Hamlet Essay

Hamlet’s “self-overhearing” in the play is very important to understanding his complex character. His many speeches and soliloquies give us a special incite on his inner thoughts and feelings. Without this knowledge, the major theme and purpose of the play cannot be properly evaluated. The importance of “self-overhearing” also presents itself in everyday life. The way we reflect on an experience helps create a sense of memory, expectation, and real world results. Without “self-overhearing” how would we ourselves know how we think and feel about things?

            Hamlet’s soliloquy, “To be, or not to be”, is the finest example of “self-overhearing” in the play. Within this complex speech lie Hamlet’s most personal feelings. He struggles with thoughts of suicide and feelings of betrayal.  The soliloquy is merely just Hamlet talking to himself, but it gives us a chance to understand how Hamlet is feeling and further evaluate his character.  “Self-overhearing” was also very important to the memorizing of the soliloquy.  The act of memorizing is repeating a certain piece of information over in over in your head until you have it completely remembered by heart. This also allows you to analyze and further understand the information.

            What we say and how we say it also reflects in our actions. This proves that “self-overhearing” also displays the idea of performative utterance. As Frederick de Boer said, “Performative means it did not merely describe reality but made a change in reality.” He explains the example of performative utterance in a marriage ceremony. The priest says, “I now pronounce you man and wife.” This isn’t just describing that the man and woman are now married; it is making the fact a reality. Performative utterance is also very fundamental in Hamlet. While Hamlet’s “self-overhearing” proves he wants to kill Claudius, his oath and dedication to this goal has now made it a reality he must act on. This performative utterance took Hamlet’s feelings and turned them into an action.

            Performative utterance also impacts the people around us. What we say changes their expectations of us. When we state a goal out loud to someone, they will expect us to act on it. While this can feel overwhelming, it is also extremely motivating. The things Hamlet says also impact the people in his life. The characters are forced to believe that Hamlet has gone mad because of his convoluted speeches and lunatic demeanor. This is exactly what Hamlet wanted. Now that everyone thinks he’s crazy, their expectations of him are very low and he has lots of free time to scheme. This is an example of how performative utterance can be used tactfully. 

            “Self-overhearing” and performative utterance are very closely related. “Self-overhearing” is how you think and feel about things and performative utterance is how you plan to act on these feelings. Hamlet is a perfect example of these ideas. His many complex soliloquies and speeches reflect his inner thoughts and feelings, while how he says them causes new realities.  Hamlet not only describes the realities around him, he makes changes in these realities.