Language in Hamlet and The Tempest

Those who have had the extenuating pleasure of reading the Early Modern English versions of his plays are probably aware that Shakespeare’s is a language-conscious drama.1 As the case might be, many are the critics who have perused his writings to spot those elements that have significantly contributed to making the Bard’s plays stand out from the rest. In this particular case, theorists David Crystal, Andrew Bradley, Jessica Kerr and Mark Forsyth have been consulted as the literary background for the topic of language in two of Shakespeare’s most acclaimed works: Hamlet and The Tempest. As it is expected, this paper will show how Shakespeare was conscious of the power language had on his texts and. To narrow down this extensive topic, it will be analysed the use of verse and prose, formal and informal registers, varying moods such as innocence and bitterness; and, finally, two of the figures of speech employed (pleonasms and periodic sentences).2

Since Shakespeare wrote most of his works in a mixture of both blank verse and prose, the distinction between the two is often revisited.3 Literary critic David Crystal explains how rhymed or blank verses are usually assigned to people of high-status who have been educated to move in the upper circles of society (Think on my Words 208), as it is the case in both Hamlet and The Tempest, where members of the court and other nobles speak in verse. For instance, in one of his soliloquies, King Claudius avows to the audience that he has indeed trespassed the law when he says: “O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; / It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t,— / A brother’s murder!” (Hamlet 3.3.35-37). Noticeably, the King speaks in iambic pentameter with the addition of feminine endings that allow the verse to have a conversational tone,4 this being a tool Shakespeare makes use of to flesh-out a character who has committed an unpardonable sin. Meanwhile, prose is mostly relegated to ordinary people,5 as it is seen in The Tempest where Trinculo, the King’s clown, says: “I did not give the lie.—Out o’your wits, and hearing too?—A pox o’ your bottle! this can sack and drinking do—A murrain on your monster, and the devil take your fingers!” (Tmp. 3.2.80-83). Both the use of prose and the informality of his speech, when he accuses and curses both Stephano and Caliban for their false imputations, give out the idea that the character in question belongs to a lower-class. To an extent, this was a relevant contrast since the viewers could not distinguish the social position of each character by means of the costumes they wore—as it is usually the case with contemporary theatre—, so they could only identify them through their speech.

However, as unsurprisingly as it may seem, Shakespeare has also bended this defined set of rules since there are occurrences where noblemen speak in prose and people of lower-social status in verse. A. C. Bradley asserts that, as a general rule, people whose state of mind is abnormal are assigned speeches in prose since “the regular rhythm of verse would be inappropriate where the mind is supposed to have lost its balance” (Shakespearean Tragedy 166). Hence why Ophelia’s derangement is marked by the use of prose:

There’s fennel for you, and columbines:—there’s rue for you; and here’s some for me:—we may call it herb-grace o’ Sundays:—O, you must wear your rue with a difference.—There’s a daisy:—I would give you some violets, but they wither’d all when my father died:—they say he made a good end,— (Hamlet 4.5.178-183)

With an unsound mind, Ophelia gives her brother Laertes flowers that represent her knowledge of the sinful ways of the King and Queen. According to Jessica Kerr in Shakespeare’s Flowers, “the flowers in Ophelia’s hands… were mentioned by Shakespeare because of their association in folklore with certain human qualities usually connected with faithless lovers” (49). Had she been in her senses, she probably would not have accused Claudius and Gertrude of infidelity, and it is because of her unstable mind that her speech switches to prose, despite of her noble linage. This reversal of the common use of verse and prose is also seen in The Tempest whenever Caliban speaks in verse: “You taught me language; and my profit on’t / Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you / For learning me your language” (Tmp. 1.2.61-63). Although he is seen as a monster and is treated like a slave, Caliban has learnt Prospero’s language so acutely that he is capable of expressing himself in a lyrical way,6 and he draws on this faculty to “curse” the one who has taught him verse.

Due to the the general contrast between blank verse and prose, variances in the formality of the speeches are also frequent. More often than not, the register in which noble characters converse is formal while unlettered characters speak in an unceremonious and colloquial way. For instance, while in Hamlet Horatio exclaims “Hail to your lordship”—in reference to the Prince—and calls himself his “poor servant” acknowledging his lower social status (Hamlet 1.2.158-161), others such as the grave-diggers are allotted informal, non-literary texts: “Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will not mend his pace with beating” (Hamlet 5.1.59, 60). While arguing  about whether Ophelia’s sudden death was the result of a pitiable accident or of wilful suicide, these grave-diggers use a type of everyday, informal jargon that they seem to be familiar with. Another case in point where formal and informal discourses are present is in The Tempest when Miranda addresses her predecessor. Showing her deepest respect for his persona, she calls him “my dearest father” (Tmp. 1.1.71), while Prospero taunts Caliban with names such as “tortoise” (Tmp. 1.2.215), “abhorred slave” (Tmp. 1.2.345) and “Hag-seed” (Tmp. 1.2.364), which demonstrate his acute loathing towards the one who tried to take his daughter’s honour (Tmp. 1.2.341).

A diversity of moods are also prevalent throughout both plays, innocence in the main female characters of the plays and bitterness in some of the males. With regards to Ophelia, Bradley mentions how she is like a child and it is “on this childlike nature and on Ophelia’s inexperience [that] everything depends” (Shakespearean Tragedy 66). As her innocence prevents her from grasping Hamlet’s convoluted and complex thoughts, she seeks the security his father brings as she cries “O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted” (Hamlet 2.1.73). Her fear comes from being oblivious of the reason behind Hamlet’s abrupt and vehement visit to her chambers—which her father wrongly attributes to unrequited love. In her innocence, not only is she unable to comprehend Hamlet’s mind, she is also blind to her father’s schemes and manipulations to gain the King’s favour.7 Another character whose love for her father renders her sightless of his true intentions and those of others is Miranda. When Prospero exclaims that Ferdinand is an “impostor” and “a Caliban” (Tmp. 1.2.475, 478), she reassures her beloved: “My father’s of a better nature, sir, / Than he appears by speech” (Tmp. 1.2.498, 499). Only in her gentle eyes does Prospero have “a better nature”, instead of being the vicious man he appears to be. This belief that people are better than they seem is also extended to the first few men she meets, of whom she says: “How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! / O brave new world, / That has such people in’t!” (Tmp. 5.1.177-179) The short time she has spent with these few people is enough for her to be amazed at their kindness for accepting her marriage to the Prince, and to assume that this “new world” in which she will soon live is mainly inhabited by “beauteous” humans.

As previously mentioned, another instance of a change in moods throughout the plays is seen in the bitterness of some of the male figures—Hamlet and Caliban being the main examples of this. With regards to the former, his soliloquies show the apprehensiveness he feels towards his mother’s prompt remarriage after his father’s death. “But two months dead!—nay, not so much, not two”, he says (Hamlet 1.2.139). Not two months had passed since King Hamlet’s death when his mother, towards whom his father had been “so loving” (Hamlet 1.2.141), shows “frailty” of character (Hamlet 1.2.147) by hastily wedding her own husband’s brother: “She married:—O, most wicked speed, to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (Hamlet 1.2.158, 159). With palpable discontent, Hamlet wonders how his own mother could display such disrespect towards the man who was “so loving” towards her. He can scarcely fathom why she would marry her brother-in-law—so hurriedly no less—if not due to a subjacent and aforethought liaison between the two. Bitter feelings only intensify with the revelations of the ghost and the posterior affirmations he attains when inspecting the dubious circumstances surrounding his father’s death. Similar feelings can be traced in Caliban, although the reasons differ. In Caliban’s case, he is resentful for the ill-treatment he receives from Prospero in spite of the love he once felt for the one who is now his master (Tmp. 1.2.341). Even though he cared to show him “all the qualities o’the isle, / The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile” (Tmp. 1.2.342, 343), Prospero still displaces him from his position as sole owner of the land, slaving him for his wicked deeds (Tmp. 1.2.350-354). For this reason he claims “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou takest from me” (Tmp. 1.2.334, 335). Since his mother had been the sole inhabitant of the island before Prospero’s arrival took place, he believes it is also his right as heir to rule the island at his pleasure. If only he possessed his mother’s abilities for the occult, he would have banished the sorcerer from his island long before the events of play begin. His inability to do so and his being a slave to the man he abhors increases his bitterness up to the very end.

Lastly, another indispensable instance where language plays a pivotal role in Shakespeare’s writings is in the use he makes of some of the figures of speech. In his book The Elements of Eloquence, Mark Forsyth affirms that for Shakespeare content was not nearly as important as form (58) and, for that very reason, he utilises figures such pleonasm and periodic sentences, to name just two. In the same soliloquy quoted above, Hamlet utters “As if increase of appetite had grown” (Hamlet 1.2.140), which is an example of pleonasm since it is redundant to say that an increase has grown.8 Once again, he repeats “To be, or not to be,—that is the question” where “that” is a needless determiner to grasp the meaning behind his words; it would have been much easier to say “To be, or not to be is the question”, but it probably would not have had the same impact on its readers. Once again, Mark Forsyth avers that Shakespeare deliberately wrote “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (Hamlet 1.2.133, 134) with the intention of strengthening the pleonasms, to emphasise that “the uses of this world” are no longer to his liking.

Although pleonasms are also present in The Tempest, it is interesting to notice how there are other figures of speech that also enrich this play. Another figure employed in The Tempest, as well as in Hamlet, is the periodic sentence, which is notorious for its length. Prospero says:

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve (4.1.150-153)

In this case, Shakespeare piles nouns9 producing an enthralling effect. One feels obliged to continue reading unto the very end to make sense of Prospero’s speech. A simplified version of his words would be along the lines of “the vision shall dissolve” (exemplifying how life is fugacious and ephemeral). The nouns he adds to this long phrase are all dispensable and irrelevant if not for rhetorics’ sake.

As was seen above, Shakespeare wrote his plays mindfully aware of the significant role of language and the entrancing effects it could have on the readers or viewers of the plays. Although Hamlet and The Tempest were written at different stages of his life, Shakespeare made use of the tools he had at his disposal to better his texts. In both plays he used verse, as was common in those days, intermingling it with prose to make it more conversational, while varying the formality of the registers to reach dissimilar audiences. Only two of the diverse moods of the plays could be mentioned, but their purpose is to show how round, elaborate and perplexing even subordinate characters like Ophelia and Miranda are. Not to mention the value added by the figures of speech of which only two were included in this paper. Certainly, Shakespeare mastered them well since they increase the fluidity and enrapturing experience of reading his texts.

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Endnotes

1. Dutton, Richard. A Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003. Print. Page 86. 2. Moglia, Patricia. “Hamlet”. Universidad de San Martín. 22 May 2018. PowerPoint file. Page 8. 3. Johnson, Mary. “Shakespeare’s Language”. Royal Shakespeare Company. Arts Council England. n.d. Web. 1 June 2018. Page 1. 4. Johnson, Mary. Ibidem. Page 1. 5. Bradley, Andrew. Shakespearean Tragedy. London: Macmillan and Co., 1919. Print. Page 166. 6. Dutton, Richard. Op. cit. Page 354. See note 1 for further details. 7. Bradley, Andrew. Op cit. Pages 65-67. For further details see note 5. 8. Bode, Christoph. Literature: An Introduction to Theory and Analysis. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017. Print. 9. Forsyth, Mark. The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase. New York: Berkley Books, 2013. E-book. Page 56.

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Works Cited

Bradley, Andrew. Shakespearean Tragedy. London: Macmillan and Co., 1919. Print. Page 166.

Bode, Christoph. Literature: An Introduction to Theory and Analysis. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017. Print.

Crystal, David. Think on my words. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Print.

Dutton, Richard. A Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003. Print

Forsyth, Mark. The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase. New York: Berkley Books, 2013. E-book.

Johnson, Mary. “Shakespeare’s Language”. Royal Shakespeare Company. Arts Council England. n.d. Web. 1 June 2018.  

Kerr, Jessica. Shakespeare’s Flowers. Illinois: Johnson Books, 1997. Google Book Search. Web. 1 June 2018. Page 49.  

Moglia, Patricia. “Hamlet”. May 2018. PowerPoint presentation.

Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet” in Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2007. Print.

Turner, W. Hamlet. Lucknow: Chand Publishing, 1963. Google Book Search. Web. 1 June 2018.

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