Hamlet and Performative Utterance

After reading Shakespeare’s Hamlet, I walked away with the idea that all of the conflict and dysfunction could have been avoided if everyone had based their actions on facts, and not only beliefs. Everyone makes decisions based on their quest for a better life. Claudius murdered King Hamlet because he thought his life would be better if he was king. Laerates sided with Claudius to destroy Hamlet because he felt it would improve his lifestyle. Performative utterance plays a huge role in the play because self-overhearing definitely shapes Hamlet’s perspective; and as a result affects other characters. In comparison, self-overhearing affected me in memorizing “To be or not to be”.

Performative Utterance is very similar to the Biblical teaching of “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is the man.” Verbal communication is classified under three headings of action: locutionary force (ability to deliver a message), perlocutionary force (what is said is achieved), and the illocutionary force (what is being done is said). Hamlet’s words, like everyone’s, hold power. Hamlet had many soliloquies, and in each one he experienced self overhearing which slowly altered his character.

In the beginning of the play, Hamlet uses his words to explain that he is planning to take revenge on Claudius for his father’s murder. Every time Hamlet said this, his passion for revenge grew. This leads to him being sent to England, the play, and even rashly stabbing Polonius. This impacts the other characters because Hamlet’s actions cause a domino effect into their lives. For example, Ophelia is able to talk herself into depression and suicide after her father’s death. Laerates talks himself into helping the king. The queen even decides to abandon her “lunatic” son. All of this ultimately ends in everyone’s deaths; which was all caused by everyone’s self hearing being based on false assumed information.

Self overhearing in my own life is evident in my memorization of Hamlet’s soliloquy “To be or not to be, that is the question.” The day I decided to learn the piece I went to my room and decided not to come out until I knew it by heart. My thoughts had changed from hopeless to positive. Learn the soliloquy or bust.

Because I made the decision to learn it, it made it easier. In the beginning I fought the idea of learning it because I thought it would take too much time, thus it ended up costing me more time and energy. Now looking back on memorization assignments I see them in a positive light, so I will be more willing to tackle them in the future. Many students who live with a defeated attitude find memorization assignments extremely difficult and set themselves up for a hard time.

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is the man.” This quote is relevant because self overhearing can also be spotted in thoughts.