Extract (Act 3, Scene 4, Line 8)

Themes:

• Hamlet’s language — acting more as a preacher than a son
  • Control
    • “you go not till I set you up a glass”
  • Judgement
    • “wicked tongue”
    • “have you eyes” x2
• Murder
• scene shows a change in Hamlet’s character
  • Caution to impulse
  • audience question of his morality — Hamlet doesn’t show any remorse
    • they are able to carry on the conversation while a dead man is in front of them
• Audience loss of faith in Hamlet
• Gertrude’s lack of control
  • Starts on the offensive, but hamlet seizes control — shows Hamlet’s verbal dexterity
  • “Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended
  • —> “Have you forgot me”

Structure:

• Who speaks more?

  • Gertrude can only respond,

    • She’s quite cold/unmotherly
      • uses “thou” (familiar pronoun) at the beginning, but then

    Lots and lots of questions

  • Hamlet finishes Gertrude’s metre

• Who is dominant in conversation

Discuss the following passage from Act 3 Scene 4, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects

Introduction

Only time G and H are alone, conversation dominated by Hamlet’s anger, sense of simmering violence, Gertrude’s passivity.

Unjustified murder undermines his moral role as a hero,

Hamlet’s control over the conversation

Hamlet driven by anger, threats and violence

Side of Hamlet we haven’t seen before — rash and impulsive

Audience would find this scene difficult with the tension from Incest, frantic atmosphere

He mirrors his mother’s language and stress pattern at the beginning

She uses familiar pronoun “thou”, he uses the accusative “you”

Lots of imperatives “go, go”, “you go not till I setup a class”

H twists her words to exercise his control

“you shall not budge”

Language of judgement and morality

Constant semantic field, full of judgement and damnation — which is interesting as he has just killed a man

Presents us with a moral dilemma

“I will set you up a glass” — judges her

Contradiction / we are unable to understand him, Shakespeare leaves it to us to reflect because gertrude dosen’t.

Line 48 - 11 syllables - OTT

Gertrude in contrast to Hamlet

Says very little in comparison,

G overwhelmd by H - we hve sympathy for her

Does not understand, — obliviousless to what is going on — she is bombarded

Only asking questions ‘?’

Gertrude’s innocence

‘!’ show her flailing trying to gain control