"Have more than you show,
speak less than you know." This quote by Shakespeare defines Hamlet to be
the most intelligent young man who knows how to manipulate those around him.
All of Shakespeare’s characters serve to be self-motivating and self-overhearing
characters. Hamlet, a Shakespearean character, is a smart, intelligent, wise,
and determined individual, who is passionate and unwavering about his duties
and decisions. But he struggles to bring about a practical response to his
decisions and thoughts. Hamlet’s speech constitutes locutionary, illocutionary,
and perlocutionary forces – theory of performativity conceived and constructed
by J.L. Austin. As described in The Performative Utterance in Hamlet by
Fredrik deBoer, Hamlet has “aesthetic power, descriptive power, artistic power”
in his language and speech. His soliloquies and dialogues are self-convincing
and self-reflecting, but they lack to evoke the drive in Hamlet to convert them
into action.
Hamlet,
being a maturely developed, having complex psychological abilities, and
transcending expectations of any teenager, is fettered by “cognitive
paralysis,” where he is incapable of bringing his mental assurances to physical
confirmation. “..That patient merit of the unworthy takes, when he himself might
his quietus make/with a bare bodkin?,” Hamlet clearly distinguishes between the
expectation from his father and the real-world result that he faces. He knows
he must kill Claudius to avenge his father’s death, but his inability to bring
about the expected action frustrates him. According to deBoer, Shakespeare has
an unstated requirement to use the theory of performativity and the method of
self-overhearing to reveal the inner personalities of his characters. If Hamlet
did not have soliloquies in the middle, it would be extremely difficult for the
readers to analyze and psychoanalyze Hamlet to understand his emotions,
internal and external struggle, and his distinct ability to make intact
decisions. Shakespeare’s technique to have Hamlet reveal his thoughts not as
thoughts but as spoken speech creates a sense of reality for the readers.
“So, uncle,
there you are. Now to my word; It is ‘Adieu, adieu! remember me.’ I have
sworn’t.” These words by Hamlet to his father reveal a sense of action to the
audience where the viewers are assured that Hamlet is completely certain to
kill Claudius. Every statement, as such, moves the plot forward and
characterizes him and others a little deeper. In this quote, his certainty
towards avenging his father’s death assures the viewers of Claudius being the
villain of Denmark. His ability to reflect on his “love” for Ophelia, respect
for his father, anger for his mother, and hatred for Claudius in his speech
proves Austin’s theory of performativity to be accurate. His speech clearly
conveying his emotions across, hatred towards Claudius, – locutionary force –
and through his emotions, he brings about a responsive action, he will kill
Claudius, – illocutionary force – and finally, him evoking feelings of sympathy
and anger from the readers – perlocutionary force. Shakespeare is capable of
using theory of performativity in all of Hamlet’s soliloquies, which are an act
of self-overhearing – where in each dialogue Hamlet and the readers realize one
unique quality of him every time.
The
Performative Utterance in Hamlet takes Hamlet and its analysis to a higher
level than just a superficial analysis of a “crazy, confused, and suicidal”
teenager, which by the way is the most illogical conclusions reached based on
reading the text only on the surface. He is a very smart teenager in ways that
he knows and plans his “plays” to make Claudius admit to his sinful deeds. It’s
extremely doubtful if a crazy and confused teenager would refuse to kill
Claudius when he was praying because Hamlet did not want to send him to heaven
– it’s an act of desire of pure revenge. Hence, his use of language to convey
his emotions (such as anger and frustration to his mother both before and after
killing Polonius, mistaking him to be Claudius) is immensely impacted by
performativity, as Hamlet is a character of words. With him having much more
than he shows, and speaks much less than he knows, he is definitely one of the
most fitting Shakespearean character and one of the best one yet!
