Hamlet Essay

Rachel Nolan

Fourth Period  

November 4, 2013

Hamlet and Hamlet

Performative Utterance is something that makes Hamlet the play make sense to me.  Hamlet was a twisted play that particularly made me think of people’s actions and how they stick with you forever. Hamlet’s character spoke in ways that made self-overhearing relevant in the play.

            Through out Hamlet the characters would talk about different plans but did not always carry them out but on the other hand a lot of plans were executed during the play. Performative Utterance is a way of speaking but not always doing. This made it easier for me to understand actions in the play. The way that the characters in Hamlet spoke made me think about how important it is to pre filter your words before you say them. Small conversations and small action ended with people dead. That has to stick with people for a long time, killing a person is not a small act that goes away that is a weight that is almost never lifted off ones shoulders. The way Hamlet speaks constitutes action in the way he goes so deep into explanation and feeling. His emotion breaks through the text and becomes evident and makes the words speak in more ways than one. Hamlet is able to shit the mood of the play, which is exactly who is character is he is able to act on way and then immediately switch back to being sane. In doing this he is able to completely alter the plot, with just words and small actions he drives Claudius mad trying to figure him out.

Self-overhearing is a concept that personally freaks me out but is so true. While Hamlet speaks he can hear is plans out loud and it makes him wonder if they are good or not. This happens to us all the time. Things always sound better in our heads that they do when we say them aloud to other people. It also helps us understands and memorize things better. The more I hear something said the better I understand it, repetition makes me think more and more about it making it easier for me to wrap my head around. When I was trying to memorize “To be, or not to be” hearing myself say it out loud made it stick with me and made the memorization process easier for me.

            Hamlet is a play that will be a classic forever. The use of performative utterance makes it easier for the reader to understand why Hamlet and the other characters do and say the things they do. This play has themes that are meant to teach and to entertain at the same time. Backstabbing, death and love are all parts of Hamlet that make is so unforgettable