Nikita Gupta

Long after the words are forgotten, the spectacle of the drama is remembered Discuss
this in relation to Hamlet.

Shakespeares play Hamlet is the story of Prince Hamlet and his journey as he deals
with the loss of his father, the King of Denmark. To add on to his grief the ghost of his
father tells him that he was murdered and the prince is left to reflect if avenging his
father is worth murdering a man for and philosophizes on life as a whole. However this
means that a lot of the play consists of Hamlet alone on stage conducting soliloquys,
which results in a lack of a visual spectacle, but this allows the focus of to be on the
words therefore meaning the spectacle of the play is the clever dialogue that
Shakespeare creates and opens the door for the audience to listen and contemplate the
true forms of human nature.

The insight of human nature in the play focuses on the seven deadly sins as defined by
Christian beliefs dating back to the 14
th
century. Throughout the play there are many
biblical references and allusions, which support this as well Hamlet who attends the
university where the protestant religion is born. Many of Hamlets reflections on life and
death refer to heaven and hell as well as a lot of praying that occurs during the play,
making religion important and present through the whole play. The play can be
categorized as a revenge tragedy at the ending of the play all of the central characters
are dead. As Aristotle states in his definition of a tragedy there needs to be some sort of
purification, which is often the death of the guilty party. In this play however any
character that commits one of these seven deadly sins dies in some way or the other
therefore leaving the play with multiple cathartic moments but therefore essentially
with a surplus of these moments in the play the impact is lost leaving the action of
murder and revenge with little effect and therefore passing the focus onto the phrases
that stand out while a character, usually Hamlet is reflecting.

One of the main sins, which the play partly revolves around, is greed. Claudius in what
can only be described as greed kills the late King and his brother off-screen before the
play starts leading to these immoral actions starting even before the play does. Claudius
confesses while praying the reasons for his actions were my crown, mine own ambition
and my queen resulting in him committing the murder of his brother for these things.
This initial greed assures his death later on in the play. However the fact that he was
killed before the play even begins and the fact that the audience doesnt see it leads us to
think that Shakespeare purposely left the action in the play as it was unimportant but
rather the characters responses to it were more essential to leave in. As well as greed
Claudius also partakes in lust for Gertrude, once his sister-in-law made wife and envy of
his brother, the King for having the title he was jealous of.

The play revolves around Hamlets inner conflicts on whether or not to kill Claudius and
revenge his father, which would fall under wrath. Hamlet being the classic renaissance
and philosopher figure of the play relies heavily on his mind and spends many
soliloquys reflecting on his situation and his actions. This conveys that a psychological
revenge on Claudius would be just as satisfying as physical one. Therefore when
Claudius mentally breaks down, for Hamlet he sees that as just as more important than a
physical revenge as right after Claudius breaks down Hamlet says so I am revenged
since Hamlet is a thinking modern man and this is what is deemed important for him.
Claudius very clearly speaks to the Gods to confess his sins rather than physically punish
himself, which Hamlet also finds peace in therefore reinforcing the concept of words
being more important than actions. However one might argue that at this point if he has
found peace why does he go on to murder Claudius. This is because he still has to take
action for his fathers sake but Hamlet is the protagonist of the play and ahead of his
Nikita Gupta
time in relation to thinking like a modern man and therefore the audience is more likely
to side with and sympathize with him leaving us to further believe that the words of this
play are more important.

Hamlet is his state of wrath and rage effects Gertrude and shows an insight to way
women are treated. Before knowing his father was murdered Hamlet mainly took out
his anger on Gertrude by stating frailty thy name is woman which uses when he thinks
his mother is weak and cruel for marrying so quickly after she became a widow. This is
one of the most famous lines from the play and is taken apart and interpreted in many
ways. From Hamlets eyes we think Gertrude is weak from her actions as she marries
quickly and shows less remorse than expected of a widow. However when we look at it
from Gertrudes point of views we see from her way of thinking shes quite intelligent,
more so than she is given credit for. Even though Hamlet constantly insults his mother, it
is the insight her words give to her character that allow her from the audiences
perspective to relate to her and not hate her. When Hamlet is perceived as mad by his
family and friends, they come up with the idea that it was his love for Ophelia that drove
him to this but Gertrude comes as the unheard voice of reason stating it is no other but
the main: his fathers death, and our oerhasty marriage which leads the audience to
know that shes aware of her situation and the impact it has on others. Gertrude is often
criticized for her marriage but empathising with the character would allow one to see
that she would have been making the best out of the situation. In a time when woman
had little to no say, keeping her position as queen allowed her to have some power or at
least a decent life. Parallels from this decision in her life can be made to iconic Daisy
Buchanan in The Great Gatsby for her line I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing
a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool which too acknowledges the hardships
of women and the sad truth that ignoring the injustice around you leaves you with a
more peaceful life as she too was just trying to make the best out of her situation. Again
here the spectacles of these moments do not lie within the actions of the characters but
rather the dialogues they share with other characters.

Hamlets soliloquys make up most of the play consequently meaning that without this
large portion of him speaking missing would result in a lot of the play gone as well.
Undeniably the most famous part of the play has to from one of Hamlets soliloquys in
which he questions life with To be or not to be and reflects that more people would kill
themselves if it werent for the uncertainty on what lies ahead. These striking words
make the audience reflect on life and death as well and do so more than any murder or
any other action could possibly do which makes these few words so important, timeless
and powerful.

Ophelia is the only other woman in the play and her character also supports the concept
of words over actions. Ophelia is mostly quiet throughout the play, following
instructions from the men in her life who control her. Therefore her lack of words leaves
nothing to be remembered. The most memorable thing about her is her suicide after
Hamlet insults her and claims he never loved her. This and the pressure from everyone
one else in her life lead her to kill herself resulting in Ophelia becoming the ultimate
victim with no apparent need to die as a result of the plot as well as being completely
innocent of everything. Her death is seen as poetic even and is often depicted in art,
most famously by Sir John Everett Millais. However idea of the quiet woman with no
strong opinions who is later romanticized for taking her own life can be seen as sexist
from a feminist point of view. Considering she didnt speak much and her death was the
most memorable thing about her it would be possible to see how one would believe that
she supports the original statement however the audience never sees her death.
Gertrude is the one who verbally relays the information of Ophelias death and the
Nikita Gupta
nature of it to the other characters in the play as well as the audience therefore the
imagery from Gertrudes words and the imagery brought out from them are the things
that are remembered, once again supporting that in Hamlet the words are remembered
more than the actions.

Overall the lack of visual spectacle means the focus lies on the words therefore the
spectacle is the dialogue. Additionally is timeless as it has themes apparent in human
nature throughout time resulting in Hamlet often being studied in school and
universities across the world. However more commonly it is studied as a written piece
rather than watched as a play, which, undeniably states the importance lies is the words
rather than the visual nevertheless the emotions and feelings that the words cause are
remembered the most.