hamlet tells Ophelia that women make husbands into 'monsters,' which is allusion to the idea that cuckolds (men whose wives cheated on them) grew horns.
In other words, he assumes that all women are unfaithful and all wives cheat, which is why he orders Ophelia to a 'nunnery' (a convent for unmarried women but also a slang term for 'brothel'). But why does he flip out like this? Does Hamlet know that Claudius and Polonius are using Ophelia as bait to eavesdrop? If so, does he view Ophelia's participation as a betrayal? Does Ophelia's seeming betrayal remind Hamlet of his mother's betrayal of his father? Act IV, Scene v Ophelia. We'll let literary critic Carol Thomas Neely handle this one: when Ophelia goes mad, her disturbed language sounds a lot like patriarchal oppression (the oppression of women by men).
Take this son: it's about the loss of a maiden's virginity (she's 'tumbled') and a broken promise of marriage. Just like girls in almost any historical era, she's stuck: if she doesn't have sex with the guy, he'll dump her for being a prude; if she does, he'll dump her for being—well, not a prude. Act IV, Scene vii Laertes. We start off with a bang. Or, considering that this is Hamlet we're talking about, maybe more like a: he's moaning about how depressed he is over his father's death and mom's remarriage, and wishing that his 'flesh' would 'melt'—i.e., that he'd die.History Snack!
Elizabethans believed the human body was made up of four basic elements, called humors: phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile. Hamlet seems to be suffering from what Elizabethans referred to as 'melancholy,' which was associated with too much 'black bile' in the body. This state led to lethargy, irritability, distorted imagination, and so on.
Basically, it sounds a lot like what we call 'clinical depression' today. But since this is 1600 rather than the 21st century, he can't just take some Abilify; he has to plot (and delay) a murderous revenge.Textual Note: Some modern editions of the play read 'sullied flesh' instead of 'solid flesh.'
This is because the first folio (published 1623) edition of the play (which reads 'solid') is slightly different than the first quarto (published 1603) edition, which reads 'sallied.' Modern editors who prefer the first quarto reading update the word 'sallied' to 'sullied,' as in 'stained.' Does it matter?
Sure it does. Some editors and literary critics prefer 'sullied' flesh because it suggests that Hamlet feels that he personally has been soiled, stained, or contaminated by his mother's incestuous relationship with his murderous uncle. Given how he seems to feel about sex, we'd buy that. Act I, Scene v Hamlet. After the Ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius has murdered his father, Hamlet begins to plan his next steps. Here, he warns his friends that he will put on an 'antic disposition'—i.e., pretend to be a madman. (See video below.) Doesn't this settle it?
He says he's going to pretend to be mad; ergo, he isn't actually mad. But keep in mind that (1) Hamlet says he's going to pretend to be mad; (2) Hamlet's already 'melancholy' at the beginning of the play; (3) Elizabethan ideas about 'madness' are unstable and they're different than modern notions of mental illness. As we'll see, the play itself offers multiple definitions of madness.This seems like a good time for a History Snack break. Here's something you might like to know: Shakespeare borrows the idea of feigned madness from one of the play's major sources, the story of 'Amleth,' a legendary Danish tale that dates back to at least the 9th century. In the source story, Amleth clearly pretends to be mad after his uncle kills his father and marries his mother, Gerutha. (The idea is that if the uncle believes Amleth has lost his mind, he won't suspect that Amleth knows the truth behind the murder. Amleth, then, will be safe from his murderous uncle.).
Elizabethans thought that love really could make a man sick and mentally ill. They called this state 'love melancholy.' Check out what a doctor, Bernard Gordon, had to say in Lilium Medicinae:The illness called heroes is melancholy anguish caused by love for a woman. The cause of this affliction lies in the corruption of the faculty to evaluate men forget all sense of proportion and common senseit can be defined as melancholy anguish. Here, Ophelia describes Hamlet as looking and acting just like a guy who's playing the stereotypical role of an unrequited lover. It's a textbook case of lovesickness. In fact, maybe too textbook—almost as if he's read the book, if you know what we mean.
Act II, Scene ii Hamlet. What's striking about this passage is the fact that Hamlet is the only one who can see and hear the Ghost when it appears in Gertrude's bedroom. (Earlier in the play, the castle guards and Horatio could see the spirit but Hamlet is the only one who has ever spoken with it.) So, what's going on here? What's changed? One possible explanation is that the Ghost chooses to appear only to Hamlet. (This kind of thing is common in the literature of the period.) Another possibility is that Hamlet's the only one who can see the Ghost here because it's a figment of his imagination, which would mean that Hamlet has broken down and has lost his mind.
Act IV, Scene i Claudius.