- I. A sceptical meditation on human destiny. - II. Shakespeare's

1) Dramatic progression of the monologue: Dramatizing Thought. performed on a stage, not read out of a book of philosophy. Two turning-points : a) slow-down ...
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- I. A sceptical meditation on human destiny. - II. Shakespeare’s predicament of the tragic hero, - III. Hamlet’s use of Renaissance logic and rhetoric

I. A SCEPTICAL MEDITATION ON HUMAN DESTINY.

1)

A universal meditation on human destiny

use of shifters and determination the voice is more universal: “in the mind [my mind] .. - to say we end [ 1st person plural] ... flesh is heir to [ = universality of the determination] ... we have shuffled off [ again 1st person plural] ... office... patient merit [again universality of the determination]. “the oppressors” stands for all oppressors, “the proud man” stands for all proud men. * 3rd person singular : “For who ... he himself ...”. “you” in “Soft you” : ambiguous and anonymous.

(A) The problem is stated (B) A major objection is raised against suicide (C) Conclusion mankind has so courage 2) Hamlet as a surrogate for Renaissance views on mankind a sort of half-moral, half-metaphysical reflection on human life. But, we might expect it to have a dramatic function.

II. THE DRAMATIC FUNCTION OF THE MONOLOGUE: a new perspective of the tragic hero 1) Dramatic progression of the monologue: Dramatizing Thought. performed on a stage, not read out of a book of philosophy Two turning-points : a) slow-down and suspense : repetition of the pair of allegedly equivalent terms ‘to die, to sleep”, ll. 61 & 65. second repetition of “Sleep” at the beginning of l. 66 : sharp turnabout: “Ay, there’s the rub” b) two long rhetorical questions of the second part, each starting with “Who could bear.” (ll. 71 & 77), a sudden conclusion is brought: “conscience does make cowards of us” (l. 84)

2) Hamlet discloses to the audience his predicament as a tragic hero Is “to be or not to be” a true alternative? another much more frightening alternative Questioning Divine Providence Hamlet speaks of “Fortune” or of “Fate” not of God himself. - The absence of God: reconsidering Divine Providence 3) Three solutions / All dead ends => The tragic trap Each of these solutions : a source of anguish

III. BODY AND MIND / INTELLECT AND WILL:THE LOGIC AND RHETORIC OF THE MONOLOGUE 1) Disjunctive logic. - “To be” is affirmative, but passive “suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, ...” - “Not to be” is negative, but active: “take arms” => “consummation” => danger: “to be in another place”. This logic is reinforced by..

2) A Powerful rhetoric, itself articulated in the beautiful poetry of the blank verse. And, by opposing end them? To die, to sleep–” / / x / [ x / x ] x / x / => The initial spondee : slow-down before the conclusion of the argument is provided in the median amphibrach. End of the line : the meditation restarts with a normal iambic rhythm, immediately followed at the beginning of the next line by an antithetic spondee or trochee, expressing the provisional (false) assurance of the speaker.

3) Body and mind, Intellect and Will: the geography of the unknown. body and mind Line 68: is When we have shuffled off all this mortal coil a second dichotomy also emerges : between will and “intellect numerous alliterations and assonances. example ll. 76-77 “When lie himself might his quietus make / With a bare bodkin” alliterations in [h], [s], and [b] combined with assonances in [ai] and [ei] to express both the attraction and the danger of suicide, the concluding run-o, line sounding very much like a mischievous whisper.

The Shakespearean blank verse is built on the succession of unstressed syllables (x) (syllables non-accentuées) and stressed syllables ( / ) (syllabes accentuées) : x / x / … Each unit of a line is called a foot (un pied = 2 ou 3 syllabes). A regular Shakespearean line contains 5 feet which are called iambs (ïambes): x / x / x / x / x / [Ti-DAM + TiDAM + Ti-DAM + Ti-DAM + Ti-DAM] e.g. : And I of ladies most deject and wretched (3.1.156) x / x / x / x / x / The Shakespearean blank verse is built on the repetition of decasyllabic lines (décasyllabes: vers de 10 syllabes) called iambic pentameters (pentamètres ïambiques). You need to read the line from right to left, and to try to obtain five feet)

Terminology Adjective Pattern Example Iamb (ïambe) iambic x / Now see Anapest (anapeste) anapaestic x x / in the night Trochee (trochée) trochaic / x Blasted Dactyl (dactyle) dactylic / x x merrily Spondee (spondée) spondaic / / most sov Pyrrhic (pyrrhique) pyrrhic xx ble and

Now see that noble and most sovereign reason (x / ) ( x / ) (x x ) ( / / ) ( x /) Iamb Iamb Pyrrhic Spondee Iamb Like sweet bells jangled out of time, and harsh, x / / / x / x / x / Iamb Spondee Iamb Iamb Iamb That unmatch’d form, and stature of blown youth x / x / x / x x / / Iamb Iamb Iamb Pyrrhic Spondee Blasted with ecstasy, o woe is me, / x x / xx x / x / Trochee Iamb Pyrrhic Iamb Iamb T’have seen what I have seen, see what I see! (3.1.157-161) x / x / x / / / x / Iamb Iamb Iamb Spondee Iamb

o Hypermetric lines : An essential rule to keep in mind is that the last syllable of a pentameter is always stressed. If it’s not the case, the line contains an extra syllable (and not an extra-foot. Remember a foot is a combination of 2 or 3 syllables, see the Terminology) and is called hypermetric. This unstressed extra syllable is called a feminine ending. To be or not to be, that is the question x / x / x / x / x / x Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer x / x / x / x / x / x The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, x / x / x x / / x / x Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / x / / x / x / x / x And by opposing them, end them. (3.1.55-9) x / x / x / / x