Hamlet Language

Hamlet language stuff

Blank Verse,

Although Shakespeare is written primarily in blank verse, the meter that is the closest meter to the rhythm of natural English speech. Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter lines. (An iambic foot is composed of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Iambic pentameter is five of these feet in a line of poetry. It is a dah-DUM dah-DUM dah-DUM dah-DUM dah-DUM rhythm.)

In order to preserve the meter in a regular line of iambic pentameter, sometimes an extra syllable is needed to complete the line. This is sometimes accomplished by using an accent over the “ed” on a past tense verb, meaning that the “ed” must be pronounced as a separate syllable. On the other hand, a line that might have too many syllables can be shortened by the use of an elision, a contraction of two words or syllables into one syllable, as in “I’ll” instead of “I will” or “o’er” for “over,” “ne’er” for “never,” “’tis” for “it is,” and “’twill” for “it will.”

Regular iambic lines indicate that the character is in control. The metric stress tells the actors which words to emphasize. The word at the end of each line is important and should be stressed, even briefly in an enjambed line (See discussion of the enjambed line that follows). The actor has to emphasize the last word in each line to have it make sense. The line should not be pitched down or swallowed, or the word will not be heard by the audience. The end of the line should be lifted. This indicates metrically where the line ends.

However, the meter is not always regular. Variations in iambic pentameter are used for dramatic effect. There are rhythm breaks or irregular lines where a stressed word is placed in a normally unstressed position or an extra syllable is added. Words that break the meter are important words and must be emphasized. They give clues as to how the line should be read. According to Sean McEvoy in Shakespeare: The Basics, if every line were regular, the result would be monotonous. Shakespeare varies the metric form to produce specific effects (41-42).
Common variants to the iambic foot include the trochee, a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, and a spondee, two stressed syllables that comprise one foot. Students need to be aware of patterns that may be caused by variants, especially the use of the feminine ending. A feminine ending is a weak extra syllable (an eleventh syllable) added to an iambic pentameter line, as in Hamlet’s soliloquy, which begins, “To be, or not to be—that is the question.” (The stressed syllables are in bold. Some actors, however, stress “that” instead of “is,” making that one foot a trochaic foot.) The “-tion” is an unstressed syllable or feminine ending. The use of the feminine ending forms a pattern in this speech, denoting the uncertainty of Hamlet. Once he has made up his mind to live, the speech reverts to regular iambic lines. He is now in control.

A shared line is a regular metric line that is shared by two or possibly three actors. The line must be spoken without pauses or breaths between the actors’ lines. These shared lines create a rhythm. This rhythm may show tension in the scene, as with the lines shared between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth after the murder of Duncan (II.2).

Another variant of the normal iambic pentameter line is the use of the short line. A short line is an iambic line that has fewer than five metric feet. The actor must “fill” missing feet in the line with an action or a reaction. In Hamlet, the Ghost’s line, “I am thy father’s spirit,” is two stresses or three syllables short. This dramatic pause is for reaction time for Hamlet (I.5.9-20). Additional examples from this same scene include lines 46- 48:

Ghost: The serpent that did sting thy father’s life
Now wears his crown.

Hamlet: O, my prophetic soul! My uncle!

The short line by the Ghost allows Hamlet time to register what the Ghost is saying and react to this realization.

An additional variation of the iambic pentameter line is the long line. A long line is a six-foot line (hexameter). If there is a caesura or pause (discussed in a later paragraph) after the third stress, it is called an Alexandrine. The use of the Alexandrine is to make the line symmetrical, to give it balance. It may be that the character is emotionally overloaded and can’t express his or her emotions adequately in a five-foot line. In Hamlet, Claudius’ guilt and loss of control is seen in his speech to Hamlet in Act I, scene 2, lines 90-121. The speech is made up primarily of eleven and twelve syllable lines. Claudius is talking about the death of his brother, Hamlet’s father, and Hamlet’s obsessive grief. Hamlet’s dislike of his uncle has been made plain, so Claudius tries to bluster his way through this scene that is being played out in front of the entire court. He is trying to gain control over Hamlet as well as his own emotions or guilt, and, in doing so, he goes overboard. This lack of control and frustration is seen through the use of lines with feminine endings and the use of the Alexandrine or long line.


Other terms relate directly to the pauses and breaths taken in a speech. Anend-stop line is a line in which both the metric and grammatical endings occur at the end of the line. There is usually a period or semicolon. There should be a full pause and possibly a breath. If the sense of a line carries over to the next line, it is an enjambed line. With an enjambed line, there should be only a slight pause after the last word in the line is emphasized. McEvoy adds that a colon is used as an emphatic pause and capital letters were used for both proper names and for words that were particularly important in the context of the speech and should be stressed (41). Another place for a pause occurs at a caesura, a break or sense pause in the middle of a line of poetry, often at the end of the sense meaning of an enjambed line. Although an actor should pause at a caesura, short breaths should be taken only when planned and necessary. A caesura allows words preceding it to “sink in,” places focus on the word or phrase following it, slows the language down, or separates phrases and allows the listener to hear and digest them one at a time (Van Tassel, 28).

Although blank verse is supposed to be unrhymed, Shakespeare does userhyme in his plays, more often in his early plays like The Taming of the Shrew than in the later plays like Hamlet. Rhyme can sometimes be used for comic effect or to create a light-hearted or teasing tone. It can be also be used to show a bantering or challenging tone. In addition, rhyme can be used seriously. Regardless of the purpose of the rhyme, the actor must play to the rhyme and emphasize it. It is there for a purpose. Rhymed couplets are also used to indicate the end of scenes or to mark a passage as distinctive from the rest of the verse that surrounded it (McEvoy, 49-50).

Prose is also used in Shakespeare’s plays. Prose was often used for letters and proclamations, low status characters, an expression of madness, or comedy (Gibson, Acting Shakespeare, 71). However, Shakespearean prose was very lyrical and rhythmic. Shakespeare made use of imagery, repetition, antithesis, and parallelism in his prose. It was not merely everyday speech.

As Shakespeare matured as a playwright, he used more prose for serious speeches. Switching from verse to prose may indicate that a character is losing control or becoming confused, but not necessarily. An example of prose that is used seriously is in Hamlet’s exchange with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the “What a piece of work is man” speech (II.2.317-334). Hamlet is speaking the language of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but his meaning in this serious speech is over their heads.

The change from verse to prose in a scene is abrupt and sets the speech apart from what came before (Epstein, 218). This is seen especially in Hamlet. Hamlet speaks in prose to Polonius, to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to the Players, to Osric, to Claudius, and to Ophelia. In Act III, scene 1, Hamlet changes from the verse of his “To be, or not to be” speech to prose when he talks to Ophelia. They both speak in prose in this dialogue. For Hamlet, this is typical of his “play acting.” When Hamlet exits, Ophelia goes back to speaking in verse with her father and Claudius, as she laments Hamlet’s “insanity.” Her lyrical speech is a side of her that is never seen again in the play. This is really her only opportunity to reveal her true self, a self not allowed in her society where women were considered property.

Antithesis is an additional characteristic of Shakespeare’s verse. Shakespeare used antithesis, or the opposition of words or phrases, to heighten meaning and indicate important words and concepts (Van Tassel, 64-68). Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” speech is one example. Another example of antithesis and parallelism in Hamlet is Claudius’ line to the court, “With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage” (I.2.12). The use of the Alexandrine here may also show the guilt that the new king feels about his brother’s murder and his (Claudius’) hasty marriage with his brother’s widow.

The use of repetition is also an important aspect of Shakespeare’s plays. Some examples from Hamlet include the first lines of two of Hamlet’s soliloquies, “To be, or not to be” and “O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt.” The Ghost speaks in sets of three, as in the line, “Oh horrible, oh horrible, most horrible.” There is also the repetition by the Ghost and Hamlet of the word “remember,” as in “Remember me” or “Remember thee” (I.5.98, 102, 104, 118).

A final term to discuss before embarking on the study of Hamlet is his use ofpuns. The actual discussion of the meaning of various puns should take place when reading and discussing the play. For example, the following scene from Hamlet shows puns on the words “sun” and “son” and on “kin” and “kind”:
King: Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine,
And thy best graces spend it at thy will.—
But now my cousin Hamlet and my son—
Hamlet: [Aside] A little more than kin and less than kind.
King: How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
Hamlet: No so, my lord; I am too much in the sun.
Gertrude: Good Hamlet, cast thy knighted color off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. (I.2.64-71)

The point of the exchange is that it lets the audience see immediately that Hamlet is not fond of his uncle. He is now literally Claudius’ stepson and nephew, more kin than he wished! In doing this scene with the students, it is important to discuss whether line 67 is said as an aside to the audience. It is not listed as an aside in the first and second Quartos or in the first Folio. The Riverside Shakespeare lists it as an aside. What difference would this make? Is Hamlet speaking to the audience in a conspiratorial tone or to the whole court in a bold tone? Is there bitterness in his words or sarcasm? Does Gertrude intervene to keep Claudius from getting too upset? (McEvoy, 80)

Other examples of the use of puns in Hamlet include the pun on “nunnery” in Hamlet’s speech with Ophelia (III.1) and the exchange between Hamlet and Polonius before the play-within-the-play:
Polonius: I did enact Julius Caesar. I was killed I’ th’ Capitol. Brutus killed me.
Hamlet: It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there (III.2.109-111).
Hamlet’s use of puns continues in this scene in his sexual references to Ophelia and in the exchange with Claudius in which Hamlet comments that the actors “do but jest, poison in jest” in a reference to the poisoning of Hamlet’s father by Claudius (III.2.257).