Discussing Hamlets desire for vengeance.

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INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE PROFESORADO Nº4 “ÁNGEL CÁRCANO”

William Shakespeare’s

Hamlet

Marega, Paola

British Literature III

Lic. Raquel Varela

June 16, 2009

HAMLET   O my prophetic soul! My uncle?

GHOST   Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,

With witchcraft of his witS, with traitorous gifts –
O wicked wit and gifts that have the power
So to seduce – won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming virtuous queen.
O Hamlet, what a falling off was there,
From me whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine.
But virtue as it never will be moved,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So lust, though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.
But soft, methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursèd hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment, whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine,
And a most instant tetter barked about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatched:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head –
Oh horrible, oh horrible, most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damnèd incest.
But howsomever thou pursues this act
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge
To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once.
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And gins to pale his uneffectual fire.
Adieu, adieu, adieu. Remember me.                
Exit

HAMLET   O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?

And shall I couple hell? Oh fie! Hold, hold, my heart,
And you my sinews grow not instant old
But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee?
Ay thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter: yes, by heaven!
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling damnèd villain!
My tables – meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark.        [
Writing]
So uncle, there you are. Now to my word:
It is 'Adieu, adieu, remember me.'
I have sworn 't.

In the walls of Elsinore Castle, Hamlet is appalled at the revelation that his father has been murdered by Claudius, his own brother, and now King of Denmark, thus confirming the prince’s worst fears about his uncle –displayed in the utterance ‘O my prophetic soul!’ (Phillips, B., 2009: 9). Afterwards, adding to Hamlet’s shock, the phantom delivers a long speech, expressing first his disgust over Gertrude’s betrayal of his love through her incestuous marriage to Claudius, and then explaining how his brother murdered him by pouring poison into his ear while he was sleeping in the orchard. Hamlet Senior commands his son to seek revenge against Claudius for killing him and for corrupting Gertrude, but without harming his mother. As dawn is approaching, the ghost disappears. After that, the furious and startled prince, cursing both his mother and his uncle, swears to hold the memory of his father’s words above all else and to obey his petition.

This extract, containing the ghost’s startling revelation and his urgent demand that Hamlet exacts revenge on Claudius, is the pivotal event of the play, setting the main plot into motion (Phillips, B., 2009: 9). The ghost’s long, stirring speech has several sections. First, it states old Hamlet’s revulsion at Claudius and Gertrude’s incestuous wedlock. Next, it explains Claudius’ action in murdering the King –how he poured hebenon into his brother’s ear, together with a picturesque description of the effects of the poison in his body– and implying that he is now suffering in Purgatory because he was not given the chance to confess his sins before he died. As Coombs (2009: 5) states, “the fact that Claudius has killed his brother ‘with all (Old Hamlet’s) imperfections on (his) head’ makes the terrible crime of fratricide even worse”, especially for the Elizabethan audience, which, on the one hand, saw regicide and fratricide as the most heinous of crimes, and, on the other hand, was terrified at the lack of preparation for death (Andrews & Gibson, 2006: 48). Finally, the ghost’s talk presents his demand that Hamlet avenges his father’s death and restores order in Denmark. After this speech, the prince delivers a soliloquy in which he promises to remember the ghost and to fulfil his duty, also expressing his resentment towards his mother’s adulterous behaviour and his uncle’s smilingly deceptive appearance.

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Mystery and horror pervade the extract. The appearance of the ghost has a huge impact on both the characters and the audience, and his supernatural revelations of fratricidal regicide and adultery create a mystical and tense atmosphere of suspense and terror. Adding to that, Hamlet’s speech conveys a state of confusion, due to the fact that he does not know whether the ghost comes from Heaven or Hell, deepening the mysterious atmosphere (Brodwin, L., 1964: 129). On the other hand, Hamlet’s speech has such a negative, dark tone that it depicts his strong melancholy and pessimistic view of life (Smith, N., ...

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