‘Just Saying’ Denotation & Pragmatics in Hamlet Miss L. Smith Thursday 16th March 2017

“That outfit looks quite tight “That outfit looks quite tight. Just saying” “I’m just saying I’d rather go and see a different film”

be No Fear Shakespeare! ‘To be or not to be: that is the question’ “There is no one version of Shakespeare. He is yours to interpret” (Ben Crystal, Actor) ‘To be or not to be: that is the question’ The question is: is it better to be alive or dead? to exist or live: Shakespeare's “To be or not to be” is the ultimate question. 2. to take place; happen; occur: The wedding was last week. 3. to occupy a place or position: The book is on the table. 4. to continue or remain as before: Let things be. 5. to belong; attend; befall: May good fortune be with you. 6. A prefix for the formation of verbs Become, befriend, belittle, beguile be

33 lines 7 thoughts 6 mid-line endings 3 questions 0 exclamations 7 8 9 10 11 12 x To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: aye, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. 33 lines 7 thoughts 6 mid-line endings 3 questions 0 exclamations 0 emotional words

33 lines 7 thoughts 6 mid-line endings 3 questions 0 exclamations 7 8 9 10 11 12 x To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: aye, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. 33 lines 7 thoughts 6 mid-line endings 3 questions 0 exclamations 0 emotional words

An idea not before articulated? 7 8 9 10 11 12 x To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: aye, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. 33 lines 7 thoughts 6 mid-line endings 3 questions 0 exclamations 0 emotional words An idea not before articulated? Excitement? Interruption? A realisation?

10 questions 6 exclamations 5 emotional words 7 8 9 10 11 12 x O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, A brother's murder. Pray can I not, Though inclination be as sharp as will: My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent; And, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both neglect. What if this cursed hand Were thicker than itself with brother's blood, Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy But to confront the visage of offence? And what's in prayer but this two-fold force, To be forestalled ere we come to fall, Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up; My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'? That cannot be; since I am still possess'd Of those effects for which I did the murder, My crown, mine own ambition and my queen. May one be pardon'd and retain the offence? In the corrupted currents of this world Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice, And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above; There is no shuffling, there the action lies In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd, Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, To give in evidence. What then? what rests? Try what repentance can: what can it not? Yet what can it when one can not repent? O wretched state! O bosom black as death! O limed soul, that, struggling to be free, Art more engaged! Help, angels! Make assay! Bow, stubborn knees; and, heart with strings of steel, Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe! All may be well. 37 lines 9 thoughts 12 mid-line endings 10 questions 6 exclamations 5 emotional words

Do I trust what he says he is? "Inwardness and Spectatorship in Early Modern England" (Katharine Maus) What seems? What is? Who is he? Do I trust what he says he is?

Meta-Theatre & Denotation Metatheatre, and the closely related term metadrama, describe aspects of a play that draw attention to its nature as drama / theatre, or to the circumstances of its performance. “for they are actions that a man might play” (Hamlet, 1.2) "Remember thee? / Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat / In this distracted globe." (Hamlet, 1.5).   “Come on, you hear this fellow in the cellarage” (Hamlet, 1.5) “this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire” (Hamlet, 2.2) “the play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King” (Hamlet, 2.2) “The lady doth protest too much methinks” (Gertrude, 3.2) “The Players indeed not only consider that Hamlet has insulted them, but that he is mad and wants to kill Claudius -- what else can they think of Hamlet's 'dozen or sixteen lines' which must be Lucianus' speech before he poisons the king?” Arthur McGee (1987) Act 3 Scene 4 – ‘Wilt thou murder me?’

Meta-Theatre: The Mousetrap Aeneas's Tale is a deliberately obvious contrivance and so functions to keep part of the imagination awake, as it were, to the powerful effects of a dream. Moreover, this microcosm of the theatrical moment reflects upon the overarching dynamic of theatre, compelling recognition of its simultaneous actor/character paradox. Hamlet the character uses the force of the Player's acting to berate himself for his own inaction. Here we see an ever more intricate spiral of self-reference. Hamlet's 'rogue and peasant slave' soliloquy (2.2.526-82) is of course no less a performance than the Player's Tale. Moreover, the close proximity and shared heightened style of the two speeches serve to reinforce their mutual status as performance. The words 'Now I am alone' (2.2.526) are ironic when addressed to a theatre full of people. With this phrase the actor who is playing Hamlet embarks upon his 'tale' for the audience just as the Player has performed the 'Tale' for him. (Theatre and Metatheatre in Hamlet, KATE FLAHERTY) Soliloquy – asking for audience engagement and participation A unique relationship between the individual and their spectators

Paul Prescott, University of Warwick The ‘ear’ as a motif in Hamlet not only reminds us of the primal scene of Claudius’ poisoning of King Hamlet but also suggests that our organs – our senses – are the victims of violence. The word HEAR is used 31 times in the entire play… In his lawless fit Behind the arras hearing something stir, Whips out his rapier, cries 'A rat, a rat!' And in this brainish apprehension kills The unseen good old man. Gertrude to Claudius (4.1) “ her speech is nothing, Yet the unshaped use of it doth move The hearers to collection” Gentleman to Gertrude (4.5) “Will the King hear this piece of work?” Hamlet to R&G (3.2) “Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed The very faculties of eyes and ears” Hamlet’s Soliloquy about the Player (2.2) “ How now, Ophelia? You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said. We heard it all.” Polonius to Ophelia (3.1)

Denoting ‘To Be’… To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? Hamlet spends the whole play struggling between the ambiguities of the multiple meanings of the verb "to act" "to do something, exert energy or force, to be employed or operative" and "to pretend or perform as an actor". This, then, is Hamlet's conflict: Hamlet, so often criticized, even by himself, for his inability to act that is, to "do something" is an expert in his ability to act that is, "to pretend or perform". When he decides to "put an antic disposition on" (1.5.179) he immerses himself in the role. Like any good actor he gets into costume and acts for Ophelia, as she reports to Polonius: Lord Hamlet, his doublet all unbraced, No hat upon his head, his stockings fouled, Ungartered and down-gyved to his ankle, Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, And with a look so piteous in purport As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors, he comes before me. (2.1.79-85) He is devastating in his irony as he acts the madman for Polonius, filling his ramblings with double meanings that even Polonius can not help but find intriguing: "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." (2.2.204-5). (Arlene Schulman, October 2005)

Denotation in Hamlet Double meanings Structure and Performance Meta-Theatre Sounds and Auditory Purpose

References http://elsinore.ucsc.edu/poison/PoisonNephew.html https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/SSE/article/viewFile/583/551 (Inwardness and Spectatorship in Early Modern England’, Katharine Maus) http://arlenestage.homestead.com/ShakespearesTheatreEssay1.html - Hamlet & Meta-Theatre (Arlene Schulman, October 2005) http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/ - Open Source Shakespeare – Search engine for patterns / quotes in all plays