Hamlet's Extraordinary Use of Common Language

Hamlet is a character set apart from other heroes of ancient poems such as Beowulf. Hamlet was the first character to really use language to give us a window it his train of thought. Through Hamlet's use of self overhearing, and performative utterances Hamlet easily sets himself from other works of literate that came before it. Understanding both self overhearing and performative utterances is key to fully appreciating and understanding Hamlet not only as a character, but also as a living breathing human who thinks through his trials.

Self overhearing is the act of speaking to yourself so that, through over hearing yourself, you are able to gain a deeper understanding of yourself. This is common with people in the real world, and can be seen in of plays not including Hamlet. Hamlet's "To Be or Not to Be" speech is probably the most famous and well known example of Hamlet self overhearing. Although Hamlet has already made up his mind on whether or not to kill Claudius at the start of the soliloquy, Hamlet still gains a deeper understanding of himself through self overhearing. At the beginning of the soliloquy, Hamlet is contemplating death. "To die to sleep, no more, and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks our flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wished." However through reciting this out loud, Hamlet realizes the consequence of suicide and changes his mind, or rather, "chicken's out of it."

Hamlet doesn't only employ self overhearing in his language, but also uses performative utterances. These are three parts to performative utterances. The first is the locutionary force. This is the act of saying something. In Hamlet he see this in the Ghost making Hamlet swear to remember him. "It is 'Adieu, adieu. Remember me.' I have sworn it." Just the very act of swearing it is the locutionary force. Next is the illocutionary force. This is what is meant through the locutionary force. In this case, Hamlet swore, locutionary force, that he would remember his father and the murder, the illocutionary force. The final force is the perlocutionary force. This is what comes of everything. In this case Hamlet kills Claudius. All of these are used to great affect in Hamlet, however there are some examples of performative utterances in Beowulf. For one Beowulf promises to kill Grendel. This is the locutionary. The promis to kill Grendel is the illocutionary. And the act of actually killing Grendel is the perlocutionary. Although Beowulf uses performative utterances, they still aren't to the scale of Hamlet, because Hamlet is a play driven by words, while Beowulf is an epic poem.

Hamlet is a play heavily driven by dialogue. Because of this Hamlet uses both self overhearing and performative utterances to give us a window into the character's mind and do something that hasn't been done before. Especially in the epic poem, Beowulf. Because of this, Hamlet stands apart in language from Beowulf, and allows us to understand the character more thoroughly.