Hamlet Essay

Hamlet Essay

      There are many things that can be interpreted by Hamlet the character and Hamlet the play. By evaluating these two main factors, we are able to evaluate the impact of performative utterance on Hamlet and our own sense of self. Through this play we see how the way Hamlet speaks constitutes action in itself, how it impacts the characters and the plot, compares with our own “self-overhearing”, and how the way we reflect on our own experience creates a sense of memory, expectation, and real-world results.

      According to its original conception, performative utterance is a sentence which does something in the world rather than describing something about it. For example, the statement "I now pronounce you man and wife," is not true or false but instead 'happy' or 'unhappy', depending on whether or not it is performed properly. In Hamlet the play, Hamlet the character makes a vow to the ghost. Throughout the play he is haunted by that vow he has made and it drives him to fulfill it. Driving him mad with revenge. When we make up our minds to do something, we either do it because we know its what we have to do, or we complain and beat ourselves up at the fact that we failed to carry out our vow in our own sense of self.

       In the play, the way Hamlet speaks constitutes action in itself. His long, drawn out, self- debating speeches give the readers a sense of what he is feeling. We are able to see his thought process and inner most desirable or undesirable feelings. The way Hamlet thinks is action in itself because he is making up his mind on what he wants to do whether he has done it yet or not.
The way he speaks impacts the plot because we know things that the other characters do not. We are able to be a part of Hamlet’s thought process, impacting the plot and other characters. The things Hamlet says to the other characters is very precise and has a purpose. He is knowledgeable in his decision of revenge and wants to carry it out effectively.
     
      Our ”self-overhearing” is essentially our decision making process. We all have our own ways of making decisions and carrying them out. In Hamlet, Hamlet has a lot of intricate and tough decisions to make. He is battling with the decision of death, and holding in a massive grudge of revenge against Claudius. We are able to see how he overcomes his struggles throughout the novel, and through his thought processes. The way he speaks to Claudius is very intricate and witty, and he is careful not to give his plans of his revenge away.
In the end, we all have our own ways of reflecting our own self-overhearing. Creating a sense of memory, expectation, and real world results in our own lives. We all face our own challenges in different ways. Performative utterance is something we do not create intentionally, it is just a part of what we do, and the decisions we make. Yet, what you do with those decisions and thoughts, is ultimately up to you.