ORAL ELEMENTS IN HAMLET

Oral Elements in Hamlet

Oral Elements In Hamlet

Thinking back on the play we have studied, how does it reflect this "creative partnership" between the oral and the alphabetic mind inherited from the Greeks?

Up until about 700 years before Christ the Greek peoples were non-literate. About that time they invented a writing system conveniently described as an “alphabet,” the Greek word for it. The use of this invention in the course of 300 to 400 years after 700 B.C. had a transformational effect upon the behavior of the Greek language, upon the kind of things that could be said in the language and the things that could be thought as it was used. (Farley- Hills, 1996) The transformation, however, did not substitute one language for another. The Greek of the Hellenistic age is recognizably close kin to the Greek of Homer. Yet the degree of transformation can be conveniently measured by comparing Homer at the upper end of the time-span with the language of Aristotle at the lower end. The earlier form came into existence as an instrument for the preservation of oral speech through memorization. This memorized form was not the vernacular of casual conversation but an artificially managed language with special rules for memorization, one of which was rhythm.

What elements in Shakespeare's drama remind us of Homer, and what elements make it a product of alphabetic culture?

William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Hamlet is a magnificent piece of literature that is teeming with numerous themes. The most prominent theme brought out in this play is that revenge can consume every part of one's life. William Shakespeare develops this theme through the use of foreshadowing. The mood that is set from the very beginning of the play prepares the reader for the obvious evils that the act of vengeance can lead to.

The play is set in Denmark and is centered on Prince Hamlet's revenge that he seeks for the death of his father by the hand of his uncle, Claudius. Claudius killed his brother in order to gain the throne and marry Gertrude, his brother's wife. All seems to be in favor of the deceptive pair until one night when Hamlet's father's ghost appears to his good friend Horatio and two castle guards, who promptly tell Hamlet. Not believing them, Hamlet waits one night on the rampart of Elsinore Castle to see for himself. He is convinced when the apparition appears and speaks to Hamlet. His father tells him of the injustice that has befallen the family and tells Hamlet to “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I.v.25). He wants Hamlet to destroy the man who had him murdered and who married his widow. Hamlet wants to know of every detail of the crime and tells the spirit “Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift/ As meditation or the thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge” (I.v.25-31). Hamlet promises to devote himself to this ...